Title
Overview of the Groundwater Monitoring Regulatory Program Fee Study.
(Staff Presenting: Amy Woodrow)
Report
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
In October 2022, the Monterey County Water Resources Agency ("Agency") entered into a subgrant agreement with the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency ("SVBGSA") related to a Sustainable Groundwater Management Act Implementation Grant (Attachment 1). The subgrant agreement provides the Agency with grant funding to complete work on a specified set of tasks, one of which is referred to as Component 7: Compliance Reporting and Data Expansion ("Component 7").
The workplan for Component 7 describes well registration, evaluation of well metering technologies, and initiation of well registration and groundwater extraction monitoring. Spurred by the workplan in the subgrant agreement, the Agency is collaborating with the SVBGSA to expand, refine, and enhance the Agency's existing groundwater extraction, groundwater level, and groundwater quality monitoring programs to meet the regulatory needs of the SVBGSA for data collection within their jurisdiction. To accomplish this, the Agency is proposing adoption of a new ordinance that would affirm the Agency's authority to perform groundwater monitoring throughout the County; establish a mechanism for outside entities with groundwater regulatory responsibilities to request monitoring services from the Agency; and establish a new regulatory fee to cover the Groundwater Monitoring Regulatory Program.
In June 2024, the Agency engaged Lechowicz & Tseng Municipal Consultants ("Consultant") to complete a fee study that would establish a schedule of cost-based fees for the Groundwater Monitoring Regulatory Program (Attachment 2). A kickoff meeting was held in June 2024 and, over the last couple of months, Agency staff has been working with the Consultant on data gathering development of tools to manage data and support development of a fee. Upon completion, the Consultant will p...
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