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State budget cuts having “profound” impact on water agencies from state to local levels

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water
The impacts from California’s financial problems are starting to be revealed as some water agencies are implementing serious cutbacks.  During its August board meeting, staff at the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board announced they are trimming the operations budget by 5% because of state budget cuts.  Meanwhile, San Joaquin Valley groundwater managers are…
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Students scramble to study the Kern River as Bakersfield cuts off flows, leaving fish to die en masse

• by Lois Henry, SJV Water
The city of Bakersfield announced Tuesday it was cutting back Kern River flows for a maintenance project. But the hundreds of dead and dying fish found Friday near the Stockdale Highway bridge suggest water had already been ratcheted back days earlier. It’s unknown when flows through Bakersfield might return. The rapidity of the river’s dewatering and…
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New Mid-Kings River GSA looking for diverse committee members, among its new actions as re-formed agency

• by Monserrat Solis, California Local News Fellow
Editor’s note: Monserrat Solis covers Kings County water issues for SJV Water through the California Local News Fellowship initiative. A newly relaunched groundwater agency is looking to form a diverse, 11-member committee made up of land owners to provide input on future water decisions for a large chunk of northern Kings County. The Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability…
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State Water Board staff gives two groundwater agencies a pass, keeps Tule subbasin on hook for probation

• by Lisa McEwen, SJV Water
A final report released by state Water Resources Control Board staff Friday maintains its recommendation that the Tule subbasin be put on probation but gives a pass to two specific groundwater agencies within the subbasin. The report recommends that farmers in the Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District and Kern-Tulare Water District groundwater sustainability agencies be exempted from…
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Fresno district marches toward groundwater recharge goals

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water
The Fresno Irrigation District is 47 acres closer to its goal of building 1,300 acres of recharge basins capable of sinking 200,000 acre feet of water during a wet years. It celebrated the completion of the 47-acre Kenneson and Sanchez basins on August 21. The addition of those basins brought its total recharge acreage to…
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Rural Kings County families have a 50-50 chance their well is contaminated with nitrates

• by Monserrat Solis, California Local News Fellow
Editor’s note: Monserrat Solis covers Kings County water issues for SJV Water through the California Local News Fellowship initiative. There’s about a 50-50 chance the tap water that 10,000 rural Kings County residents are drinking is contaminated with nitrates. That’s a type of salt that can be toxic, even lethal to newborns, causing what’s commonly…
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Fresno State study examines how water recharge could help or harm disadvantaged communities on a regional scale

• by Lisa McEwen, SJV Water
A study examining the benefits and drawbacks of building groundwater recharge basins near rural communities is underway in Merced, Madera, Tulare and Fresno counties. The two-year study is a spinoff of an earlier feasibility study focused solely on Fresno County, and both are spearheaded by the California Water Institute at Fresno State University.  “Floodplains and…
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Kern disputes state’s take on its groundwater plan at first of two workshops

• by Lois Henry
Calling the state’s review of the Kern subbasin’s newest groundwater plan “cursory,” a representative of the agencies that wrote the plan detailed how it will  protect drinking water wells, improve water quality and restore the water table during a workshop held Monday. This was the first of two public workshops to discuss Kern’s groundwater plan….
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