By Monserrat Solis, SJV Water
Two neighboring groundwater agencies in Kings County are preparing for a showdown over how much farmers can pump even as the state Water Resources Control Board restarted probationary sanctions for farmers in the Tulare Lake subbasin.
Farmers will be required to report how much they pumped from July 14, 2024 through Sept. 25, 2025 by May 1, 2026, according to a Water Board press release issued Friday evening.
Fees of $20-per-acre-foot pumped won’t be far behind.
“Following the extraction reporting deadline, the (Water Board) will send fee invoices. Fees for first reports will be due 30 days after the invoice date,” the release states.
This comes after the Fifth District Court of Appeal on Wednesday tossed out a preliminary injunction issued by a Kings County judge that had held those, and other, probationary sanctions at bay for the past year.
The Water Board placed the Tulare Lake subbasin, which covers most of Kings County, on probation in April 2024.
Meanwhile, two groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) in northern Kings County are in significant disagreement over how much “sustainable yield” they are proposing to allow farmers to pump. Sustainable yield is the amount that can be pumped without causing negative impacts, such as drying up domestic wells or causing land to sink.
The Mid-Kings River GSA’s sustainable yield pumping allocation is 1.43 acre feet per acre of land. That’s more than double that of the South Fork Kings GSA, which is .66 of an acre foot per acre of land.
That did not sit well with South Fork’s grower advisory group, which drafted a letter to Mid-Kings objecting to the allocation.
“I just want to make damn sure that South Fork growers are not being harmed,” said Frank Coelho Jr., chair of South Fork’s grower advisory group, which met Oct. 30. “I want to be damn sure of that, so that what we’ve done and what we’re doing is the best for South Fork growers.”
Bottom photo: Mid-Kings River GSA advisory group members. Both groups met Oct. 30 to discuss pumping allocations. Monserrat Solis / SJV Water
The difference in allocations is based on different methodologies used by the GSAs to determine sustainable yield.
South Fork took the Tulare Lake subbasin’s sustainable yield and divided it by total acreage, while Mid-Kings added in historical pumping.
“What I’m hearing here is our beneficial use, the rights we have under our ground are being redistributed and spread out,” said fellow South Fork advisory member Doug Freitas. “And what Frank’s getting at is we need to protect those rights, and that’s what we need to think about.”
The Mid-Kings advisory group also met Oct. 30 and members there were told of South Fork’s concerns.
Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), subbasins must be coordinated in how they calculate groundwater, set water table thresholds and monitor the region. Lack of coordination is one of the reasons the Water Board placed the Tulare Lake subbasin on probation a year ago.
“The elephant in the room is that the injunction is lifted. We’ve got to get a GSP submitted. We have to have an allocation policy in there and we have to have a coordination agreement,” Amer Hussain told the group. Hussain is a consulting engineer who works with both Mid-Kings and South Fork.
Getting everyone on the same page, though, may be difficult.
“We’re talking to the GSA managers and we’re not getting the feedback that we need,” Hussain said at the Mid-Kings meeting. “They’re not agreeing yet. One of them (GSA manager) didn’t even show up to the meeting.”
