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State’s groundwater “cop” hands out more criticism of valley plans

• by Lois Henry
Another set of comments critical of how San Joaquin Valley groundwater plans will impact drinking water wells dropped on Friday from the powerful State Water Resources Control Board. The comments focused on plans that cover the City of Fresno and many surrounding towns as well as Visalia and a number of smaller towns in Tulare…
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Four valley groundwater plans fail to meet state standards – for now

• by Danielle Bergstrom, Fresnoland, Lois Henry and Jesse Vad, SJV Water
Four groundwater plans in the Central Valley — including those for Westlands Water District, Chowchilla Water District and the Merced and Eastern San Joaquin subbasins — don’t show how they will protect water quality, keep drinking water wells from going dry or stop already sinking land from sinking further, according to the Department of Water…
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State’s groundwater “cop” weighs in on plans to stop over pumping and finds them lax

• by Lois Henry
As California’s Central Valley water managers nervously await the first official Department of Water Resources responses to plans for how they expect to fix massive groundwater over pumping, some were dismayed to “stumble” on comments from a different, and very powerful, state water agency. The State Water Resources Control Board submitted  highly critical comments on…
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A space-age tool aims to bring water use down to Earth

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
New satellite technology could be a critical piece to the future of water trading in the San Joaquin Valley, according to those working on the tech. OpenET, an online platform that uses satellite imagery to estimate how much water is used by different crops, launched publicly on October 21. The platform is already being tested…
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Kings County groundwater plan raising questions

• by Lois Henry
It’s hard to imagine state officials giving the thumbs up to a groundwater sustainability plan that potentially allows Corcoran – California’s subsidence epicenter – to sink up to another 11 feet. Especially considering the tiny, rural town was forced to spend $14 million in 2017 to rebuild its levees following the 2012-16 drought when it…
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March for the Kern River

• by Lois Henry
About 30 hardy souls marched the length of the dry Kern River bed — nine miles — from near Manor Street in east Bakersfield all the way to Stockdale Highway Saturday morning to protest the lack of water in the river. At the start of the hike, the group filled bottles and jugs with water…
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UPDATE: Popular I-5 oasis has a line on water but will have to pay

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
Kettleman City needs $375,000 to keep from going dry, possibly as early as the end of next month. The popular pitstop along Interstate 5 in Kings County between Los Angeles and San Francisco needs 214 acre feet to supply residents and keep its raft of gas stations and fast food joints open. But in this…
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Inaugural Southern Sierra Film Festival kicks off Sunday

• by Lois Henry
The first ever Southern Sierra Film Festival will launch at the Kern County Museum Sunday, Nov. 14, from 5 to 10 p.m. The festival aims to celebrate the “unique natural resources” of the southern Sierra mountain communities, according to the group’s website. The group hopes to inspire future conservationists and  film makers and to “spread…
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How ag’s footprint has changed since the last drought

• by Lois Henry
In the world of farming, not all crops are equal. That is starkly apparent when looking at how crops changed in the central and southern San Joaquin Valley since the beginning of the last drought, according to county crop reports. While most counties saw reductions in overall harvested acres between 2012 and 2020, they also…
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