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Ground Water Commission Meeting Minutes Page 6 <br /> May 16, 2025 <br /> Staff is also coordinating with the Upper Black Squirrel Ground Water Management <br /> District to review new developments that may be exposing designated ground water. <br /> Staff is planning on conducting a field visit to an area that has seen an increase in <br /> ground water levels as part of the coordination effort. <br /> The cleanup project for well permit files is also ongoing. All final permits have been <br /> added to the structures side of the DWR database and assigned WDIDs, which will help <br /> Staff with the administration of wells in Designated Basins. Water users can also now <br /> submit meter readings directly into the database without needing prior processing <br /> from Staff, which will make the data collection process more efficient. The database <br /> also includes a tool for the administration of the 3-year banking period for wells, <br /> giving Staff and water users a better understanding for how much water can be <br /> pumped in the current year. Staff is also working on creating a new layer in the <br /> MapViewer tool to visually display irrigated land. This will be a long-term project, and <br /> will take some time to create the layers due to their size and scope. <br /> Commissioner Payne then asked Mr. Vargas-Johnson for an update on the well <br /> abandonment project, and commented that at the last meeting it was apparent that <br /> Staff had received a resolution from roughly half of the recipients of the letters. <br /> Mr. Vargas-Johnson responded that he believes the number of well owners that have <br /> received the notification letter and subsequently submitted a well abandonment <br /> report (or otherwise resolved their well permit issue) remains at around 50%. Mr. <br /> Vargas-Johnson pointed out that DWR is fairly satisfied with this percentage of well <br /> owners that have taken action after receiving the notification letter. The project is <br /> ongoing, and additional letters will be coming soon to well owners in other districts to <br /> clear up permit issues. Enforcement actions for those that have not responded to the <br /> notification letters will be discussed at the appropriate time. <br /> Ms. Kosloff clarified that the well abandonment project involves wells where DWR has <br /> received documentation that a new replacement well was drilled, but no <br /> corresponding well abandonment report was received for the old well. This permitting <br /> issue caused some concern that there may be well owners who did not abandon their <br /> old well (as required), and instead are currently using both wells. Ms. Kosloff agreed <br /> with Mr. Vargas-Johnson's assessment that the 50% response rate from well owners <br /> who received the notification letter was encouraging. Ms. Kosloff also noted that Staff <br /> has limited time to engage in enforcement actions, and it's likely that the majority of <br /> well owners are not using their old well and new replacement well simultaneously. <br /> Mr. Grimes added that in sample cases looked at in Upper Black Squirrel, only one well <br /> was usually in use on a parcel at a given time and well owner were usually not <br />