The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) recently selected OCWD's Chief of Hydrogeology Roy Herndon to serve on the state's Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) for the implementation of California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Program.

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) was developed to achieve sustainable groundwater management at the local level. DWR has developed an extensive outreach program to solicit input as it moves forward to implement the various components of the act. One such outreach effort includes the formation of a TAP to obtain expert input on specific technical and management issues of implementing sustainable groundwater management.

The TAP provides DWR with the opportunity to discuss and understand technical and management issues from a local perspective, and to ensure tools and regulations are effective and implementable for local and regional managers. In turn, TAP members are given the opportunity to provide valuable insight into the local issues, consequences, and opportunities associated with implementing the SGMA. DWR considers the interaction with the TAP to be an important aspect of successful implementation of the SGMA.

Roy Herndon, Chief Hydrogeologist for the Orange County Water District for more than 20 years, directs the activities of OCWD's Hydrogeology Department, including numerical groundwater flow modeling, performance evaluation and improvement of seawater intrusion barriers, basin-wide and local water level and water quality investigations.

The first TAP meeting will take place April 14 in Sacramento.