Crop-rich California region may fall under state monitoring to preserve groundwater flow

California could step in to regulate groundwater use in part of the crop-rich San Joaquin Valley, which would be a first step of its kind, a decade after lawmakers ordered local communities to carefully manage the precious but often overutilized resource. to manage.

At stake is control of an agriculture-dependent area where state officials say local water agencies have not come up with a strong enough plan to keep water flowing sustainably into the future. The State Water Resources Control Board will hold a hearing Tuesday to decide whether the region should be placed under surveillance, which would mean state officials, not local ones, would temporarily monitor the amount of water that could be pumped from the ground.

“It’s a huge deal,” said Dusty Ference, executive director of the Kings County Farm Bureau, which represents regional farmers. “What you gain from having local control is the ability to build groundwater recharge projects and some flexibility in how water is used, moved and traded or not.”

Ference said the state board would not have the local expertise or staff to do this.

“It’ll just be, ‘Here’s the pump quantity we authorize.’ Do what you can with it. ”

The hearing is seen as a test of how California’s groundwater rules work a decade after lawmakers passed them. The limits came after years of over-pumping and drought led to a host of problems, ranging from residential wells drying up to sinking soil. The aim was to make the groundwater basins with the largest overdraft sustainable.

Communities have since formed groundwater sustainability bodies and developed management plans. In the Tulare Lake subbasin, five local agencies worked on a single proposal only to see it rejected last year by the state Department of Water Resources over concerns about lowering groundwater levels, land sinking and deteriorating groundwater quality .

If the state water board intervenes after Tuesday’s hearing, officials could require anyone extracting more than a minimum amount of groundwater to report how much they extract and pay a fee. The state could also require larger pump companies to install and use meters that measure water use.

The Tulare Lake Subbasin covers part of Kings County, home to about 150,000 people, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The county is a major producer of milk, pistachios, cotton and processed tomatoes, according to a county agricultural report.

It is also home to Tulare Lake, a large, dry basin that fills with water in rainy years. The lake last appeared in 2023 after intense winter storms that flooded farms and roads.

Doug Freitas, an almond farmer who owns property in areas covered by three different groundwater agencies, said each agency has talked about what to do next. He said he was aware of the state’s groundwater law, but like most small farmers, he was so busy trying to make ends meet that he couldn’t foresee the consequences.

“As a farmer, I believe we need more time,” Freitas said. “I would like to go to that meeting and beg for mercy and ask them to let us come back to the table.”

One of the agencies, the Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency, proposed an April 23 vote on charging landowners fees and limiting pumping. The move has been met with some resistance, with agency Director Dennis Mills recently telling residents that something must be done if they want to avoid the state intervening.

“They will not accept any further promises at this time,” Mills said. “A revised plan alone is not good enough. They need to see concrete steps on how we are addressing these issues.”

Then there are people like Joaquin Contente, a longtime dairy farmer in Kings County, who said pump fees and limits pose problems for him, whether they’re imposed by local or state officials. He depends on groundwater to grow the alfalfa he feeds his 800 cattle.

“I know a lot of people are concerned about it, because I’m one of them,” Contente said.

Ference, the director of the agriculture bureau, said he supports local control so farmers can have a say in what happens and communities can invest in local charging projects.

“This is a community-wide problem that, if not managed properly, will be catastrophic,” he said.