The State Water Resources Control Board voted unanimously Sept. 1 to delegate specified groundwater-management responsibilities to the director of its Office of Sustainable Groundwater Management.
The board adopted Resolution 2026-0033 on a motion by board member Nichole Morgan, seconded by board member Sean Maguire. All five members present voted yes, according to the board’s meeting minutes. Amanda Pearson and Natalie Stork presented the item.
The resolution authorizes the office director to handle specified program-administration duties, including preparing and signing documents and maintaining records. It also assigns authority over certain groundwater-management fees, alternatives to measurement requirements in probationary determinations, and specified cease-and-desist and administrative-civil-liability actions, subject to the limits and escalation provisions in the resolution.
The board’s action does not make the director’s authority unlimited. The resolution preserves existing delegations and directs matters involving a substantial risk of litigation, a board member’s request or other circumstances warranting board attention back to the full board. Some of the authority may be redelegated to assistant directors or other staff under conditions set out in the resolution.
The decision is part of California’s implementation of its groundwater-management program. The board’s published minutes identify the adoption and vote, while the adopted resolution provides the operative details of the delegation.