SACRAMENTO-

Governor Jerry Brown signed a package of legislation, four decades in the making, that would regulate the pumping of groundwater in California for the first time.

California has been one of few states that did not have a groundwater management plan.

Competing interests have had a hard time compromising on a regulation plan even though it’s been acknowledged that one was desperately needed.

During the current three-year drought, 60 percent of the state’s usable water comes from pumps but numerous groundwater basins have been over-pumped and the land is sinking in several basins in the heavily farmed central valley, and water tables are dropping at a rapid pace without being replenished.

“This is a big deal,” Brown said. “It’s been known about for decades.”

Authored by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson and Senator Fran Pavely, the bills allow local entities to decide who can pump water and when. But a new state agency would have overall authority over pumping.

“Without managing our groundwater wisely we endanger economic prosperity, our drinking water supply and our environment,” Dickinson said.

Farm interests, especially in the Central Valley where growers rely heavily on groundwater, objected to the notion of regulators coming on to their property and dictating how they can use water pumped on their own land. They say the new law would upset a hundred years of established water law.

But Miles Reiter, a fourth generation grower who runs the Driscoll’s Berry operation that relies entirely on groundwater, was at the bill signing ceremony. He says regulation is the lesser of two evils because wells are in danger of going dry.

“I have absolutely no doubt that we will do far greater damage to our economy and our communities if we do nothing,” Reiter said.

Proponents including urban water districts and environmental groups say the new law will take years to implement and there is plenty of time for give and take before pumping rules are in place.