SGMA

Since Gov. Newsom's emergency drought order on March 28, Kern County hasn’t issued a single agricultural well permit. Frustration in the ag community is at a boiling point.

Looking at water levels near Hanford in Kings County, researchers determined land will continue sinking for centuries unless groundwater is replenished in those areas.

The Kings River East Groundwater Sustainability Agency covers eastern Fresno County and a chunk of northern Tulare County. Its board of directors approved a letter disavowing ag's responsibility to raise groundwater levels enough to protect all domestic wells.

The new proposed funding comes at a critical time as groundwater restrictions take effect and drought grips the state for a third year in a row.

The research paper advised that more robust financial planning at the start of major multi-agency water infrastructure projects can help ensure that all partners share the resulting water and financial outcomes.

Groundwater limits and fees netted $11 million in 2021 from Tulare Co. farmers. Most of that money will pay a share to fix the sagging Friant-Kern Canal. The rest will pay for projects to stem the groundwater free fall that sank the canal in the first place.

They’re optimistic that increasing agriculture's resilience to a changing climate can also improve its relationship with the environment.

Pumping caps have been, or soon will be, implemented in all three groundwater sustainability agencies in the Kaweah subbasin.

Sinking land has become a sticking point as local agencies seek to advance under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

Small farmers struggle as ag titans wheel water for profit.