NEWS

by Lisa McEwen and Jesse Vad, SJV Water
The State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday voted unanimously to put the Tulare Lake subbasin on probation during a precedent-setting meeting in Sacramento that stretched over nine hours.  “This is a turning point. We are coming to terms with the reality of what this means especially in these areas that are so severely overdrafted,”…
San Joaquin Valley groundwater managers have had six years to come up with plans to bolster critically overdrafted aquifers. Yet, some appear still stuck at the starting line even as the specter of state intervention is marching ever closer. In the Kaweah subbasin covering northern Tulare County, one groundwater agency is just now setting out…
“Urgent” concerns about rapidly sinking land and potential harm to residential wells pushed the groundwater subbasin covering Kings County to the front of the line among several San Joaquin Valley water regions slated to go before the State Water Resources Control Board. Still, the hearing for the Tulare Lake subbasin won’t come until April 16,…
Groundwater relations in the Kaweah subbasin in Tulare County have gone from bad to worse. Fingers have been pointed, ultimatums laid down and patience has run out.  At its Sept. 26 meeting, the Greater Kaweah GSA board accepted a recommendation to allocate 1.87 acre feet of groundwater per acre to its farmers for the 2023-24…
A fast-acting recharge project in a creek bed near Lindsay is scheduled to break ground in December, one of three such projects underway in the East Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency. Lindmore Irrigation District’s Lewis Creek Recharge Project will capture water via a siphon from the Friant-Kern Canal when supplies are available, and send it along…
On Tuesday, the state announced $187 million in funding for its final round of groundwater agency funding for the time being. The money will fund 103 groundwater projects throughout the state including four in the San Joaquin Valley.  The Oakdale Irrigation District in Stanislaus County will receive $14.3 million to expand a groundwater recharge facility…
Since 2015, the state has doled out nearly $150 million to groundwater agencies for planning and projects. The flow of money has been almost nonstop for some agencies and has made it possible to operate consistently.  But the tap is shutting off.  Groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) are meant to be self-sufficient and generate their own…
The state is sending millions to farmers throughout the San Joaquin Valley to keep water in the ground.  The money, paid through the LandFlex program, goes to groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) and then directly to farmers, paying them for every acre foot they don’t pump. On July 24, the Department of Water Resources announced awards…
Growers in a chunk of land sandwiched between Highway 43 and Earlimart in the south valley learned earlier this week they are being booted out of the groundwater sustainability agency they had hoped would help solve their overdraft issues. The Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) board voted to terminate its oversight of what’s…
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