On August 26, 2025, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors ("Board") adopted an urgency ordinance (Urgency Ordinance ("UO") No. 1576) that imposes a 45-day moratorium for the issuance of new or modified agricultural groundwater well-permits in designated "Focus Areas" (see Figure 1 below). In addition to preventing the issuance of new permits, the moratorium will prevent Yolo County from approving eleven pending well permit applications that were submitted before the moratorium was put in place. The Board scheduled another public hearing for October 7, 2025, where it will consider extending the moratorium for an additional 10 months and 15 days (another year-long extension can be approved in August 2026).
Kronick previously reported on Yolo County's new, more restrictive groundwater well permitting program in late-2024, following the County's decision to maintain well permitting restrictions that were put in place to comply with now-rescinded Executive Orders. That article is available here.
This article evaluates the County's decision to put a pause on new permits under its recently adopted permitting structure for up to two years while it studies potential restrictions on agricultural land conversion and further changes to the groundwater well permitting program within Focus Areas. As noted below, the County's decision to impose a moratorium despite the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Authority's ("YSGA") assertion that the Yolo Subbasin (the groundwater basin at issue) is not currently overdrafted raises questions about the immediate need for a moratorium and the County's proper role in implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act ("SGMA").
Figure 1. Focus Areas within the Yolo Subbasin.
Historical Context for UO No. 1576
Yolo County made two major changes to its groundwater well permitting program in the year and a half leading up to UO No. 1576, which is notable because – prior to these changes – the County's well permitting program had been largely unchanged since the 1970s. As a result, the County's decision to enact a moratorium should be viewed within the context of these recent developments.
The first major change to Yolo County's groundwater well permitting program was adopted on April 9, 2024 in response to Executive Order (EO) N-3-23 (2023) and EO N-7-22 (2022). These EOs declared a drought emergency and restricted cities and counties from issuing permits for new groundwater wells situated in "medium or high priority" groundwater basins (Yolo Subbasin is a "high priority" basin) unless specific findings could be made. (See EO No. N-7-22 § 9 (March 8, 2022). The findings include the determination that a new or modified well would not: (1) be inconsistent with the applicable Groundwater Sustainability Plan ("GSP"); (2) decrease the likelihood of achieving sustainability; (3) interfere with nearby wells; or (4) damage nearby infrastructure. The EOs also required cities and counties to obtain written verification from the applicable Groundwater Sustainability Agency ("GSA") before approving a permit.
The groundwater well permitting program that was adopted in April of 2024 includes two new steps to satisfy the requirements of the EOs: (1) minimum well separation distances; and (2) GSA verification of new or modified wells. The GSA verification process outside of Focus Areas does not involve additional requirements, however, the verification process inside Focus Areas requires the applicant to provide a hydrogeologist's report demonstrating that the new or modified well will not result in an exceedance of sustainable management criteria.
On September 5, 2024, six months after Yolo County adopted its new well permitting program, Governor Newsom rescinded the EOs. The Governor's decision to rescind the EOs and terminate restrictions on permits for new or modified groundwater wells brought about the second major change to the County's well permitting program. You can read more regarding the Governor's decision to rescind the EOs here.
On October 22, 2024, shortly after the EOs were rescinded, Yolo County adopted UO No. 1569, which continued the two-step permitting process that was adopted in April of 2024. UO No. 1569 states that:
Although the State-wide EO process is no longer mandated, the EO review process in Yolo County developed with independent hydrogeologists, particularly with the Yolo Subbasin, identified Focus Areas and ensures the benefit of coordinated review of well permits by both the County and the applicable GSAs while the County completes long-term well permit ordinance updates.
(UO No. 1569, pg. 3.) The decision made Yolo County one of the few counties to continue restrictive well permitting requirements following rescission of the EOs. You can read more about UO No. 1569 here.
Details on Moratorium
UO No. 1576 states that Yolo County has the authority to impose a moratorium on groundwater well permitting under CA Government Code section 65858(a), which provides that a county or city:
[M]ay adopt as an urgency measure an interim ordinance prohibiting any uses that may be in conflict with a contemplated general plan, specific plan, or zoning proposal that the legislative body, planning commission or the planning department is considering or studying or intends to study within a reasonable time . . . the legislative body may extend the interim ordinance for 10 months and 15 days and subsequently extend the interim ordinance for one year.
Under the "zoning proposal," the County intends to study whether to enact limitations "with respect to crop conversions on agricultural zoned-lands . . . to protect against unsustainable groundwater impacts." (UO No. 1576, pg. 6.) The County also stated that it intends to study changes to the groundwater well permitting program, including a requirement to add meters to new wells and changes to the appeals process. Therefore, UO No. 1576 was adopted to prohibit new groundwater wells because those new wells could result in farmland conversion to perennial crops, which is at odds with the restrictions on farmland conversion that it intends to study.
Evaluation of Moratorium
The moratorium created by UO No. 1576 represents a third major change to Yolo County's approach to groundwater well permitting program since April 2024, and signals potential future changes that could be even more far-reaching. The moratorium has a significant impact on landowners within Focus Areas because no permits can be issued for new or modified agricultural wells for up to two years. In recognition of the severe impacts that landowners within Focus Areas will face during the moratorium, the County created a well permitting exemption for "economic or health and safety hardship" that requires approval by the Planning Commission.
The County's justification for the rapid changes to its groundwater well permitting program is uncertainty regarding "groundwater sustainability with the hardening of water demand for irrigation needs with the continued development of perennial crops." However, neither the Staff Report nor the Ordinance includes evidence that perennial crop conversions are concentrated within Focus Areas or that the eleven well applications pending approval within Focus Areas were associated with future perennial crop conversions. It is unclear whether the County will seek to develop more detailed information on these problems when it considers extending the moratorium at the Board Meeting on October 7, 2025. More detailed information on the problems addressed by UO No. 1576 could help County staff focus on narrowly tailored, quickly implementable solutions.
One other notable feature of the moratorium is the apparent lack of coordination between Yolo County and YSGA, the GSA for the Yolo Subbasin. During the August 26, 2025 hearing, YSGA staff informed the Board that – unlike overdrafted groundwater basins – the Yolo Subbasin is not currently considering "demand management" actions (i.e., restrictions on groundwater use) within the Focus Areas. YSGA staff stated that "Yolo County is in a very good position, many of the wells have recovered since the 2015 and 2022 drought, and we're trying to take a thoughtful approach to getting there [sustainability] without having too much backlash." In short, YSGA staff informed the Board that the Yolo Subbasin is in a very different situation than overdrafted basins where demand management actions – such as restrictions on new wells – are being considered. YSGA staff added that YSGA is focused on collaborating with landowners on recharge projects as an alternative pathway to sustainability.
Despite YSGA staff's remarks regarding groundwater levels in the Yolo Subbasin and the YSGA's focus on recharge projects as an alternative to demand management, these issues were not discussed further by the Board. The Board did provide direction to County staff to collaborate with the YSGA on studies regarding proposed changes to the groundwater well permitting program. The apparent lack of coordination leading to the County's decision to adopt a moratorium raises questions about future coordination between YSGA and the County on policies intended to address long-term groundwater sustainability. It is unclear whether more details will be shared at the October 7, 2025 Board Meeting about how County staff will collaborate with YSGA to study land use and well permitting changes during the moratorium. More details regarding future collaboration between YSGA and the County on studies related to UO No. 1576 could provide a forum for the County to engage on the groundwater recharge projects that YSGA staff identified as YSGA's primary focus.
Conclusion
Yolo County's decision to impose a moratorium on permits for new or modified groundwater wells within Focus Areas for up to two years, despite YSGA's assertion that the Yolo Subbasin is not overdrafted, raises questions about the legal basis for the County's moratorium. Yolo County's ban represents the third major change to its groundwater well program since April of 2024. The County's justification for the moratorium is uncertainty regarding the potential effect on groundwater levels from demand hardening because of agricultural crop conversion. During the moratorium, County staff will be tasked with studying potential amendments to the County's zoning code that would prevent future agricultural land conversions, as well as changes to the well permitting program.
The Board will decide whether to continue the moratorium until August 2026 on October 7, 2025. It is unclear if the County will provide the public with more information regarding the potential problems that are being targeted by the moratorium or its future coordination efforts with YSGA, however, such information would be helpful to identify narrowly tailored, quickly implementable solutions that complement YSGA's ongoing groundwater sustainability efforts.
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