By Lisa McEwen, SJV Water
Any groundwater agency hoping to independently avoid state sanctions under the so-called “good guy” clause of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) will have to pay between $50,000 and $250,000 just to be considered.
That’s how much the state Water Resources Control Board staff says it costs to review the technical and often voluminous exemption requests.
The $50,000 to $250,000 tiers are based on the percentage the requesting groundwater agency pumps from the subbasin and are intended to “…cover appropriate staff expenditures with the need to avoid discouraging legitimate exclusion requests,” according to David Ceccarelli, branch chief with the Division of Water Quality.
The Water Board approved the good guy application fees at its Sept. 15 meeting and got an update about how well – or not – Tulare County farmers have been paying other fees.
The good guy exemption application fee will cover what had become an unanticipated cost, Ceccarelli said at the meeting.
Without it, “…those costs are effectively borne by all SGMA fee payers,” he said.
Exemptions are the only way individual agencies can avoid fees when a subbasin is placed on probation by the Water Board for lacking an adequate groundwater plan. Under probation, farmers must meter and register wells annually at $300 each, and pay a $20-per-acre-foot fee to the state – on top of existing fees paid to groundwater agencies.
So far, the state has placed two San Joaquin Valley subbasins on probation, including the Tule, which covers the southern half of Tulare County’s flatlands, and the Tulare Lake subbasin, which covers most of Kings County.
Only two agencies within those subbasins were granted exemptions, the Kern-Tulare Water District and Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District groundwater sustainability agencies.
They did not have to pay the just-approved application fees but will have to pay 25% of their pumped groundwater total to maintain their exemptions.
Essentially, those GSAs will pay a fee to avoid probationary fees.
Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District GSA general manager Eric R. Quinley said it is his understanding that the GSA will pay $12,5000 for an annual review to maintain its exclusion.
“DEID is not opposed to paying a fee for the state board’s legitimate work of implementing SGMA in Tule subbasin,” Quinley said. “Reviews are part of that larger effort.”
Delano-Earlimart is considered a “net-postive” district because it imports more surface water than its growers extract.
Kern-Tulare will pay the same, $12,500, to maintain its exemption, according to board member Andrew Hart. Farmers there extracted just 437 acre feet from 37 wells in 2025.
Eight other groundwater agencies in the Tule subbasin sought exemptions earlier this year but were denied.
Ceccarelli said it cost the Water Board $1.3 million to evaluate all the Tule subbasin exemption requests, including Delano-Earlimart and Kern-Tulare.
Probation fees rolling in
The board also heard a report about how much Tulare County farmers have paid toward well registration and pumping fees required under probation.
State invoices went out in August and, so far, a little more than $2 million has been paid of $7 million billed, according to Water Board staff.
Staff reported that 114 Tule subbasin farmers have paid $2,161,000. Another 85 farmers are protesting their invoices, which total $3,265,000. Another $1.9 million owed by 107 landowners is outstanding.
Pumping fees are based on how much was reported by farmers. Staff estimated that about 65% of Tule subbasin’s farmers reported their groundwater use.
Farmers in the neighboring Tulare Lake subbasin are not paying invoices yet pending the outcome of a court hearing on Oct. 6. Fewer than 35% of Tulare Lake farmers reported their pumping to the state, according to state data.
