Passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management ACT (SGMA) in California has resulted in the need for improving the understanding of groundwater aquifers to support groundwater managers in developing and implementing groundwater management plans and actions. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has supported this effort by implementing the Statewide AEM Survey Project, where data are collected in a reconnaissance grid across California's priority basins. Raw, processed, inverted, and interpreted AEM data as well as digitized lithology and e-logs are made publicly available and novel tools have been developed to support data accessibility. With the Statewide AEM Surveys nearing completion, DWR is undertaking an effort to utilize the Statewide AEM Survey dataset along with other existing data (surface geophysics, lithology logs, elogs, geologic cross sections) to provide an improved understanding of basin characteristics. To support this task, new tools are being developed that will analyse all data available to produce refined, texture and hydrogeologic models. Results will be archived in DWR's California Groundwater publication and Basin Reports and models will be available to visualize through new and innovative 3D, GIS-based tools. To support this effort, DWR will also be conducting Pilot Studies that will include the collection of additional data with the goal of filling data gaps and addressing specific SGMA implementation questions. The first Pilot Study will be conducted on the eastern side of the San Joaquin Valley in California's Central Valley and will include the collection of infill AEM data, as well as other ground-based geophysical surveys.

Open-Access Online Publication: October 30, 2023