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State warns more valley groundwater agencies their plans aren’t up to snuff

• by Jesse Vad and Lois Henry
Six subbasins covering nearly all of  the central and southern San Joaquin Valley do not have adequate plans to address falling groundwater levels, according to letters sent Thursday by the Department of Water Resources to groundwater agencies within those subbasins. Subbasins with plans not likely to pass muster include the Delta-Mendota, Kaweah, Kern County, Kings,…
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As west withers corporations consolidate land and water rights

• by Eli Frankovich, Columbia Insight
This piece is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), California Health Report, Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, Circle of Blue, Colorado Public Radio, Columbia Insight, The Counter, High Country News, New Mexico In Depth and SJV Water. The project was made possible by a grant from the Water Foundation…
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State money for canal fixes set to start flowing

• by Lois Henry
The state Department of Water Resources opened the spigot Tuesday on the first $100 million, of $200 million, budgeted over the next two fiscal years to fix several key canals that have sunk because of groundwater pumping. Subsidence has reduced carrying capacity in the canals from 15% up to 60% in the Friant-Kern Canal, which…
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The Counter: How a federal drought relief program left southern Oregon parched—and contributed to the ongoing groundwater crisis in the West

• by Jessica Fu, The Counter
This piece is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), California Health Report, Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, Circle of Blue, Colorado Public Radio, Columbia Insight, The Counter, High Country News, New Mexico In Depth and SJV Water. The project was made possible by a grant from the Water Foundation…
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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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Farmland repurposing program awaits Gov. Newsom’s OK

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
A bill that would create a program to help farmers find new life for farmland idled by coming groundwater restrictions had its own phoenix moment in early September when it was simultaneously killed and reborn —  this time with money. AB 252, authored by Assemblymembers Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) and Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield), died in the…
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Growers hope groundwater markets provide flexibility

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
Some San Joaquin Valley farmers could someday have a new “crop” to sell —  their groundwater. In the face of looming groundwater pumping restrictions, some groundwater agencies are looking at internal markets to give growers a way to save water and still earn a profit. These nascent markets are still in the talking and tinkering…
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