SGMA Isn’t Just About Water

If you’ve only read the policies, SGMA may appear to be a groundwater regulation. A roadmap to sustainability. A technical solution to a technical problem.

But if you’ve spent any time in the field or in the rooms where decisions are made, you know this goes much deeper.

Why SGMA Is About More Than Water

SGMA is reshaping more than just water use. It’s shifting how people farm, how they trust institutions, and how they prepare for a future that feels increasingly unstable.

These are the costs that don’t show up in the reports:

• Burnout among the same community members who always show up

• Frustration from stakeholders who feel unheard

• Skepticism from those who’ve watched past plans fall apart

• Shifts in family land planning, leasing, and succession

• Rising fear in small communities about what their future holds

  
  

The Hidden Layer: Grief

SGMA brings loss. And like any loss, it comes with grief.

• Grief over land that might not stay in production

• Grief over family decisions no one wanted to make

• Grief over the silence that too often surrounds rural voices

• Grief over the feeling of being left behind...again

This kind of emotional weight isn’t accounted for in the metrics, but it shapes how people respond, how they resist, and how they recover.

It’s Not Just a Checklist

SGMA isn’t just a mandate; it’s a reckoning. SGMA is about more than water, and that will outlast the meetings and shape rural California for decades to come.

If we treat this like a communications problem or an engineering puzzle, we miss the real assignment: rebuilding trust, restoring clarity, and supporting communities as they navigate real, lasting change.

We don’t need better messaging. We need real listening. We need actions that show people they matter. And we need to tell the truth about what’s happening and who it’s happening to.

See you at the table,

Julie