Groundwater Mangagement (BMO) Ordinance

Butte County Code Chapter 33-A

In February 2004, the Butte County Board of Supervisors adopted the Basin Management Objective (BMO) Ordinance to manage groundwater within the county.

This ordinance requires that “stakeholders” in sixteen groundwater sub-inventory units within the four hydrologic groundwater basins completely or partly under the county ( click here to download "Sub Basin Map.doc") organize themselves, nominate a representative to a new Water Advisory Committee (WAC), determine if monitoring well data is adequate, establish ‘trigger’ groundwater levels, meet regularly to determine if well monitoring data identifies problems and to mediate complaints about well interference in their sub-basins. “The local representative of each sub-inventory unit shall be solely responsible for the development of the Basin Management Objective for their sub-inventory unit” 33-A4[c]. The Supervisors appoint the representatives to the WAC.

The ordinance can be found on the county’s website and there is a regulatory section of the ordinance that has been written, but not yet adopted there along with BMO development packets created by CDM Consulting for Vina and the Chico Urban Area inventory units. (Note:  these links take you to large files located at the Butte County website.  Download times without high speed internet access are quite long.)

Big Chico Creek Watershed Alliance provided assistance to citizens within our watershed to organize stakeholder groups for the Vina and the Chico Urban Area BMOs. We sponsored meetings (Schedules & Agendas), have notes from past meetings (Meeting Notes), Organization & Operating Principals (Vina Groundwater Basin BMO Stakeholder's Operating Principles) and BMOs (under development).