O27521
ORDINANCE NUMBER 2752 (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA MONICA MODIFYING SECTION 7.18.040 OF THE SANTA MONICA
MUNICIPAL CODE TO UPDATE WELL PROHIBITION REQUIREMENTS
WHEREAS, in September 2014, the California legislature passed Senate Bills
1168 and 1319 and Assembly Bill 1739, known collectively as the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act (“SGMA”), enacting Water Code §§10720 – 10737.8; and
WHEREAS, SGMA went into effect on January 1, 2015; and
WHEREAS, the legislative intent of SGMA, among other goals, is to provide for
the sustainable management of groundwater basins, to enhance local management of
groundwater, to establish minimum standards for sustainable groundwater management,
and to manage groundwater basins through the actions of local governmental agencies
to the greatest extent feasible while minimizing state intervention; and
WHEREAS, SGMA requires all high and medium priority non-adjudicated
groundwater basins, as designated by the California Department of Water Resources
(“DWR”) in Bulletin 118, to be managed by a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (“GSA”)
and that such management be accomplished pursuant to a Groundwater Sustainability
Plan (“GSP”) for the basin; and
WHEREAS, the Santa Monica Basin, DWR Basin Number 4-011.01 (“Basin”) was
designated by DWR as a medium priority basin thereby requiring the implementation of
SGMA for the Basin; and
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WHEREAS, California Water Code §10721(j) defines a GSA as one or more local
agencies that implement the provisions of SGMA; and
WHEREAS, any local public agency or combination of local agencies that have
water supply, water management, or land use responsibilities within a groundwater basin
may elect to become a GSA over that basin; and
WHEREAS, in 2017, the Santa Monica Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency
(“SMBGSA”) was formed under a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) among the
City of Santa Monica, the City of Beverly Hills, the City of Los Angeles, by and through its
Department of Water and Power, the City of Culver City, and the County of Los Angeles
(collectively, the “Parties”); and
WHEREAS, on August 28, 2018, the Santa Monica City Council adopted Ord. No.
2584CCS § 1 (the “Sustainable Groundwater Management Ordinance”), adding Chapter
7.18 to the Santa Monica Municipal Code, which prohibits the installation of new wells or
the expansion of existing wells unless and until: (a) a Groundwater Sustainability Plan is
adopted; and (b) the construction of new wells or the expansion of existing wells is
expressly authorized by the Groundwater Sustainability Plan; and
WHEREAS, the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (“GSP”) for the Basin was
adopted by the SMBGSA in January 2022; and
WHEREAS, SGMA defines sustainable groundwater management as the
management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be maintained over a 50-year
planning and implementation horizon without causing undesirable results; and
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WHEREAS, under SGMA, undesirable results occur when significant and
unreasonable effects for any of six sustainability indicators are caused by groundwater
conditions occurring throughout the Basin; and
WHEREAS, the six sustainability indicators defined in SGMA are:
• Chronic lowering of groundwater levels
• Groundwater storage
• Seawater intrusion
• Degraded water quality
• Land subsidence
• Depletions of interconnected surface water; and
WHEREAS, the extraction of groundwater from the Basin is prohibited without the
unanimous consent of the SMBGSA, based upon a determination by the SMBGSA that
the extraction of groundwater from such installation or expansion will not cause
undesirable effects in the Basin, as further described in the Groundwater Sustainability
Plan approved by the SMBGSA; and
WHEREAS, the City Council now seeks to amend SMMC section 7.18.040 to
prohibit new or the expansion of existing private groundwater wells within the City of Santa
Monica unless such expansion or extraction is approved by the SMBGSA, based upon a
determination by the SMBGSA that the extraction of groundwater from such installation
or expansion will not cause undesirable effects in the Santa Monica Basin, as further
described in the Groundwater Sustainability Plan approved by the SMBGSA.
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NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 7.18.040 is hereby amended
to read as follows:
7.18.040 Well prohibition.
The installation of new wells or the expansion of existing wells is prohibited within
the City of Santa Monica unless and until such installation or expansion is approved by
the unanimous consent of the Santa Monica Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency
(SMBGSA).
SECTION 2. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices
thereto inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance, to the extent of such
inconsistencies and no further, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary to
effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this
Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any
court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining
portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed
this Ordinance and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion of the ordinance
would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 4. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall attest to the passage of
this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall cause the same to be published once in the official
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newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become effective 30
days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_________________________
Douglas Sloan, City Attorney
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Approved and adopted this 25th day of July, 2023.
_____________________________
Gleam Davis, Mayor
State of California )
County of Los Angeles ) ss.
City of Santa Monica )
I, Denise Anderson-Warren, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do
hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 2752 (CCS) had its introduction
on July 18, 2023 and was adopted at the Santa Monica City Council meeting
held on July 25, 2023, by the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Zwick, Parra, Brock, Torosis, de la Torre
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ATTEST:
_____________________________________ _________________
Denise Anderson-Warren, City Clerk Date
A summary of Ordinance No. 2752 (CCS) was duly published pursuant to
California Government Code Section 40806.
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7/26/2023