Groundwater Continued from Page 3 groundwater pumping, land subsidence and impacts to drinking water. Under probation, groundwater extractors in the Tulare Lake subbasin face annual fees of $300 per well and $20 per acre-foot pumped, plus a late reporting fee of 25%. SGMA also requires well owners to file annual groundwater extraction reports. Last week, Kings County landowners in the Tulare Lake Subbasin rejected ground- water fees proposed by the Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency. The GSA, overseen by the city of Hanford, Kings County and the Kings County Water District, proposed a $25 per acre assessment and a $95 per acre-foot groundwater extraction fee to cover ad- ministration costs and projects. Kings County Farm Bureau Executive Director Dusty Ference said members are relieved the local fees were defeated and called the $11.5 million annual budget identified in the Mid-Kings River GSA’s fee study “excessively high.” Recognizing the defeat is only tempo- rary, Ference said, “The Mid-Kings River GSA has to bring this back before the vot- ers, but at a different rate.” Citing a lack of stakeholder input, Ference said the Kings County Farm Bureau is asking the Mid-Kings River GSA to create an advisory committee that in- cludes farmers and appoint a member of that committee to the GSA’s board of direc- tors. “We’re pushing for a more transparent process,” Ference said. Meanwhile, water board staff recom- mended probation for the Tule Subbasin in neighboring Tulare County due to in- adequate plans by local agencies. The state water board is set to consider probation for the subbasin Sept. 17. Eric Limas manages the Lower Tulare River GSA and Pixley GSA and is general manager for the respective irrigation dis- tricts. He said watching the water board’s probationary hearing for the neighboring Tulare Lake Subbasin “provided even more clarity and reinforcement in what we need to do.” “Even before that hearing, our focus was to get a revised GSP in front of the state water board before our September hear- ing,” Limas said. “If we can resolve a few remaining items, we may get a revised GSP in front of them by the end of June.” Limas said the local agencies in the Tule Subbasin are working to address ground- water levels, subsidence, protecting do- mestic wells and groundwater quality. “We do a lot of work in the Tulare Subbasin with other entities related to groundwater quality, and I think we can show that,” he said. “The toughest one is managing subsidence. Everybody has a little bit of different idea on how to attack that, so that’s what we’re working through.” The staff report on the Tule Subbasin said land subsidence due to overpump- ing has caused reduced flow capacity by more than 60% in the Friant-Kern Canal. In the meantime, the Friant Water Authority has sued the Eastern Tule GSA, alleging the agency has not done enough to decrease
overpumping to reduce damage to the canal and that it has not complied with a settlement agreement to pay for ongoing repairs due to damage. “If we could all work together and figure out a way to solve this, that’s much better for us to get an approved GSP,” Limas said of the lawsuit. In addition, Limas said a cross-boundary issue of subsidence related to a pre-SGMA agreement that Pixley and Tule irrigation districts have with Angiola Water District— located in Kings County in the Tulare Lake Subbasin—is also affecting the process. “State board staff has highlighted this cross-boundary (subsidence) issue where pumping is happening in one area and the use is happening in another area,” Limas
said. “Part of the solution needs to be them coming to the table and helping us mitigate for subsidence and groundwater elevations.” Facing possible probation in November, is the Kaweah Subbasin, which includes the Mid-Kaweah, the East Kaweah and Greater Kaweah GSAs. Tulare Irrigation District gen- eral manager Aaron Fukuda, who is interim general manager of the Mid-Kaweah GSA, said the subbasin is a couple weeks away from having its revised draft GSP done. “While we have deficiencies in our plan, our sustainability actions outweigh any deficiencies we may have in our plan,” Fukuda said. “We have taken just over a year, and we’re really close to having the two deficiencies addressed that the state Department of Water Resources identi-
fied, which is our sustainable management criteria for groundwater and subsidence.” At this point in the SGMA process, Fukuda said, “We are at a pretty critical juncture for agriculture.” He said farmers are struggling with high input costs, infla- tion, lower property values, flat commodity prices and uncertain water supplies. “The atmosphere is there’s nothing going the farmer’s way right now, and SGMA is probably at the root of a lot of it,” he said. “If you sit down with the farmers, these folks have a lot on the line. It’s not just money to them. It’s their families, their relationships and their communities.” (Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
May 1, 2024 Ag Alert 15
Powered by FlippingBook