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California’s “water cop” sets date for the first hearing on one of the valley’s subpar groundwater plans

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water
“Urgent” concerns about rapidly sinking land and potential harm to residential wells pushed the groundwater subbasin covering Kings County to the front of the line among several San Joaquin Valley water regions slated to go before the State Water Resources Control Board. Still, the hearing for the Tulare Lake subbasin won’t come until April 16,…
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Chowchilla groundwater plan resubmitted, state releases probationary hearing schedule

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water
The first of six inadequate San Joaquin Valley groundwater plans has been revised. Water managers in the Chowchilla subbasin made changes to its groundwater sustainability plan (GSP) and informally resubmitted the plan to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) in hopes of avoiding a probationary trial and state intervention.  In March, six valley plans…
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A new study helps scientists understand how the Sierra Nevada snowpack affects fluctuations in ground levels on the San Joaquin Valley floor

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water
Scientists have figured out how to more accurately understand ground fluctuations in the San Joaquin Valley. It’s hoped the research will eventually become a tool valley water managers can use to predict the effects of groundwater pumping. Up until now, researchers have used satellite technology to collect data on changing ground levels, which can tell…
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Raising the Corcoran levee on sinking ground

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

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

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

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

• 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…
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