NEWS

A study examining the benefits and drawbacks of building groundwater recharge basins near rural communities is underway in Merced, Madera, Tulare and Fresno counties. The two-year study is a spinoff of an earlier feasibility study focused solely on Fresno County, and both are spearheaded by the California Water Institute at Fresno State University.  “Floodplains and…
Editor’s note: Monserrat Solis covers Kings County water issues for SJV Water through the California Local News Fellowship initiative. Kings County farmers will have more time to fight requirements from the State Water Resources Control Board to meter their wells and pay extraction fees. A temporary restraining order blocking those measures was extended to Sept. 13 by…
Westlands Water District has removed 452 acres of almond orchards thanks to a $1 million grant from the state Department of Water Resources (DWR.) It’s one project in an ongoing list aimed at bringing the district’s groundwater into sustainability.  “The district has been acquiring land since 2022 with the goal of reducing groundwater pumping in…
Attorneys for the Friant Water Authority and Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency agreed to mediation on Friday in an attempt to resolve a dispute over how quickly payment for repairs to the sinking Friant-Kern Canal should be handed over. During a status conference in Visalia, both parties told Tulare County Superior Court Judge Bret Hillman…
The constant, rumbling, teeth-gritting traffic on Highway 99 might actually be good for something.  Researchers at Caltech have figured out a way to use vibrations from passing cars to see how much water sits directly beneath the ground’s surface.  In a new paper, researchers used seismic waves from traffic noise coupled with unused fiber optic…
Despite back-to-back good water years, domestic wells are still drying up all across the valley as record breaking heat waves pummel the region.  The state saw slightly above average runoff for the 2023-2024 water year with significant precipitation and major reservoirs largely above average levels. That’s on top of an epic 2022-2023 water year. The…
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