Could California's groundwater resource management lessons be beneficial to England?

Abstract

In California, Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) are basin/catchment-specific water organizations mandated by the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 to manage groundwater sustainably by 2040/2042. A GSA can charge replenishment fees for pumped groundwater and these fees can be used to: (a) monitor basin hydrologic conditions; (b) improve the water budget accuracy; (c) increase water availability through management actions and projects; (d) mitigate undesirable results; and/or (e) pay for activities including issuing allocations and limiting production to allocations. In England, housing is frequently proposed in river basin catchments that face water resource challenges. High profile examples are the Arun Valley and Cambridge. The current National Planning Policy Framework manages water resource planning strategically through water company Water Resource Management Plans or Environment Agency River Basin Management Plans. These processes can be slow to respond to development requirements. England might look to California's practices that require water users and developers to pay for ‘water credits’ or fees. This could involve a ‘Watermaster’ charged with local or catchment scale resource management and project implementation. This Watermaster could engage all stakeholders including the local water company, farmers, the Environment Agency and the local authority, none of whom is well positioned to act in isolation.