What We Protect!

Current Issues in Butte County

1. Our Issues With Groundwater Management

When the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) was passed in 2014, groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) were charged with creating Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) that serve as a roadmap for achieving groundwater sustainability in 20 years. In the context of SGMA, GSAs have been tasked with identifying Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDEs) and establishing minimum thresholds and measurable objectives to assess impacts to GDEs. In Butte County, we have multiple GSAs relating to different subbasins and other areas. Chico is located in the Vina subbasin, and groundwater under Chico is therefore managed by the Vina GSA. The Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation is another organization that plays an important role in managing our groundwater resources.

This places control of our groundwater with wealthy out-of-state corporations instead of valuing the input of Butte County citizens and small farmers. Even worse, the district is gerrymandered - its borders deliberately exclude the city of Chico, who would have something to say about how their groundwater is managed. These voices are being left out of the conversation, even though we’re all pulling groundwater from the same aquifer. If agriculture, which is responsible for 90% of groundwater use in Butte County, doesn’t figure out a way to stop depleting the aquifer, our groundwater dependent ecosystems like Bidwell Park and its Valley Oaks will be at risk of collapse. Currently, our aquifer is overdrafted by approximately 10,000 acre-feet.

There are a ton of public meetings relating to the management of our local groundwater. If you are interested in getting involved in this critical issue, there is often a chance to leave a public comment on the decisions being made in our county.

Check out the BEC community calendar to stay on top of all things groundwater in Butte County! We also offer an open-source library of water resources, called Public Water Resources. This is an ongoing issue so BEC will be continuing to monitor and report our findings.

2. Chico Barber District Development Environmental Impact Report

Are you up to date on the latest development plans in the City of Chico? 

The Barber Yard Specific Plan Description:

“The proposed project consists of the full buildout of the 133 acre Barber Yard Specific Plan Area resulting in a mixed-use community accommodating a diverse range of up to 1,250 housing units with a mix of commercial, recreational and office uses located throughout. The proposed project would include adaptive reuse of the three existing on-site buildings (Warehouse, Engineering Building, and Shop). Within the approximately 16-acre off-site improvement area, an approximately 3-5 acre combination water quality retention/detention basin (stormwater basin), access drive from Estes Road, and an associated storm drain alignment would be constructed to connect the BYSP Area and stormwater basin to a new outfall to Comanche Creek.”

Concerns were voiced by the community at the Environmental Impact Review Workshop on January 29th held by Green City Chico and at the Environmental Impact Report Public Hearing on January 30th.

The Diamond Match Factory was an operational Mill and Factory owned by the Louisiana-Pacific Corporation functioning through the 20th Century on the 292 acres adjacent to the railroad in what is now considered South Chico. During the construction and operations of the facilities, many substances were used that would come out later as being toxic, hazardous, carcinogenic and detrimental to both people and the environment.