As long-term declines in groundwater levels threaten thousands of domestic wells and cause ground to sink in parts of the San Joaquin Valley, state regulators are moving forward with efforts to force local agencies to take stronger steps to begin reining in chronic overpumping by California’s agricultural industry.
But those efforts have recently run into complications as farmers in one area, the Tulare Lake sub-basin, are suing to challenge state officials' decision to intervene by placing the area on probationary status, a move required by California groundwater law when local water managers fail to submit adequate plans to stem declines in water levels.
The State Water Resources Control Board's attempt to intervene slowed this month when a Kings County judge issued an order temporarily suspending the state's determination and delaying a requirement that farmers begin measuring and reporting how much groundwater they pump.
“We're fighting for everyone in Kings County and we're fighting for everyone in the state of California,” said Dusty Ference, executive director of Kings County Farm Bureau, which sued the state in May over the board's decision.
Ference said his group aims to overturn the state's decision and reject measures that farmers say are unreasonable, detrimental to the local economy and go beyond the requirements of the state's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA.
“We think it will set a precedent,” Ference said. “We hope the state will consider more carefully whether or not to put a sub-basin on probation and understand that its decisions have real consequences across the state.”
A worker installs irrigation lines to water a newly planted almond orchard near Tulare in 2021.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
The extent to which the case could hamper state-led efforts to manage groundwater will depend on upcoming court hearings.
Meanwhile, state officials took a step toward intervention elsewhere in the San Joaquin Valley, announcing Thursday that they are recommending the state water board also test the Kern County subbasin. They said local plans for the area do not adequately address chronically declining groundwater levels, land subsidence or water quality impacts, and that a lack of coordination among 20 local agencies has also been problematic.
The state water board plans to decide whether to intervene in Kern County at a Feb. 20 meeting, after considering whether to take similar action in two other areas of the San Joaquin Valley, Kaweah and Tule sub-basins. They are located between six areas where the state has declared local groundwater plans inadequate.
“All of these basins face urgent and irreversible damage from overexploitation of groundwater,” said Natalie Stork, deputy director of the board’s Office of Sustainable Groundwater Management.
A state analysis determined that about 230 domestic wells could go dry during a drought, based on water level trends in the Kern sub-basin, he said. The analysis also determined that plans submitted by local agencies could allow water levels to drop so dramatically that more than 400 wells would go dry.
Land subsidence caused by groundwater depletion is also a major problem, with soil sinking by as much as 75 centimeters in some areas since 2015, Stork said. When soil sinks at that rate, it can damage canals, roads, levees and other infrastructure.
As water levels drop, harmful contaminants such as arsenic and nitrate can also become more concentrated in water pumped from wells, posing health risks.
After state regulators determined in 2022 that Kern’s groundwater plans were inadequate, the area’s 14 so-called groundwater sustainability agencies began splitting up and forming new local agencies, Stork said. There are now 20 different groundwater agencies in the area, and they recently submitted seven separate revised plans.
“I think this is a reflection of the management challenges in this sub-basin,” Stork said.
He said some local agencies have also recently split up across the Tulare Lake and Tule regions in recent months, “which is concerning as this will make coordination more difficult.”
Craig Branco owns an olive grove and rental home near Visalia, where two wells went dry in 2021.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
Stork noted, however, that while having a large number of separate agencies and plans can complicate coordination, it is allowed under the state's 2014 groundwater law.
“Coordination is essential for sustainable groundwater management,” he said. “Otherwise, actions or decisions taken in one area could have a negative impact on another.”
In another region, the Delta-Mendota sub-basin, 23 independent local agencies recently met and presented a single plan covering the entire area, which Stork said is expected to improve coordination.
The state groundwater law, signed nearly 10 years ago, requires local agencies in many areas to develop groundwater plans and curb overpumping by 2040.
In parts of the Central Valley, state officials have repeatedly disagreed with local water officials over the pace at which pumping reductions should occur and the adequacy of measures to protect drinking water supplies and combat land subsidence.
As the law's limits on pumping gradually take effect over the next few years, the restrictions are expected to require taking some farmland in the Central Valley out of production, necessitating major changes in an agricultural region that produces large amounts of nuts, fruits and other crops, as well as livestock and dairy products.
Water flows from a well to irrigate a garden near Visalia in 2021.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
Asked during a conference call with reporters about how the Kings County court case could affect state efforts in other areas, Stork said, “It only applies to the Tulare Lake sub-basin, so it doesn't impact our work in other basins.”
Edward Ortiz, a spokesman for the state water board, said agency officials disagree with the court's temporary order suspending the requirement that well owners report how much water they are pumping. He said this requirement is an important part of the testing process and “protects groundwater resources for the benefit of all Californians.”
The lawsuit over the decision to put the Tulare Lake region on probation was widely expected after the board's vote following a controversial debate In April, farmers and representatives of local groundwater agencies had urged the state water board to postpone intervention and give them more time to improve their plans. But the five-member board found that local plans did not include adequate measures to address declining water levels or the problem of ground subsidence, which has repeatedly damaged the levees.
Last year, long-dry Tulare Lake, drained generations ago to supply agriculture, reappeared on thousands of acres of farmland. The lake then receded, and farmers have continued to rely on groundwater.
Large landowners in the area, including JG Boswell Co., pump groundwater to irrigate tomatoes, cotton, pistachios and other crops.
Ference, a citrus farmer, said agriculture generates about $2 billion in gross revenue each year in Kings County and provides 1 in 4 jobs.
“Agriculture funds this county and this community. And without it, Kings County quickly becomes a ghost town,” Ference said. “What’s at risk is our ability to pump groundwater. And without that ability, we’re going to lose our entire foundation.”
He said producers agree that changes will be necessary to achieve sustainability and meet groundwater law requirements.
“But we have to make those changes in a way that doesn't decimate not only the agricultural industry but also the community,” Ference said.
The Kings County Farm Bureau is asking Superior Court Judge Kathy Ciuffini to issue a preliminary injunction that would suspend state intervention while the case is heard.
Ference said the state water board's approach is “arbitrary and capricious.”
“They have arbitrarily moved the compliance date from 2040 to today,” he said. “They have not given us the opportunity to implement a plan or even see if it will work.”
He said the state's plan to impose pumping fees of $300 per well and $20 per acre-foot of water pumped would be too costly and would go toward “funding a police force with absolute authority.”
Instead, those funds would be better used locally to build infrastructure that helps recharge the aquifer, he said.
“SGMA is designed for local control, and that is where it should remain,” Ference said.
The silhouette of a farm well standpipe and pump is silhouetted at dusk near the community of Sultana in Tulare County.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
The state water board, he said, should “allow the process to work, give us time to work on implementing the plans.”
Others argue that the state water board was right to put the area on probation.
“Locals have had years to get their groundwater management plans right,” said Nataly Escobedo Garcia, water policy coordinator for the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability.
The lawsuit is worrying because it could impede efforts to move toward solutions, Escobedo Garcia said.
“I think this could unfortunately slow down a lot of the progress we’ve made as a state,” he said.
Researchers have warned that plans prepared by local agencies would allow water levels to decline significantly between now and 2040, potentially putting thousands of wells at risk of drying out.
Scientists have also discovered that Crop water demands are increasing due to rising temperatures driven by climate change, which is contributing to declining aquifer levels.
“Our aquifers are still seriously overexploited. And although 2040 seems a long way off, there is still a lot of work to be done to recover them,” Escobedo García said.
He said further delays could jeopardize the region's ability to truly move toward sustainability by 2040, as required by law.
