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Map ViewerButte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation - 5-021.59 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - EAST BUTTE, 5-021.69 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - WYANDOTTE CREEK
Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation - 5-021.59 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - EAST BUTTE, 5-021.69 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - WYANDOTTE CREEK
A. Applicant Information
Requesting Agency Information
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| Agency Name: | Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation | ||
| Address: | 308 Nelson Ave | ||
| City: | Oroville | Zip: | 95965-____ |
| Work Phone: | (530) 552-3595 | Cell Phone: | |
| Email: | bcwater@buttecounty.net | Fax: | |
| Revision Request Manager Information
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|---|---|---|---|
| Person Name: | Christina Buck | ||
| Address: | 308 Nelson Ave | ||
| City: | Oroville | Zip: | 95965 |
| Work Phone: | 530-552-3593 | Cell Phone: | |
| Email: | cbuck@buttecounty.net | Fax: | |
B. Description of Proposed Boundary Modification
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To adjust the boundaries of the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin to incorporate all of the City of Oroville and surrounding urbanized areas within the subbasin.
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- Jurisdiction Internal
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Currently the boundary between the Wyandotte Creek and the East Butte subbasins is the Feather River, a boundary that divides the City of Oroville and places it in both subbasins. Similarly, the Thermalito Water and Sewer District (TWSD) serves a portion of the City of Oroville and is a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) in the East Butte Subbasin. Moving the boundary between the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin and the East Butte Subbasin to the northwest will enable the City of Oroville, the TWSD, and portions of the Butte County GSA now in the East Butte Subbasin to be consolidated in the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin. This consolidation will enable the City and the TWSD to focus their resources on the management of one subbasin and to participate in development of a single, unified Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) that covers the City and surrounding urbanized and other areas. The proposed jurisdictional Basin Boundary Modification Request moves the boundary between the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin and the East Butte Subbasin to the northwest so that the City of Oroville and the TWSD fall fully within the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin. It is proposed that the subbasin would generally be bounded on the west by the Feather River and Thermalito Afterbay; on the south by the boundary between Butte County and Yuba County; and on the north and east by the edge of the alluvial basin as defined by Bulletin 118. The basin boundary modification being proposed concurrently by Yuba County Water Agency would adjust the southern boundary along the county line to move the Butte County portion of Ramirez Water District into the North Yuba Subbasin making the northern boundary of Ramirez Water District Wyandotte Creek Subbasin's southern boundary. Together these changes to the subbasin boundaries would enhance effective and efficient management of the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin. The expanded boundary of the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin will bring the city limits of Oroville and the service area of the TWSD into a single planning area with the objective of promoting effective groundwater management by consolidating planning for the City of Oroville, the TWSD and its surroundings into a single GSP. This consolidation will simplify development of quantitative sustainability indicators and monitoring networks and formulation of projects and actions needed to maintain or achieve sustainability in this portion of the Sacramento Basin.
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- 5-021.59 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - EAST BUTTE
- 5-021.69 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - WYANDOTTE CREEK
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N/A
C. Initial Notification and Combination of Requests
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Yes
Local Agency Potential Basin(s)/Subbasin(s) Butte County 5-021.57 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - VINA , 5-021.60 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - NORTH YUBA Sutter Extension Water Districts 5-021.62 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - SUTTER Reclamation District No. 1004 5-021.57 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - VINA Sutter County 5-021.62 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - SUTTER , 5-021.64 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - NORTH AMERICAN Yuba County Water Agency 5-021.61 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - SOUTH YUBA , 5-021.60 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - NORTH YUBA , 5-021.69 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - WYANDOTTE CREEK , 5-021.64 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - NORTH AMERICAN , 5-021.62 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - SUTTER 5-021.69 SACRAMENTO VALLEY - WYANDOTTE CREEK -
No
D. Required Documents for All Modifications
The basin boundary modification does not qualify as a project under CEQA.
F. Notice and Consultation
Local agencies within the modified Wyandotte Creek subbasin area include: Butte County, City of Oroville, Yuba County Water Agency, Ramirez Water District, Thermalito Water and Sewer District, South Feather Water and Power.
Public water systems within the modified Wyandotte Creek subbasin area include: California Water Service- Oroville, River One RV Park, Golden Feather Mobile Home Park, Golden Oaks Mobile Estates, Sundown Mobile Home Park, Feather River School, Honcut Elementary School, Robinsons Corner Mobile Home Park, Dingerville USA Park, Pleasant Grove Mobile Home Park, River Reflections RV, Pacific Heights Mobile Home Park, Falling Rock RV Park.
The Water Agency dataset provided by DWR was used to identify local agencies and public water systems. In addition, Butte County Water and Resource Conservation has developed an Interested Parties email list whose recipients receive meeting notices, SGMA related updates, and monthly newsletters describing basin boundary modification and SGMA implementation activities. The Department also maintains a website, has held multiple public meetings where basin boundary modifications have been presented and discussed (see F-4), and mailed over 3000 postcards to owners of parcels not located within water purveyor boundaries.
GSA managers in the Wyandotte Creek subbasin have met regularly with the support of facilitation services to develop governance for the subbasin. Agencies represented at these meetings include Butte County, Yuba County Water Agency, the City of Oroville, and Thermalito Water and Sewer District. Although not a regular participant, South Feather Water and Power is also periodically updated on governance and basin boundary modification discussions. These monthly meetings, beginning in January 2018, include updates from each of the GSAs. Butte County staff regularly described the status of the proposed basin boundary modification (BBM) and received input and feedback from the GSA managers. The proposal originated from the City of Oroville and its desire to be in a single subbasin. From the earliest stages, all affected GSAs coordinated to develop a BBM proposal that would be supported by the GSAs in the subbasin.
At GSA manager meetings in the adjacent subbasin of East Butte, Butte County staff also provided updates on the proposed BBM. Email correspondence requested letters of support from GSAs in the Wyandotte Creek and East Butte subbasins.
In an effort to reach all domestic groundwater users in the subbasin including small water systems, over 3000 postcards were mailed out prior to a public meeting to addresses of all parcels outside of public water purveyors (i.e. Cal Water, South Feather Water and Power). A public meeting was held in Oroville on May 3, 2018 to inform the public and receive feedback on the proposed BBM and draft governance structure taking shape for the subbasin.
In addition to providing details on the location and time of the public meeting, the postcard explained how stakeholders could sign up to receive emails regarding BBM and SGMA implementation. On May 16, 2018 an outreach letter was emailed to the Interested Parties list for the four subbasins in Butte County (Vina, West Butte, East Butte, and Wyandotte Creek) describing the proposed BBM and the process for providing comments.
This basin boundary modification has been presented and discussed at numerous public meetings including those held by Butte County, Thermalito Water and Sewer District (TWSD), and the City of Oroville. They have also been described under the SGMA implementation update provided by each county representative during NSV IRWM Technical Advisory Committee meetings and a Board meeting. GSAs throughout the region are well aware of the proposed BBMs in the Northern Sacramento Valley area and stakeholders have had many opportunities to learn the details of the proposal and to provide comment. The table shows the meetings at which this proposal was presented and discussed and meeting agendas are attached.
No formal comments were received.
G. General Existing Groundwater Management
All requests for jurisdictional modification pursuant to Section 342.4 MUST include responses to the following questions.
The proposed subbasin boundary modifications will promote sustainable groundwater management by bringing the urban area of Oroville managed by the City of Oroville and Thermalito Water and Sewer District (TWSD) into a single subbasin. The proposed Wyandotte Creek Subbasin provides the following advantages:
1. Aligns SGMA compliance at the subbasin level with other land use and water management activities performed by the City, TWSD, and for other neighboring urbanized and County areas.
2. Enables definition of undesirable results and minimum thresholds, development of management objectives and monitoring networks, and formulation of projects and management actions to be implemented within subbasin boundaries that better conform to those of established jurisdictional authorities.
The proposed subbasin boundary modification would reduce and simplify groundwater management activities in the East Butte Subbasin by better aligning the subbasin boundary with current land use and jurisdictional authorities. Thus, just as consolidation of the City of Oroville into the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin will simplify SGMA compliance for the City and surrounding urbanized areas, removal of TWSD and portions of the City from the East Butte Subbasin will simplify the types of land and water uses associated with SGMA compliance as well as reducing the number of jurisdictional authorities included in the subbasin, supporting sustainable management of groundwater resources. This modification does not change the basin setting of adjacent basins in any way that would make sustainable groundwater management within those basins more challenging.
The Wyandotte Creek Subbasin (5-21.69) covers about 48,000 acres in the Sacramento Valley Groundwater Basin. Formerly part of the North Yuba Subbasin, the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin was formed when DWR split the basin along the Butte-Yuba county line (October 2016).
The Wyandotte Creek Subbasin is bounded on the north and west by the Feather River, on the east by the edge of the alluvium along the Sierra Nevada foothills, and on the south by the boundary between Butte County and Yuba County.
In the northern portion of the subbasin near and around Oroville, the land use is primarily urban and rural residential. In the central and southern portions, land uses are a mix of rural residential and agricultural uses primarily supported by groundwater. Groundwater is also used as a municipal water source for portions of Oroville and as an emergency source of municipal supply. The aquifer system includes recent valley sedimentary deposits, floodplain and alluvium deposits, and deposits of the Victor, Laguna, and Mehrten formations.
The Wyandotte Creek Subbasin, although not designated a critically overdrafted basin, has areas with declining groundwater levels, reduced groundwater storage, and has a connected groundwater-surface water system whereby pumping can induce surface water depletion. The limited network of monitoring wells shows that water levels, while relatively stable in some places, are affected by Feather River flows near the river and in some areas have experienced declines during dry and critical years.
The Butte County Board of Supervisors has been responding to conditions observed in the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin in a number of ways in recent decades. Recent efforts have included the Water Resource Management and Protection Project. Begun in 2013, and building upon prior studies and plans, the Project strengthens Butte County's water resource management capabilities by developing comprehensive water resource analyses and analytical tools.
The 2016 Water Inventory and Analysis Report and the update of the Butte Basin Groundwater Model (BBGM) were the first phase of the Project. The BBGM is a physically based, integrated hydrologic model that accounts for various sources and uses of water continuously over time and that can produce outputs that describe impacts from different scenarios (e.g., increased demands, climate change, and drought) compared to current (up to 2014) water supply and demand conditions. This effort not only updated the analysis of Butte County's water supply and demand, but also introduced a paradigm shift in the County's analytical approach to help sustain water resources for future generations.
The basin boundary modification would not have any significant impacts to state programs. Specifically:
1. California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM): There would be no impact to the CASGEM program in the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin as Butte County would remain the designated monitoring entity for wells in the subbasin.
2. Groundwater plans developed pursuant to AB 3030: No effect
3. Any applicable state or regional board plans, and other water management and land use programs: This basin boundary modification would not move any land outside of the jurisdictional areas of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board or the Basin Plan area and will not affect implementation of the regional board's Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program. By placing the City of Oroville within a single subbasin, the proposed modification will improve the alignment between local water management and land use planning and SGMA implementation.
4. Groundwater Sustainability Plans developed pursuant to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: The proposed subbasin boundary modification would improve the alignments between land and water uses and jurisdictional authorities and subbasin boundaries for both the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin and the adjacent East Butte Subbasin.
H. Local Support
All requests for boundary modification must include the following:
This BBM proposal was presented and discussed at ten or more public meetings during which proper meeting notice is required and public is given the opportunity to comment. In addition, GSA managers discussed the proposal regularly at their facilitated monthly meetings. In addition, an outreach letter was distributed to the interested parties list, GSAs were directly contacted with a request for a letter of support, and information could be found on our Department's SGMA webpage.
Letters of support were provided by the following agencies:
City of Live Oak, City of Oroville, RD 1004, Sutter County, Thermalito Water and Sewer District, Yuba County Water Agency.
No opposition has been expressed.
I. Hydrogeologic Conceptual Model
Requests for boundary modification, must include a document or text to a clearly defined hydrogeologic conceptual model demonstrating each of the following:
Butte County's Groundwater Management Plan, adopted in 2004, describes the hydrogeology and physical setting of the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin. In this document, the proposed Wyandotte Creek subbasin corresponds to areas referred in the GWMP as the North Yuba Inventory Unit and portions of the Thermalito Inventory Sub-Unit in the East Butte subbasin. Aspects of the HCM identified above are mostly contained within Section 2 of the Plan.
L. Technical Studies for All Jurisdictional Modifications
Requests for a jurisdictional boundary must attach or provide a URL or upload a file for the following:
Existing coordination of sustainable groundwater management activities within each affected subbasin and between subbasins will continue as part of GSP development and implementation. The following GSAs have filed notice with DWR to become GSAs in the affected subbasins:
Wyandotte Creek:
o Butte County
o City of Oroville
o Yuba County Water Agency
East Butte
o Biggs-West Gridley Water District
o Butte County
o Butte Water District
o City of Biggs
o City of Gridley
o City of Live Oak
o City of Oroville
o Reclamation District No. 1004 - East Butte
o Richvale Irrigation District
o Thermalito Water and Sewer District
o Sutter County
o Sutter Extension Water District
o Western Canal Water District
In the proposed revised Wyandotte Creek Subbasin (including the modifications proposed by Yuba County Water Agency on the southern boundary), Butte County, the City of Oroville, and Thermalito Water and Sewer District would remain as GSAs. These GSAs in the Wyandotte Creek Subbasin are closely coordinating SGMA implementation and intend to form a Joint Powers Authority to serve as a single GSA for the subbasin. This coordination and governance will support GSP development and implementation. The JPA is expected to be formed this fall, and it could be as early as September.
Additional information is available at: http://www.buttecounty.net/waterresourceconservation/SustainableGroundwaterManagementAct/ButteCountySubbasins/WyandotteCreekSubbasin
In addition, coordination is actively underway among all affected subbasins through activities of the Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation, the Northern Sacramento Valley Integrated Regional Water Management Plan Technical Advisory Committee, and all involved GSAs with the support of facilitation services.
Existing coordination of sustainable groundwater management activities within each affected subbasin and between subbasins will continue as part of GSP development and implementation. Coordinated efforts are underway with development of the Basin Setting portions of the GSP for each of the four existing subbasins (Vina, West Butte, East Butte, and Wyandotte Creek) in Butte County under a single project, with consultant support, that will use consistent data, monitoring, and modeling tools to establish the scientific foundation for managing groundwater in these subbasins. With this coordinated foundation, each subbasin will later develop sustainability goals and thresholds for their GSP. This approach supports coordination and consistency for estimating and accounting for interbasin groundwater flow, among other important aspects of GSP development.
