MEETING NOTES: Cawelo board members balk at paying costs for “white lands” groundwater agency

Meeting: Cawelo Water District  board of directors
Date: January 8, 2026
Agenda: CLICK HERE

“White lands” funding

Cawelo Water District board members called the 2026 budget for the Kern Non-Districted Land Authority (KNDLA) inflated, “full of fluff” and questioned specific line items, such as $100,000 for attorney support during their Jan. 8 meeting.

Assistant General Manager Dave Halopoff said he had brought up that particular line item to KNDLA  representatives but that it went nowhere with the greater group. 

John Gaugel theorized that KNDLA’s expenses may be a reflection of whose wallet they were coming out of. 

“If we made them pay for it themselves, in that group, then they’d probably kind of tighten the budget?” Gaugle said. “They’d cut their budget up and that is where I am: We shouldn’t be subsidizing them anymore. There has to come a point where they are on their own.”

Kern water districts have been, collectively, chipping in about $250,000 a year to pay KNDLA’s costs. That’s expected to increase to $262,000 in 2026, according to KNDLA’s budget. The authority also uses revenue from the remainder of a $3.1 million grant awarded to the Kern Groundwater Authority (KGA) from the Department of Water Resources. KGA disbanded in 2024 and KNDLA was formed to take over its white lands responsibilities.

Landowners within KNDLA have, so far, not paid assessments to fund the organization. The authority has formed an assessment committee with an eye toward having landowners pay its costs, according to recent meeting minutes.

Another Cawelo board member noted water districts would not want to sign off on KNDLA’s budget when it was so “full of fluff and expensive.”

That prompted a discussion of how likely it is for KNDLA to become fully independent or possibly be taken over by the county.

As far as the county taking over, that’s not likely, Halopoff said.

He said Kern County Supervisor David Couch, who serves on the KNDLA board, is running for assembly. If he wins, that would sever the authority’s connection to the county.

Halopoff also said he believes KNDLA hasn’t been working with the right people. 

“They have been reaching out to people who have not been using the water versus people who have been using the water for political moves,” he said. “I think that ship (of the county taking over) has gone, but there still has been…limited outreach to the people who have been using the water.” 

KNDLA represents land outside of water district boundaries, commonly referred to as “white lands,” because they are left white on color-coded water district maps.

White lands have been a thorn in many subbasins as local water managers struggle to comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which mandates overdrafted regions bring aquifers into balance by 2040. White land farmers don’t pay assessments to water districts to import water and build infrastructure such as canals and recharge basins. So, if those areas are heavily farmed, they can be a significant drain on the aquifer.

In the Kern subbasin, white lands are mostly used for grazing. That acreage initially – sort of – fell under the Kern Groundwater Authority (KGA). KNDLA was formed to specifically provide white land farmers and ranchers with representation.

Cawelo’s president Gaugel urged Halopoff to let KNDLA Executive Director Jenny Holtermann know that the Cawelo board doesn’t want to pay KNDLA’s expenses any longer.

Legal counsel for the district suggested approaching the issue as: “All right, let’s start on this, but it is very unlikely that we are paying next year; we are done. As we have drafted, you know, we can withdraw from it. Give them a year to get everything in order because we are done funding this.”

Rain delays produced water project

The Cawelo board also heard an update on its new “produced water” project. Cawelo blends water produced by nearby oilfields to blend with other surface water to supplement its irrigation supplies.

This is the third project Cawelo has embarked on. It currently takes produced water from Chevron, about 1,700 acre feet a month, and California Resources Corporation, about 300 acre feet a month.

A pipeline for the new project is about 95% complete, with 9,000 feet installed, reported General Manager David Ansolabehere. 

The basin for the project has been constructed now the inlet and outlet need to be tied in. 

Work on the pipeline was delayed due to rains starting before Christmas 2025, Ansolabehere said.

– SJV Water editor Lois Henry contributed to this report.