Groundwater repayment coming due early for some valley farmers

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April 1, 2019

Fixing our groundwater deficit will be painful.

No way around it.

And growers in the massive Semitropic Water Storage District are learning that sooner than most.

Though the state has set a series of short- and long-term deadlines to restore the depleted water table, Semitropic is so far in the hole it got special legislation passed in September allowing it to ramp up its own timeline — and landowner fees.

It’s holding a vote on Wednesday to slap a $500-per-acre surcharge on any “new” ground developed for farming and is proposing to use satellite imagery to determine exact water consumption by crop.

If those crops use more water than is considered average, growers will have to pay an extra $90 per acre-foot, on top of land assessments and water charges they’re already paying.

Some farmers are saying it’s just too much.

Author

Lois Henry

CEO and editor Lois Henry has spent 30 years covering the San Joaquin Valley.

She was raised on a ranch east of Fresno and attended Fresno State where she majored in Journalism.

In Bakersfield she covered a variety of beats including the military, social services, the oil industry, city and county government and did a stint in Sacramento at The Californian’s capitol bureau.

Henry spent 10 years as a manager and was the lead editor for the paper’s many award-winning projects.

In 2007, she began a twice weekly, investigative column and was able to focus on one of her passions – water.

Valley residents innately understand the importance of water. Henry has helped develop that understanding by untangling the complicated knots of rights, lawsuits, contracts and deals by which water is moved and consumed.

She plans to continue that mission through SJV Water.

Henry lives with her husband, one dog and two very spoiled cats in Bakersfield.

Groundwater repayment coming due early for some valley farmers

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