DBS&A to Present on Automation for SGMA Implementation
Douglas Tolley, PhD, will present at Western Groundwater Congress.
DBS&A Hydrogeologist Douglas Tolley, PhD, will present to geologists, engineers, and other groundwater scientists at the Groundwater Resources Association (GRA) of California Western Groundwater Congress on September 19-21, 2022. Sessions at the event will focus on water resources and development, groundwater management, contaminant assessment and remediation, and more.
Learn more about DBS&A’s water resources capabilities and Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) expertise.
Learn more about the event.
About the presentation:
Gus Tolley, PhD, DBS&A Hydrogeologist, will present “Reducing SGMA Implementation Costs for Disadvantaged Groundwater Basins by Automating Workflows” prepared with contributing authors Gregory Buczek and Tony Morgan, PG, CHG.
A significant challenge for economically distressed groundwater basins is lack of funding for the development and implementation of a groundwater sustainability plan (GSP). While Department of Water Resources grants provided funds for GSP development in disadvantaged basins, there is still significant concern as to how recurring implementation costs, such as annual reports and five-year updates, will be covered. While specific details and interpretations in these annual and periodic reports may change, the structure, required data, and workflow methodology are likely to remain the same. This situation lends itself to automation of workflows using computer scripts, which can dramatically reduce annual SGMA implementation costs. Much like bringing a basin’s water budget into balance can be achieved by increasing supply and/or decreasing demand, reducing implementation costs has the same effect as increasing available revenue. Using the Sierra Valley groundwater basin as an example, Gus will demonstrate various tools used to reduce implementation costs such as a web-based database management system (DMS) where groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) can upload monitoring data directly, and computer scripts developed in open-source software can automate the majority of workflows, such as numerical model updates and annual report creation. These tools are crucial for disadvantaged groundwater basins to meet SGMA requirements and the associated financial obligations, but can easily be applied to any basin.
About the presenter: Dr. Tolley specializes in groundwater hydrology, groundwater resources, numerical modeling, database management and workflow automation, and contaminant transport in groundwater.