An Open Letter Urging an Equitable and Representative Voting Structure for the proposed Cuyama Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency

Living in the Nipomo foothills we have experienced the severe draught of the last 6 years. The health of the Cuyama Valley groundwater affects us all. We've had a great winter, but no one can predict the future except to say it will be unpredictable. Uncontrolled pumping of Cuyama groundwater is settindg a dangerous precedent.

Very happy to see this initiative.

I am a property owner in the Cuyama Valley

Water is the basis of all forms of life and the excessive and uncontrolled pumping ofit will harm all forms of life in the watershed. Also human

Urging an Equitable and Representative Voting Structure for the proposed Cuyama Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency!

We need to protect our rural areas

As a resident of this area I would like to have a say in how we decide important water questions.

Please support the development of an equitable voting structure that provides equal voice to all residents and interests in the Cuyama Valley.

Please support the development of an equitable voting structure that provides equal voice to all residents and interests in the Cuyama Valley.

We are multi-generation landowners and full time residents of Cottonwood Canyon in the Cuyama Valley. We support a fair and equitable voting structure for the GSA that gives voice to the residents and communities of the Cuyama Valley.

Please support the development of an equitable voting structure that provides equal voice to all residents and interests in the Cuyama Valley.

Resident in the Cuyama Valley.

Resident of New Cuyama

From the CA DWR website: "A GSA is responsible for developing and implementing a groundwater sustainability plan (GSP) to meet the sustainability goal of the basin to ensure that it is operated within its sustainable yield, without causing undesirable results." That in mind, the instance of one entity in a burgeoning 6-entity agency attempting to assure 5 votes for itself seems to me to be such a clear attempt to effectively eliminate the equity of a vote in favour of a dictatorial role, that were I a member of one of the other entities potentially making up the agency, I would lobby to have that entity barred from voting on agency issues. Why? Because I fail to see more than two reasons why one entity would strive to be able to overwhelm all other agency voters in such a case as this; 1) The entity takes the viewpoint that the other 5 entities all lack the ability to make valuable decisions to help meet the above GSA directive. Were I a member of one of those other agencies I would find this point of view insulting & hubristic, or at best, an example of grievously substandard assessment capability. Or - 2) The entity wants to make decisions that go against that directive, expects to pursue results that no* other involved entity will agree with, and would like to proactively eliminate resistance to that. In either case, my confidence in the ability / interest of that entity to assist in meeting a GSA's mandated responsibilities would be undermined. I would want them to provide advisory information (which I would diligently crosscheck), without voting power. As an addendum: The Golden Rule - He who has the gold, makes the rules - is not a good basis for forming a GSA. If the CWD has suggested that they should get more votes because they have more money (are they doing a disproportionate amount of spending on GSA formation? [Why?]), it should be pointed out that people, not money, need groundwater. *(or perhaps one - they didn't, after all, ask for

On behalf of the Cuyama Valley Family Resource Center

For Cuyama Valley water rights

I am a property owner in the Cottonwood Canyon area.

The SGMA legislation calls for local input and representation of groundwater resources. The Cuyama Water District is predominantly represented by the Industrial Agricultural interest of corporations that have been unsustainably extracting groundwater for their exclusive profits for decades. Their interests are shortsighted and purely financial. The Cuyama Valley community of residence and small farmer have watched these big growers deplete our aquifer unabated for too long. In the interests of sustainable management of our common groundwater resource, They must not be given an unfair majority representation in the GSA. One Agency, One Vote

Property owner in Cottonwood Canyon

Water is a shared resource, and everyone should have a say in how it's being used