Groundwater Archives - Page 3 of 12

Westlands growers fear groundwater power grab by district general manager

March 15, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

Divisions are deepening within the giant Westlands Water District as some growers fear the district’s longtime, controversial general manager is amassing too much power. In mid-February, district staff proposed new groundwater rules that would give General Manager Tom Birmingham almost total control over how groundwater is accounted for and to which grower accounts it would…

Groundwater • Personalities

Latest allegation in Boswell-Vidovich ditch bank battle: Environmental laws were willfully ignored

February 27, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Last we left off, Kings County’s two biggest farming companies were at impasse over a pipeline with heavy equipment and work crews standing guard atop the Tulare Lake Canal to keep a trench from being cut through its banks. Attorneys for the Tulare Lake Canal Company, controlled by the giant J.G. Boswell Company, and Sandridge…

Drinking Water • Groundwater

“Massive dollars” needed to clean tainted groundwater from Kern County’s banking projects

February 24, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Southern California’s reliance on Kern County’s prolific groundwater banks for drought insurance could be jeopardized by a chemical known as 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP). The cancer-causing agent has been found in several large groundwater banking operations in Kern and a first look at how much it may cost to clean up is a doozy. Up to $465…

Drought • Groundwater

Contamination a looming possibility for groundwater bank to be built using public funds

February 24, 2022

• by Lois Henry

A proposed Kern County groundwater bank that would be partially funded with $87 million in Proposition 1 money for new water storage, may have to deal with contamination before it spreads its first drop. The Kern Fan Groundwater Storage Project has not found contamination yet, but is sandwiched between areas that have confirmed 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP),…

Groundwater • Water Banking

Native American sites to be protected under plan for the long-suffering McAllister Ranch groundwater project

February 15, 2022

• by Lois Henry

In the often hard-fought world of archeological preservation, Colin Rambo is counting the McAllister Ranch groundwater project plan as a “win, win, win.” Rambo, an archeologist with the Tejon Tribe, has been working closely with the City of Bakersfield and the two Kern County water districts behind the project to make sure the “significant” Native…

Groundwater • SGMA

For some Kern County farmers, overpumping groundwater could get pricey

February 15, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Farmers in the sprawling Semitropic Water Storage District in the northwest corner of Kern County got a look recently at possible water charges for going over their allotted water budgets and the top amounts were eye popping. The details are still being worked out and won’t be put in place for a while, said Semitropic…

Groundwater • Personalities

Boswell bulldozers allowed to stay put, blocking Kings County pipeline project

February 11, 2022

• by Lois Henry

The water fight between Kings County’s two largest growers will continue with heavy equipment intended to block a pipeline project allowed to remain in place on the Tulare Lake Canal banks. The Tulare Lake Canal Company, controlled by JG Boswell Company, moved the equipment onto the canal banks in late January to block trenching for…

Groundwater • Personalities

Fight over Kings County pipeline just the latest clash between water titans

February 9, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Trucks and heavy equipment emblazoned with the distinctive diamond “B” logo parked on the banks of the Tulare Lake Canal late last month weren’t sending a subtle message. The giant JG Boswell Company has little love for Sandridge Partners. Nor for the man who runs it, John Vidovich, nor for his current pipeline project that…

Groundwater • SGMA

Gov.’s proposed $40 million for farmland retirement is welcome but more needed

February 3, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

More money could be coming to California’s new farmland repurposing program. But it’s still just a drop in the bucket, according experts. In his budget summary for 2022-2023, Governor Newsom proposed an additional $40 million for the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program, a program approved last year to pay farmers incentives for taking irrigated land out…

Groundwater • SGMA

State gives thumbs down to most San Joaquin Valley groundwater plans

January 28, 2022

• by Jesse Vad and Lois Henry, SJV Water

Groundwater plans for eight “critically overdrafted” subbasins in the San Joaquin Valley were deemed incomplete by the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) on Friday. Plans covering the Kern, Eastern San Joaquin, Merced, Chowchilla, Kings, Kaweah, Tulare Lake and Tule subbasins were all officially labeled as “incomplete” by DWR. On January 21, DWR also deemed…

NEWS

Westlands growers fear groundwater power grab by district general manager

Latest allegation in Boswell-Vidovich ditch bank battle: Environmental laws were willfully ignored

“Massive dollars” needed to clean tainted groundwater from Kern County’s banking projects

Contamination a looming possibility for groundwater bank to be built using public funds

Native American sites to be protected under plan for the long-suffering McAllister Ranch groundwater project

For some Kern County farmers, overpumping groundwater could get pricey

Boswell bulldozers allowed to stay put, blocking Kings County pipeline project

Fight over Kings County pipeline just the latest clash between water titans

Gov.’s proposed $40 million for farmland retirement is welcome but more needed

State gives thumbs down to most San Joaquin Valley groundwater plans

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