By Christine Souza, Ag Alert
Farmers in the critically overdrafted Tulare Lake Subbasin in the San Joaquin Valley are bracing for escalating costs as state and local agencies assess fees on wells and groundwater pumped.
For the first time, the California State Water Resources Control Board last week placed the subbasin on probationary status as part of regulations under the state’s landmark 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA.
The decision was based on a report from water board staff that concluded the joint plan submitted by the five local agencies failed to show how actions would address critical overdraft by limiting groundwater pumping, land subsidence and impacts to drinking water.
Managers of local groundwater agencies participated in a discussion to update the board on their progress. Amer Hussain, senior principal engineer with Geosyntec, said the water agencies addressed many of the staff recommendations.
“We’re going to be monitoring the rate of subsidence each year and making adjustments,” Hussain said. “We are currently very close to having this document done.”
Board members said they were encouraged by work being undertaken by the agencies, such as well mitigation programs to keep small and domestic wells from going dry or other water quality impacts. However, Dorene D’Adamo, vice chair of the state water board, said she hoped to see a revised plan in time for the meeting.
Without the updated document, D’Adamo made the motion to deem the subbasin probationary.
Under probation, starting July 15, 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.
Kings County Farm Bureau Executive Director Dusty Ference said new state and local groundwater-related fees will impact farmers and communities.
He expressed fears of a potential “economic train wreck of fallowed farmland with substantially reduced farm income and greatly inflated unemployment.”
“The average farm size in Kings County is 640 acres, so assuming there is one well per hundred acres, you take 640 acres times 3 acre-feet per acre, times $20, and a farm’s pumping fee to the state water board is $38,400,” Ference said.
“With the state’s $300 per-well fee for six wells,” he added, “the annual well registration fee is $1,800, so a total cost of $40,200.”
In addition, local groundwater sustainability agencies are assessing their own fees on extractors to recoup costs of implementation.
Some agencies have already assessed fees, but Ference said growers were set to learn this week whether voters approved fees for the Mid-Kings River groundwater sustainability agency through a Proposition 218 election. The initiative, passed by California voters in November 1996, is designed to allow greater public involvement in rate-setting processes for public agencies.
Farmers are already operating on thin margins with high input costs, inflation and lower commodity prices, Ference said.
“It is the perfect storm. All of those things are hitting us all at the same time,” he said. “There’s no denying that local GSAs need to exist and be funded, but there are questions about how much funding they need.”
During the state water board meeting, many farmers urged the board to delay placing the subbasin under probation.
California Dairy Campaign Executive Director Lynne McBride described the toll of added fees on dairy farmers, with milk being the county’s No. 1 crop.
“The family farmers we represent in California are truly alarmed about the potential economic repercussions of the proposed SGMA regulations and fees on the future of their farms and their communities,” McBride said. “Now that more information is available about the potential cost of these regulations and programs, farmers understand if these plans move forward, it will force many of them out of business.”
Kings County dairy farmer Lauren Evangelo said she worries about the livelihoods of her family, dairy employees and other individuals, and local businesses.
“I’m concerned where my family and the people that live in our state and country are going to get their food,” she added.
Kings County farmer Garrett Gilcrease, whose family helped settle the town of Lemoore, said he is worried about his employees, some of whom have worked at the farm for several decades.
“We stick with our people,” said Gilcrease, who farms in the Mid-Kings River GSA. “We can’t farm without them.”
Gilcrease said farmers want to be part of the solution to make SGMA successful.
“Communication is going to be the key to making this work, not only for the agriculture community but the people that we support,” he said.
Kings County farmer Brian Medeiros said solutions are needed to protect the future of the people and communities.
“I want to continue to be a father to a 4-year-old boy who says he wants to be a farmer just like me one day,” he added.
Alexandra Biering, senior policy advocate for the California Farm Bureau, called for collaboration by state water board staff and affected groundwater sustainability agencies to reach the common goal of long-term groundwater sustainability.
“The first probationary set basin is a high-stakes experiment for all of us, and there are a lot of people watching,” Biering said. “Next steps, whatever they may be, have to be taken with patience, wisdom and prudence.”
Biering reminded the board that probation under SGMA is meant to be a “temporary step,” with management of groundwater returned to local agencies.
“Our goal remains that these basins be managed sustainably at the local level,” E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the state water board, said in a statement. “We are committed to helping groundwater agencies make that happen by providing data, guidance and support as they improve their plans.”
If agencies do not address deficiencies in the Tulare Lake subbasin within a year, the state water board could move to implement a temporary interim plan to manage the basin’s groundwater use.
The Chowchilla, Delta-Mendota, Kaweah, Kern County and Tule subbasins also had plans deemed inadequate by the state. The state water board will consider the status of the Tule Subbasin at its Sept. 17 meeting.
(Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
