Last week, the State Water Board placed the Tulare Lake Subbasin on probation, farmers and landowners in the district will now be charged to pump groundwater and starting July 15, 2024. Growers in the Tulare Lake Subbasin, which includes 837 square miles in the San Joaquin Valley, will be charged $300 registration fee per well, and $20 per acre-foot extraction fee for water used.
Officials say the Tulare Lake Groundwater Subbasin failed to provide adequate plans to mitigate their water issues, required under California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) passed in 2014. The Tulare Lake Subbasin is one of six the state has put up for possible probation due to inadequate plans, all in the San Joaquin Valley.
Steve Jackson, Head of Water Policy and Land Use at Nova Asset Management, attended the nine-hour hearing along with over 40 other stakeholders and farmers on April 16th and said, "This is a very disheartening take for so much work that has gone on for the last 7-8 years, but that's what we face... it's clear to us that this is going to be a painful process."
According to Jackson, the State Water Board's probation is temporary, and they are interested in pushing this back into local Ground Sustainability Agencies (GSA) control once the subbasin's sustainability plans are improved, but if the groups across the San Joaquin valley don’t make adequate progress within a year, further pumping restrictions could be put in place.
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