By Monserrat Solis, SJV Water
The drama between two Kings County water entities continued earlier this month as the manager of one threw shade on the recharge policies of the other.
Kings County Water District’s boundaries are intertwined with the Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) but isn’t a member of the GSA after an ugly break up last year when the water district pulled out of a joint operating agreement, leaving Kings County and the City of Hanford to pick up the pieces for a large chunk of the subbasin.
At the water district’s June 5 meeting, its General Manager Dennis Mills questioned and criticized recharge policies recently enacted by the re-formed Mid-Kings GSA board.
Adding to the complexity of the situation, two Kings County Water District’s board members also sit on the Mid-Kings GSA advisory group that vetted the very policies Mills was concerned with.
presents a slide showing groundwater levels during the June 5 board meeting.
From left are board members Andrew Brazil, Paul Gillum and Chip Mello. Facing away is Ray Carlson, the district’s attorney. Monserrat Solis / SJV Water
One of those board members, Chip Mello, openly disputed Mills’ perception of the policies during the June 5 meeting.
Specifically, Mills was concerned that Mid-Kings GSA intends to allow its farmers to recharge dairy and other wastewater, which could foul groundwater for other users.
“You can’t do that,” Mills said of recharging wastewater. The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board “basically told us all that you can’t do that.”
Mello said Mills had it wrong.
“We are not, in any way, trying to contaminate or allow any type of undesirables to get into the groundwater,” Mello said during the meeting.
Fellow board and Mid-Kings GSA advisory group member David Stanfield was absent from the June 5 meeting.
While the Mid-Kings GSA policy does allow recharge of wastewater, it would have to be treated so as not to degrade water quality, according to Amer Hussain, Mid-Kings’ engineering consultant.
Recharging wastewater also has to be approved by the Water Quality Control board, according to Scott Hatton, Water Resources Control Engineer in the Fresno office.
“On their (Mid-Kings) local level, they’re approving private recharge, but they’ve got to step up and bring it in front of the state, our regional board, to get approved for use of it,” he said. “ If they discharge without getting approval from our office, we can take enforcement action against them.”
Mills was also concerned that Mid-Kings GSA’s groundwater credit policy would create confusion over operations of a groundwater bank called Apex Ranch that’s owned by the water district.
“To include facilities like Apex Ranch to receive credits for recharging would be unwise and convoluted,” Mills said. “In general, the (policy) seems very focused on growers getting recharge credits, but it’s pretty light on protecting parties that could be affected by those efforts.”
He felt the district’s Apex banking operation should be exempted from Mid-Kings GSA’s recharge policies.
Mello disagreed, saying that if Apex Ranch’s operations could possibly drop water levels, dry up wells or cause subsidence – all of which are prohibited under SGMA – then it should come under Mid-Kings GSA’s policies allowing the GSA to monitor for those problems.
Mills said Kings County Water District already does that and doesn’t need Mid-Kings GSA’s help.
District board member Paul Gillum noted a lot of the back-and-forth over policy impacts likely would not be happening if the district hadn’t dumped Mid-Kings GSA in the first place.
“Probably the most frustrating thing is this board, Kings County Water District, would have had huge influence on the Mid-Kings GSA and (instead) chose to get out,” he said.
The larger picture is that groundwater agencies throughout the Tulare Lake subbasin, which covers most of Kings County, are scrambling to come up with new groundwater plans that would pass muster with the state Water Resources Control Board, the enforcement arm of SGMA.
The Water Board placed Tulare Lake on probation in April 2024 for lacking an adequate and coordinated groundwater plan. Under probation, farmers have to meter and register wells paying an annual fee of $300 per well. They also have to report extractions and pay $20 per acre foot pumped. That’s on top of fees and reporting already required by their local GSAs.
Area farmers have, so far, avoided those sanctions after a Kings County Superior Court Judge issued a preliminary injunction barring the Water Board from imposing them as part of a lawsuit filed against the state by the Kings County Farm Bureau. The state appealed to the 5th District Court of Appeal, which could rule on the injunction any day.
However the injunction and lawsuit play out, Kings County groundwater agencies have been instituting their own well registration, extraction reporting and recharge policies in anticipation they will likely come before the Water Board at some point.
Infighting among water entities, such as the Kern County Water District and Mid-Kings GSA, could be seen as a hindrance to subbasin coordination, which is required under SGMA.
