NEWS

More than 30 years ago, a piece of federal legislation dropped like a bomb on California’s Central Valley farmers. Reverberations from that legislation continue through today. Just last month, a San Joaquin Valley congressman added language to an appropriations bill that would unwind a key portion of the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA)….
Entire towns flooded last winter because of permit delays, according to lawmakers and others. Debris from overgrown creeks and waterways up and down the state hadn’t been cleaned out in years for lack of proper permits. When water barreled down those channels, debris piled up, pushing water over levees and into hundreds of homes and…
After this year’s historic storms and devastating floods, the federal government has been swamped with requests from agencies across the San Joaquin Valley seeking reimbursement for repair costs.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided SJV Water a data sheet that enumerates more than 460 such requests from six counties, including Fresno, Madera, Merced, Kern…
In what one attorney called a “moment of truth” for the City of Bakersfield, a judge ordered the city to keep enough water in the normally dry Kern River to protect fish populations. The 21-page preliminary injunction was issued by Kern County Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp Monday afternoon. Colin Pearce, who represents the city…
Two bills aimed at protecting small towns mired in debt, drinking water contamination and dropping groundwater levels have become law.  Senate Bill 3, authored by state Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa,) extends water shutoff protections to households in communities with less than 200 water connections. That includes a handful of towns in the San Joaquin Valley…
Groundwater relations in the Kaweah subbasin in Tulare County have gone from bad to worse. Fingers have been pointed, ultimatums laid down and patience has run out.  At its Sept. 26 meeting, the Greater Kaweah GSA board accepted a recommendation to allocate 1.87 acre feet of groundwater per acre to its farmers for the 2023-24…
A water rights bill that made it through the Legislature this year is, arguably, a much weakened version of its original form, but the fact that it addresses senior rights at all is a significant step, according to experts. Senate Bill 389, which clarifies the state Water Resources Control Board’s ability to investigate senior water…
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