I checked in with Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District recently to see how its “dry well” program was going.
It’s steady. Meaning the agricultural water district is still getting a steady influx of claims from owners of wells that have gone dry.
Not because of the drought, per se.
But because of how groundwater has been managed, some might say mismanaged, in our shared basin.
For those who don’t commit every one of my columns to memory, I’ll explain.
In the last drought before this one, waaay back in 2009, Rosedale-Rio Bravo saw its water tables dropping sharply despite many efforts to recharge water on its lands.
The district looked around and ultimately pointed fingers at two major groundwater banking projects — the vast Kern Water Bank and Kern County Water Agency’s Pioneer Project.