EnvS 163b

Question 1

Describe the pros and cons of legal discretion

Answer 1

Legal discretion is how specific and concrete a law is (example is CA’s right to water)

Pro- Flexibility and adaptability to tailor to local or current conditions

Con-Little to no direction on appropriate components which can lead to broad interpretations

Question 2

Why is it important to manage groundwater and surface water together?

Answer 2

Groundwater and surface water are connected. Depletion of groundwater affects rivers and GDEs.

Question 3

What are the five sources of law? Give an example of each with regards to water quantity or quality.

Answer 3

US constitution- “takings” clause;

common law- adjudication of prior appropriation water rights;

statutory law- clean water act, safe drinking water act;

administrative- granting rights to agency, ie DWR;

executive orders- time sensitive, SWRCB imposed restrictions for CA drought

Question 4

What is the difference between supply-side management and demand-side management?

Answer 4

Supply side- avoid shortages in time, storing water, importing water from elsewhere. Generally hard-path.

Demand side- Lessening amount of water used. Generally soft-path.

Question 5

What are the pros and cons of a hard path and soft path according to Peter Gleick?

Answer 5

Soft Path (ie conservation)- pro- more flexible
con- time and resource intensive

Hard Path (technological), pro- easier to pass and create, last longer
con- expensive, inflexible

Question 6

What is the EPA Secondary National Drinking Water Standard for tds?

Answer 6

500 ppm

Question 7

What is the general agreement among researchers defining brackish water?

Answer 7

3000 ppm tds

Question 8

What doctrine provides for written and formalized rights of Native American tribes?

Answer 8

Reserved Rights

Question 9

The term that best defines water resources goals and management practices is…

Answer 9

Water governance

Question 10

The term that best defines the action of meeting the defined goals through the identified management practices and the associated outcomes is…

Answer 10

Water management

Question 11

Under common law, rights are not quantified until there is an adjudication (T/F)

Answer 11

True

Question 12

What revolution brought technological innovations that allowed the global food supply to increase faster than the growth of the global population?

Answer 12

The Green Revolution

Question 13

Country-level GDP and environment impact may follow a Kuznets curve. Countries who become affluent enough to follow this curve can undergo a transition of…

Answer 13

high to low environmental degradation

Question 14

Technological innovations allowed global food supply to increase faster than the growth of global population. Because of these innovations, we were able to avoid the…

Answer 14

Malthusian Catastrophe
(occurs when population growth outpaces agricultural production, causing famine or war, resulting in poverty and depopulation)

Question 15

Where is population greatest? Where is the largest population growth rate?

Answer 15

population is greatest in Asia; population growth is greatest in Africa

Question 16

What is stakeholder engagement?

Answer 16

Integration of stakeholders (who would be affected by legislative, ie. farmers, DACs, domestic well owners) into management and legislation. Stakeholders should be described, engaged (with focus groups and advisory committees), taken into account for management practices, and considered through quantified impacts (minimum thresholds)

Question 17

Give an example of each type of public engagement identified by the International Association for Public Participation

Answer 17

Inform- fact sheets, websites
Consult- public comment, surveys
Involve- workshops, polling
Collaborate- citizen advisory committee
Empower- ballots, citizen juries

Question 18

What is potential missing from the International Association for Public Participation public involvement steps with regard to SGMA/GSAs/GSPs?

Answer 18

Who has power in the process? Spaces, levels, forms of participation and visibility of power

Question 19

How would increasing evaporation impact the water cycle?

Answer 19

Increasing evaporation would cause both short periods of intense rainfall as well as long periods of extreme drought

Question 20

What are the eight components of basin prioritization?

Answer 20

Population, Population growth, Public supply wells, Total wells, Irrigated acres, Groundwater reliance, Impacts, Habitat and other information

Question 21

What does basin prioritization inform? What are the types of prioritization?

Answer 21

Basin prioritization informs how basins are categorized in relation to negative impacts from groundwater depletion. They are either high, medium, low, or very low.

Question 22

Which basins were required to submit GSPs and by when?

Answer 22

Critically overdrafted basins were required by 2020. High/medium priority were required by 2022.

Question 23

How many GSAs and GSPs can be formed within each basin?

Answer 23

There can be multiagency or single agency GSAs. Only multiagency GSAs can submit multiple GSPs (however they need a MOU). Otherwise only one GSP can be submitted.

Question 24

What is the difference between consolidated governance and coordinated governance? Give an example of each.

Answer 24

Consolidated governance- single agency with single plan
Coordinated governance- GSAs need mechanisms to coordinate GSP development (need JSP or MOU)

Question 25

If multiple GSAs want to create their own GSP within a basin, what is required as part of coordinated governance?

Answer 25

A Basin or Subbasin Coordination Agreement is required.

Question 26

What is a minimum threshold?

Answer 26

Quantitative values for each sustainability indicator set at each
representative monitoring site that could cause an undesirable result if they are exceeded

Question 27

Who are the three key players in SGMA and what do they do?

Answer 27

Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, and the GSAs.

DWR evaluates submitted GSPs to make decisions, either approved or incomplete.

The State Board protects groundwater through authorized state intervention once DWR deems it necessary

GSAs are required to submit GSPs to meet SGMA guidelines.

Question 28

What is DWR’s determination process? What are the three types of determinations?

Answer 28

The three types of determinations are Approved, Incomplete, and Inadequate.

Question 29

Name three triggering events for state intervention.

Answer 29

2017: Entire Basin is not covered by GSAs or alternative to GSP.

2020: Basin is in critical overdraft and there is no plan or DWR fails GSP.

2022: No plan in the basin or DWR fails GSP or GSP implementation AND basin is in long-term overdraft.

2025: DWR fails GSP or GSP implementation AND basin has significant surface water depletions (if no long-term overdraft)

Question 30

Explain the process of state intervention.

Answer 30

DWR determines overdrafted basin GSP Inadequate.

GSAs coordinate management with State Board.

Board takes steps to manage groundwater directly.

Question 31

What are the sustainability indicators?

Answer 31

Lowering groundwater levels, reduction of storage, seawater intrusion, degraded quality, land subsidence, surface water depletion/interconnectedness