The State Water Resources Control Board is holding its first hearing next month to determine next steps for the first of several groundwater basins deemed inadequate.
Staff are recommending the board put the Tulare Lake Subbasin on probation. According to a report released Wednesday, that would require pumpers to measure, report and pay fees for their extractions, with larger pumpers installing meters. If the deficiencies persist at the end of the probationary period, the state would temporarily take over control.
Keep in mind: The board voted to cut the pumping fees in half last week and will tailor them to each basin’s unique challenges. Yet it maintained a $300 annual base fee for each well. The board established the initial fees in 2017 under the assumption that some basins would not be covered by a local agency and the state would have to develop those plans from scratch.
Ag interests worried about the cumulative impact of the fees combined with other ongoing board fees for regulatory programs.
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The Westside Water Authority, which oversees a portion of the Tulare Lake subbasin, urged the board to recognize the proactive steps that farmers and water managers took to reduce pumping prior to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Regulatory Manager Morgan Campbell told the board that landowners have fallowed 13,000 acres at a loss of $400 million in market value. The region has also pioneered large-scale groundwater banking projects.
On that note: Republican Assemblymember Vince Fong of Bakersfield has filed a measure to protect small farmers from steep pumping fees when they have invested in groundwater recharge projects.
