- Editor’s note: Monserrat Solis covers Kings County water issues for SJV Water through the California Local News Fellowship initiative.
Water managers in Kings County have heard nothing but crickets from state Water Resources Control Board staff for more than a month.
While they would like feedback on how to best revise their groundwater sustainability plans, managers in the Tulare Lake subbasin instead are operating in separate silos, tailoring those plans to their own groundwater sustainability agency (GSA) boundaries.
“We’re trying to move forward, but we’re also somewhat flying blind,” said Johnny Gailey, general manager of the South Fork Kings GSA.
The subbasin was the first of six San Joaquin Valley regions to face scrutiny by the state Water Board, the enforcement arm of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. That law requires that overdrafted aquifers reach sustainability by 2040.
Board members voted in April to put the region on probation, which requires well metering, registration, fees and extraction reports. All of that was put on hold after a Kings County judge issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought against the Water Board by the Kings County Farm Bureau. The Water Board has appealed the injunction.
Since that injunction, Water Board staff ceased communicating with water managers in the region on advice of legal counsel.
Catching shrapnel
Deanna Jackson, general manager at Tri-County Water Authority GSA, voiced frustration with the predicament.
“From a GSA standpoint, the lack of communication is definitely a hindrance,” she said. “The farm bureau and the landowners involved, I don’t fault them. There are a lot of unknowns in SGMA and they need to be sorted out, even through the legal process.
“The GSAs have zero control over this litigation. We are in shrapnel’s way right now.”
It’s not just the Tulare Lake subbasin. Water managers in the Kern subbasin are concerned as well. Kern has been recommended for probation and is working with Water Board staff on a new plan it filed in May.
“The litigation puts everything in a wrinkle for everyone, themselves (Tulare Lake) included,” said Dan Bartel, General Manager of the Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water District.
Kern’s hearing is set for Feb. 20, 2025, but after Water Board staff canceled a recent technical meeting with locals, the Kern GSA requested a hearing delay which was denied.
“Any postponement, cancellation, or delay makes it difficult for us to finalize our document before the final staff recommendation for probation,” Bartel said. “We’re working hard to adopt our final plans in December and we’re asking Santa for a pass from the state board for Christmas.”
As for the radio silence with managers in the Tulare Lake subbasin, state Water Board spokesman Edward Ortiz said staff’s hands are tied.
“Because the language in the preliminary injunction — which is considerably broader than the temporary restraining order previously issued by the court— prohibits ‘any actions,’ the Board had no alternative but to cease discussions with the GSAs regarding their efforts to resolve deficiencies and exit probationary status,” Ortiz wrote in a statement. “The importance of being able to continue these discussions and help the GSAs achieve sustainable management in the Tulare Lake Subbasin for both farms and communities is one of the reasons the Board is appealing the preliminary injunction.”
Pretty scary
Subbasin managers had about 90 percent of a new plan complete in advance of the April hearing. That plan has since been divided into five separate plans, tailored to each GSA. Still, managers have not received comment on a substantial portion of that plan, leaving them little to go on.
“It’s tough to make changes when you don’t have anything negative or positive to go on,” Jackson said.
Gailey said it is unknown if any feedback will be received before April 16, 2025.
Under SGMA, probationary subbasins typically have a year to come up with a workable plan. If they can’t, the state can impose its own pumping restrictions.
Because of the injunction in the Tulare Lake subbasin, it’s unclear what will happen at the year mark.
Water managers are working under the presumption that the deadline still exists.
“We know we have to move forward because of the time crunch,” Gailey said. “Just because we don’t get to talk to them doesn’t mean we can stop working.”
Jackson said she thinks there is a strong possibility that a state pumping plan will be imposed over the entire subbasin.
The prospect of a state pumping plan makes landowners nervous, Gailey said.
“It’s hard to play by the rules when you don’t know what the rules are,” he said. “They are nervous because it’s somewhere between ‘turn your wells off’ and some sort of reporting on groundwater extraction. It all gets pretty scary.”
Moving forward in a vacuum
For Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency, which had just put itself back together after imploding in May, a 90-minute phone call with state board staff is all they’ve got to work with.
“There’s zero progress without the state board participation,” said Doug Verboon, Kings County supervisor and Mid-Kings River GSA chair. “We don’t know what they need. We’re not going to implement rules upon our citizens until we know what they will accept.”
Farm Bureau Executive Director Dusty Ference said the preliminary injunction applies to the state Water Board, not the Department of Water Resources (DWR), which the farm bureau believes is the agency responsible for approving groundwater sustainability plans under SGMA.
The farm bureau is advising GSAs to communicate with DWR instead of the state Water Board.
Still, Ference is not surprised communication with GSAs in the Tulare Lake subbasin has come to a standstill.
“Since the (preliminary injunction) pauses probation, it’s understandable that the state Water Board wouldn’t communicate with GSAs about probation or plans anymore,” Ference said
Verboon remains optimistic.
“I am focused on resolving this problem,” Verboon said. “It’s not going to end. We’re gonna have to make adjustments in our lifestyles. We can do it, but we can’t do it without communication.”
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