YOLO COUNTY, CA (MPG)  – On March 28, 2022, Gov. Newsom issued a new Executive Order (EO N-7-22) to address drought conditions, following the driest first three months of a calendar year in the state’s recorded history.

The EO is effective immediately and orders various state agencies to consider new regulations for various components of the state’s drought response. The EO also contains a new regulation that changes the process for the County’s issuance of permits for new agricultural groundwater wells. The EO excludes domestic wells, which typically serve single-family homes. 

Yolo County is a high-priority groundwater basin, with the Executive Order creating a new review process for the issuance of permits for wells in medium and high-priority groundwater basins. Thus, Counties may not issue a permit for new agricultural groundwater well or alteration of an existing agricultural well without a written verification from the affected Groundwater Sustainability Agency (e.g., the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency). The written verification must attest that the proposed groundwater well is both (1) not likely to interfere with the production and functioning of existing nearby wells and (2) not likely to cause subsidence, i.e., the caving or sinking of land that lowers the ground surface elevation.

The County’s Division of Environmental Health is working with the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency to establish and implement a review process that is compliant with the Executive Order. As a result, expect to be a temporary 15- to 30-day delay in the processing and issuance of agricultural groundwater well permits. Additional updates will be provided as needed.

For more information about the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency, please visit https://www.yologroundwater.org/.