Groundwater Trading

The Water Resiliency Portfolio (2020) tasked the four State agencies to “create flexibility for GSAs to trade water within basins by enabling and incentivizing transactional approaches, including groundwater markets, with rules that safeguard natural resources, small- and medium-size farms, and water supply and quality for disadvantaged communities.” This direction is spelled out as Action 3.6. In 2021, the California Water Commission (Commission) was tasked to take initial steps to advance Action 3.6, and in 2022, the Commission's White Paper (cwc.ca.gov/-/media/CWC-Website/Files/Documents/2022/05_May/May2022_Item_10_Attach_1_WhitePaper_Final.pdf) identifies potential State actions and suggests that “with DWR as the lead agency, [the four State agencies] develop a workplan for implementing Action 3.6…”.