san joaquin valley Archives - Page 17 of 27

Drought • SGMA

Ag well permitting process still causing confusion in Kern County

June 22, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Kern County hasn’t issued a single agricultural well permit since early April and frustration in the ag community is at a boiling point. Ag well permitting slowed to a crawl up and down the San Joaquin Valley after Gov. Newsom issued an emergency drought order on March 28 that added an extra layer of scrutiny…

Drought

Bulk of money in state’s plan to buy water rights directed at northern California watersheds

June 15, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

A California Senate proposal to spend $2 billion to buy senior water rights would focus mostly on rights in northern California watersheds with another large chunk aimed at farmland retirement throughout the state. The proposal is included in an $18.5 billion climate plan within the state budget, which likely won’t be finalized until the end…

Drought • Rivers

How does more rain in northern California equal less flows in the San Joaquin River?

June 14, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

Water has been flowing down the San Joaquin River since the beginning of April. But, ironically, late spring rains could halt the flow. The water coming out of Millerton Lake just above Fresno is flowing because of a contract within California’s complicated water rights system. The water is going to the San Joaquin River Exchange…

Drinking Water • Drought

Clawing its way toward clean water, tiny Allensworth keeps pushing forward

June 9, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

The long quest for clean drinking water in the small town of Allensworth has been beset by all manner of challenges – arsenic, a thicket of government red tape, lack of funding and even a protected lizard. Now, after 14 years of wrangling (including having a special bill passed), as residents are finally on the…

SGMA

Going rogue? Groundwater agency says protecting all domestic wells is “unreasonable”

June 1, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

A San Joaquin Valley groundwater agency may be “going rogue” on the issue of whether it’s responsible to protect all drinking water wells. A letter approved by the board of the Kings River East Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA), which covers eastern Fresno County and a chunk of northern Tulare County, says that it is “unreasonable”…

Drought • Rivers

VIDEO: Restoring salmon on the San Joaquin during three years of drought

May 25, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

A legal settlement in 2006 created the San Joaquin River Restoration Program to reestablish the spring-run Chinook salmon population that once thrived there. The program has created a native population through careful breeding and water management. Towns Burgess, lead fish biologist with the restoration program, explains how it has been operating through three years of…

Drought • SGMA

Drought, groundwater restrictions and – oh yeah, drought – pervade talk at annual Kern water summit

May 19, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Local and state water leaders were practically upbeat two years ago at the last in-person Water Summit put on by the Water Association of Kern County. At least as upbeat as California water folks typically get. They advocated for new ideas, radical partnerships and solutions that could benefit both ag and environmental interests. That was…

Personalities • SGMA

Accusations continue to fly between two valley ag titans in water feud

May 18, 2022

• by Lois Henry

The ongoing water feud between two of Kings County’s biggest farming entities recently spilled into Kern County and up to Sacramento with allegations on both sides of misuse of water and other public resources. In a May 12 letter, the Southwest Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency complains that the J.G. Boswell Company has been pumping and…

Personalities • Rivers

Chuck Williams, longest-serving Kern River Watermaster, dies at 93

May 6, 2022

• by Lois Henry, SJV Water

Chuck Williams, the longest serving “interim, acting” Kern River Watermaster, died Friday. He was 93. Attorney Scott Kuney, who worked with Williams at North Kern Water Storage District, remembered Williams as a “man of great faith, integrity and a consensus maker. “And he was fun,” Kuney said Friday. “He had a thousand stories.” Kuney recalled…

SGMA

Water districts bail on Kern’s largest groundwater agency; form their own group

May 5, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Fractures have appeared within Kern County’s largest groundwater agency as pressure mounts for it to show the state how it plans to address the region’s massive groundwater deficit. Four water entities recently notified the Kern Groundwater Authority they were pulling out of the 16-member group to write their own groundwater sustainability plan. That will add…

NEWS

Ag well permitting process still causing confusion in Kern County

Bulk of money in state’s plan to buy water rights directed at northern California watersheds

How does more rain in northern California equal less flows in the San Joaquin River?

Clawing its way toward clean water, tiny Allensworth keeps pushing forward

Going rogue? Groundwater agency says protecting all domestic wells is “unreasonable”

VIDEO: Restoring salmon on the San Joaquin during three years of drought

Drought, groundwater restrictions and – oh yeah, drought – pervade talk at annual Kern water summit

Accusations continue to fly between two valley ag titans in water feud

Chuck Williams, longest-serving Kern River Watermaster, dies at 93

Water districts bail on Kern’s largest groundwater agency; form their own group

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