The Ojai Valley Basin, shown in rust on the adjacent map, lies under the City of Ojai and the Ojai Valley's East End.
The Ojai Valley Basin is a crucial source of municipal and agricultural water. It has the largest capacity of the watershed's four groundwater basins.
Water from the basin is used by nearby growers; by residents and businesses in the City of Ojai and surrounding areas, including the East End; and by native habitats and the animals they support.
The Ojai Valley Basin is one of a handful of special cases in California because it already has a state-created agency, the Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency (OBGMA), to oversee its management. Established in 1991, the OBGMA is one of only 13 special act districts with legislative authority to manage groundwater in California.
Although the OBGMA will need to make some changes in response to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, the agency well ahead of others because it has an established governing structure in place.
The OBGMA is now moving forward with development of the sustainable groundwater management plan mandated by the legislation. Fortunately, because of basin monitoring, modeling studies, and other research conducted on the basin, OBGMA already has considerable data and information with which to develop the plan. OBGMA anticipates completing the plan in 2015, much sooner than the 2017 required by the legislation.
To track the progress of OBGMA in implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act provisions, see their website at www.obgma.com or contact them at 805/640-1207.