subsidence Archives - Page 2 of 4

Floods

Raising the Corcoran levee on sinking ground

May 4, 2023

• by Lois Henry

The Corcoran levee is being raised – again. The fear is it won’t be high enough as runoff from record breaking snowpack above several rivers that feed into the old Tulare Lake gets underway. Before repair work got started the levee stood at 188 feet. That’s four feet shorter than when it was last…

Damage from “severe breach” of Friant-Kern Canal construction at Deer Creek difficult to assess

March 13, 2023

• by Lois Henry

An unfinished section of the new Friant-Kern Canal suffered a “severe breach” at Deer Creek in Tulare County Friday night as the normally dry creek swelled with rain and snowmelt and overran its banks into the construction zone. “This was worse than the one before,” said Johnny Amaral, Chief Operating Officer of the Friant Water…

Drought

Storms bring river flows, frustration for San Joaquin Valley water managers

January 7, 2023

• by Jesse Vad and Lois Henry, SJV Water

The string of wet storms streaming over California since the end of 2022 have brought the San Joaquin Valley both relief and frustration, depending on location. In the Fresno area, flows out of Millerton Lake into the San Joaquin River have nearly tripled from 600 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 1,600 cfs. In the…

State System

Retiring Delta Watermaster advises “pray for rain” but “plan for drought”

January 6, 2023

• by Rose Horowitch, SJV Water reporting intern

It may be raining now but Michael George, Watermaster for the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta, urged his colleagues at the State Water Resources Control Board to always be planning for drought. “The Delta mantra: we pray for rain; we’re getting it. We plan for drought; it will be back,” George said during his final report before…

Groundwater

Kings County passes law to keep its groundwater from being sold beyond its borders

November 29, 2022

• by Lois Henry

In an attempt to stop groundwater from being mined and sold beyond its borders, the Kings County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance Nov. 29 that will require anyone moving groundwater outside of Kings to get a permit. That includes groundwater pumped to backfill for surface supplies that farmers or water districts export out of…

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 • SGMA

Latest blow in Boswell-Vidovich water war could bring state control over region’s groundwater

July 25, 2022

• by Lois Henry

The latest blow in an ongoing water war between two Kings County agricultural titans may put control of the entire region’s groundwater into state hands. The J.G. Boswell Farming Company and Sandridge Partners, controlled by John Vidovich, have been scuffling over water in court, on ditch banks and even in the air with accusations on…

SGMA

Will $10 million “make a dent” in Tulare County groundwater use?

July 7, 2022

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

Three San Joaquin Valley water agencies are gearing up to spend $10 million each in grant funding they received from the state Department of Conservation to retire or repurpose farmland. Valley agencies that received grants so far include the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District, Pixley Irrigation District Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) and Madera County. SJV…

Policy

PANEL: Valley pols to give water update

July 7, 2022

• by Lois Henry

The Water Association of Kern County is hosting a water legislation update panel discussion and luncheon July 26 at 11:30 a.m. in the Renegade Room at Bakersfield College. State Senators Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) and Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) along with Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield) will discuss a number of bills and statewide initiatives impacting water issues…

SGMA

Farmers who helped sink the Friant-Kern Canal reject a fee to pay off their share of the fix

July 5, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Farmers in southern Tulare County on June 30 soundly rejected a proposed land fee that would have helped pay a lump sum settlement of $125 million toward fixing the Friant-Kern Canal, which has sunk because of excessive groundwater pumping. The Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency agreed in 2020 to pay a portion of the cost…

NEWS

Raising the Corcoran levee on sinking ground

Damage from “severe breach” of Friant-Kern Canal construction at Deer Creek difficult to assess

Storms bring river flows, frustration for San Joaquin Valley water managers

Retiring Delta Watermaster advises “pray for rain” but “plan for drought”

Kings County passes law to keep its groundwater from being sold beyond its borders

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

Latest blow in Boswell-Vidovich water war could bring state control over region’s groundwater

Will $10 million “make a dent” in Tulare County groundwater use?

PANEL: Valley pols to give water update

Farmers who helped sink the Friant-Kern Canal reject a fee to pay off their share of the fix

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