groundwater Archives - Page 9 of 20

SGMA

More Kern County water districts split with larger authority

October 26, 2022

• by Rose Horowitch, SJV Water reporting intern

Two more members of the Kern Groundwater Authority (KGA) announced that they will form their own groundwater sustainability agencies, continuing a pattern of members distancing themselves from Kern County’s largest groundwater agency. The Shafter-Wasco Irrigation District and North Kern Water Storage District will each form their own GSA, it was announced at the Oct. 26…

Rivers

VIDEO: How the lower Kern River is divvied up

October 23, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Flows on the lower Kern River are split up among a hydra of canals starting just west of Hart Park. We talk with local experts who explain who owns those canals and where the water goes under the Law of the River. There’s a lot to learn so we’re splitting the lower Kern into two…

Drought • Rivers

Putah Creek’s experience suggests getting water back in the Kern River could be a “slam dunk”

October 22, 2022

• by Lois Henry

If water rights on the Kern River were challenged in a public trust lawsuit, those rights would lose water, according to a legal expert on the public trust doctrine. Even when water rights go back more than 100 years, which is the case on the Kern River, the public trust doctrine holds sway. “It’s not…

Drinking Water • Drought

Water debt doubles for residents of tiny, impoverished west Fresno County towns

October 20, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

Water debt has ballooned to nearly double what it was last year in Cantua Creek and El Porvenir, two small towns in western Fresno County where nearly half the residents live in poverty. The towns were supposed to be getting water from two new wells by now but the project hasn’t been completed so they’ve…

SGMA

Boswell-Vidovich water war blows up over groundwater

October 12, 2022

• by Jesse Vad and Lois Henry, SJV Water

A long simmering water war between Kings County’s two biggest farming entities blew up Wednesday over groundwater when the state rejected the region’s plan to shore up its declining aquifer. The fallout could be significant if the state pursues enforcement, which could include pumping limits, steep fines and fees for all groundwater users in the…

SGMA

State not ponying up enough $$ for farmland retirement, critics say

September 29, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

Though $40 million was added to the state’s farmland retirement pot, some worry it won’t be nearly enough. Gov. Gavin Newsom authorized the funding Tuesday night to be added to the state’s new Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program. The program, initially funded with $50 million in 2021, pays for farmland to be taken out of production…

SGMA

Over pumping will sting Madera growers, just not as much

September 27, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

There will be a penalty for over pumping groundwater in Madera County, but it won’t be as painful as it could have been. That was the upshot from a nearly three-hour – sometimes fiery – meeting on Tuesday of the Madera County Board of Supervisors. Supervisors opted for a penalty of $100 per acre foot…

SGMA

Madera groundwater plans kicked back by state for not protecting domestic wells, ignoring subsidence

September 22, 2022

• by Jesse Vad and Lois Henry, SJV Water

The state kicked Madera County groundwater plans back for a redo on Thursday, noting, in particular, that they had set water levels so low it could endanger hundreds of domestic wells. The plans also all but ignored ongoing damage to roads, bridges and canals caused by sinking land, subsidence, opting mostly to “monitor” the situation….

Personalities

Through dry years and wet – and multiple lawsuits – retiring Bakersfield City water leader met challenges cheerfully

September 16, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Art Chianello, who has led Bakersfield’s Water Resources Department through two of the state’s worst droughts and one of its wettest years on record, is retiring at the end of September. Most municipal water departments are fairly quiet operations. As long as water comes out of taps, not many people pay attention. But the Bakersfield…

SGMA

Fresno officials “irritated” by gravity in wastewater saga, according to ag district

September 10, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

The City of Fresno hadn’t bothered much recently with a mound of groundwater that accumulates beneath its southwest wastewater treatment plant every year. For decades, it traded a chunk of the water to the Fresno Irrigation District (FID) for about half the amount back in Kings River water, but had let that deal lapse the…

NEWS

More Kern County water districts split with larger authority

VIDEO: How the lower Kern River is divvied up

Putah Creek’s experience suggests getting water back in the Kern River could be a “slam dunk”

Water debt doubles for residents of tiny, impoverished west Fresno County towns

Boswell-Vidovich water war blows up over groundwater

State not ponying up enough $$ for farmland retirement, critics say

Over pumping will sting Madera growers, just not as much

Madera groundwater plans kicked back by state for not protecting domestic wells, ignoring subsidence

Through dry years and wet – and multiple lawsuits – retiring Bakersfield City water leader met challenges cheerfully

Fresno officials “irritated” by gravity in wastewater saga, according to ag district

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