Water Tax & SGMA Reference Library

Water Tax & SGMA Reference Library

A plain-English guide to the acronyms, laws, agencies, grants, measurements, maps, and groundwater-management terms that appear in California and Tehama County water documents.

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Acronyms & Abbreviations

Common abbreviations found in groundwater reports, fee studies, meeting documents, and SGMA materials.

Acronym or termMeaning
ABAssembly Bill
AFAcre-foot; approximately 325,851 gallons
AFYAcre-feet per year
APN / APNsAssessor's Parcel Number / Assessor's Parcel Numbers
BMPBest Management Practice
CASGEMCalifornia Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring program
CCFOne hundred cubic feet; approximately 748 gallons
CDFWCalifornia Department of Fish and Wildlife
CEQACalifornia Environmental Quality Act
CFSCubic feet per second
CIPCapital Improvement Program
CPIConsumer Price Index
CVPCentral Valley Project
CYCalendar year
DAC / DACsDisadvantaged Community / Disadvantaged Communities
DDWDivision of Drinking Water
DMSData Management System
DWRCalifornia Department of Water Resources
EAEnvironmental Assessment
EIREnvironmental Impact Report
EISEnvironmental Impact Statement
EPAEnvironmental Protection Agency
ESAEndangered Species Act
ETEvapotranspiration
FEMAFederal Emergency Management Agency
FYFiscal year
GISGeographic Information System
GPMGallons per minute
GSAGroundwater Sustainability Agency
GSPGroundwater Sustainability Plan
GWGroundwater
GWLGroundwater level
HCMHydrogeologic Conceptual Model
IRWMIntegrated Regional Water Management
JPAJoint Powers Agreement or Joint Powers Authority
LAFCOLocal Agency Formation Commission
LiDARLight Detection and Ranging
M&IMunicipal and industrial water use
MCLMaximum Contaminant Level
MOMeasurable Objective
MOUMemorandum of Understanding
MTMinimum Threshold
NEPANational Environmental Policy Act
NPDESNational Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
NRCSNatural Resources Conservation Service
O&MOperations and maintenance
PFASPer- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
PMAsProjects and Management Actions
RCDResource Conservation District
RFPRequest for Proposals
RMSRepresentative Monitoring Site
SBSenate Bill
SGMASustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014
SMCSustainable Management Criteria
SOPStandard Operating Procedure
SWPState Water Project
SWRCBState Water Resources Control Board
TACTechnical Advisory Committee
TDSTotal Dissolved Solids
Tehama GSATehama Groundwater Sustainability Agency
TMTechnical Memorandum
TMDLTotal Maximum Daily Load
URUndesirable Result
USACEUnited States Army Corps of Engineers
USBRUnited States Bureau of Reclamation
USDAUnited States Department of Agriculture
USFSUnited States Forest Service
USFWSUnited States Fish and Wildlife Service
USGSUnited States Geological Survey
VOCVolatile Organic Compound
WCRWell Completion Report
WDRWaste Discharge Requirements
WQWater quality
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California Water Laws
Law or provisionWhy it matters
SGMA — Water Code §10720 et seq.California's framework for sustainable local management of medium- and high-priority groundwater basins.
Water Code §10721Defines many of the important terms used throughout SGMA.
Water Code §10723Addresses the formation and authority of Groundwater Sustainability Agencies.
Water Code §10727Addresses the development and required contents of Groundwater Sustainability Plans.
Water Code §10728Addresses plan adoption, submission, and related procedures.
Water Code §10730Authorizes certain fees used by a GSA for groundwater-management activities, subject to applicable legal requirements.
Water Code §10735 et seq.Provides for possible State Water Board intervention when local groundwater management is inadequate.
California Constitution, Article XIII DContains Proposition 218 rules governing assessments and certain property-related fees and charges.
California Constitution, Article XIII CContains Proposition 26 rules concerning taxes and charges imposed by government.
California Public Records ActProvides public access to many government records, subject to statutory exemptions.
Brown ActGoverns open meetings of California local legislative bodies.
CEQARequires environmental review of many discretionary public projects and decisions.
Plain-English translation: The Water Code gives GSAs powers and duties, while the California Constitution and other statutes may control how fees are approved, noticed, calculated, challenged, and spent.
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Agencies & Organizations

California DWR

Reviews groundwater plans, maintains the SGMA Portal and data viewers, and provides technical guidance and grant programs.

State Water Board

May intervene in basins where local management does not meet SGMA requirements and administers certain reporting and fee programs.

Tehama GSA

The local groundwater-management agency for designated areas of Tehama County.

Board of Supervisors

Acts as the county governing body and, in some settings, as the governing board of related county districts or agencies.

LAFCO

Reviews many local-government boundary and service-area changes.

Resource Conservation District

Supports local conservation, agricultural, watershed, and resource-management projects.

USGS

Collects and publishes scientific water data, including streamflow and groundwater information.

US Bureau of Reclamation

Operates major federal water projects and administers certain federal water programs and grants.

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Grants & Funding
Program or sourceTypical purpose
Proposition 1Water infrastructure, planning, groundwater, drinking-water, recycling, storage, and ecosystem projects.
Proposition 68Water, drought, parks, climate-resilience, groundwater, and related public-resource projects.
SGMA Planning GrantsDevelopment of GSPs, technical studies, modeling, outreach, and monitoring programs.
SGMA Implementation GrantsProjects and management actions intended to help implement adopted GSPs.
DWR Technical Support ServicesState assistance such as monitoring wells, data, modeling, and technical analysis.
Federal GrantsPotential funding through agencies such as Reclamation, EPA, USDA, FEMA, and USGS.
Local Fees and AssessmentsLocally raised revenue for administration, studies, monitoring, reporting, projects, and management actions when legally authorized.
Questions worth asking about every grant: How much was awarded? Was local matching money required? What work was promised? How much has been spent? What remains? Were deadlines or deliverables amended?
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Water Measurements & Conversions
MeasurementEquivalent or meaning
1 acre-footApproximately 325,851 gallons
1 acre-foot43,560 cubic feet
1 CCF100 cubic feet, or approximately 748 gallons
1 cubic footApproximately 7.48 gallons
1 cubic foot per secondApproximately 448.8 gallons per minute
1 cubic foot per secondApproximately 646,000 gallons per day
1 inch of water over 1 acreApproximately 27,154 gallons
GPMGallons per minute; commonly used for well or pump flow
Groundwater elevationThe elevation of the water surface relative to a vertical reference datum—not merely the depth below ground.
Depth to waterThe measured vertical distance from a known measuring point down to the water surface.
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Maps & Data Sources

Parcel and APN Maps

Used to identify parcels, ownership boundaries, acreage, and assessor parcel numbers.

SGMA Data Viewer

State groundwater-basin, monitoring, subsidence, well, and plan-related information.

Monitoring-Well Data

Groundwater elevations, measurement dates, trends, and hydrographs.

Bulletin 118

DWR's official statewide groundwater-basin descriptions and boundaries.

USGS Water Data

Stream gauges, river stages, flow, groundwater, and water-quality records.

FEMA Flood Maps

Flood-hazard areas and National Flood Insurance Program map information.

County GIS

Local parcels, zoning, roads, districts, land-use layers, and other county map data.

Grant Money Map

A useful local presentation showing where grant-funded projects and work are located.

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SGMA Explained in Plain English

What is SGMA?

A 2014 California law requiring sustainable local management of many medium- and high-priority groundwater basins.

What is a GSA?

The local public agency responsible for carrying out SGMA within its management area.

What is a GSP?

The long-range plan describing basin conditions, sustainability goals, monitoring, projects, and management actions.

What is Sustainable Yield?

The maximum quantity of water, calculated over a long-term period, that can be withdrawn without causing an undesirable result.

Minimum Threshold

A numeric limit used to help define when an undesirable result may occur.

Measurable Objective

A desired groundwater condition that provides an operational target and safety margin above a minimum threshold.

The Six Sustainability Indicators

  • Chronic lowering of groundwater levels
  • Significant and unreasonable reduction of groundwater storage
  • Significant and unreasonable seawater intrusion, where applicable
  • Significant and unreasonable degraded water quality
  • Significant and unreasonable land subsidence
  • Depletions of interconnected surface water causing significant and unreasonable adverse impacts
Government says: “Projects and Management Actions.”
Plain English: The programs, construction projects, pumping rules, recharge work, conservation measures, monitoring, or other steps the GSA proposes to use to reach sustainability.
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Important Court Decisions
DecisionWhy it is commonly discussed
National Audubon Society v. Superior CourtA leading California public-trust case involving water diversions and environmental protection.
City of Barstow v. Mojave Water AgencyAn important California groundwater-adjudication decision concerning water rights and equitable physical solutions.
California Farm Bureau Federation v. State Water Resources Control BoardDiscusses distinctions between taxes and regulatory fees under California law.
Silicon Valley Taxpayers' Association v. Santa Clara County Open Space AuthorityAn important Proposition 218 assessment case concerning proportionality and special benefit.
Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (U.S. Supreme Court, 2024)Ended federal Chevron deference. It directly concerns federal administrative law rather than California's separate rules for reviewing state and local agencies.

Court decisions can be highly fact-specific. This page is an orientation guide, not legal advice or a substitute for reading the complete opinion.

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SGMA Timeline
YearEvent
2014California enacted SGMA.
2015–2017Local agencies organized and filed notices to become GSAs.
2017General deadline for GSA formation in covered basins.
2020Initial GSP deadline for critically overdrafted basins.
2022Initial GSP deadline for most other high- and medium-priority basins subject to SGMA.
AnnuallyGSAs submit annual reports following plan adoption.
Every five yearsGSPs undergo periodic evaluation and updates under SGMA's review framework.
2040 or 2042General statutory sustainability deadlines, depending on the basin's original plan deadline.
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Important: This reference library is intended for public education and research. Laws, regulations, agency policies, court decisions, and local programs can change. Verify important conclusions against the original current source documents.