Kern County groundwater basin escapes state takeover

On Sept. 17, the California State Water Resources Control Board voted unanimously to send the Kern Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan back to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) for implementation oversight. This removes the Kern County groundwater subbasin from the threat of “probation,” or management by the state water board under provisions of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. This action follows more than a year of work by groundwater sustainability agencies to address problems within the basin and its groundwater sustainability plans as identified by DWR and the state water board. The Kern County Subbasin is one of seven groundwater subbasins in the San Joaquin Valley that DWR had referred to the state water board for potential probation; of those seven, only the Kern County, Kaweah and Chowchilla subbasins have been returned to DWR by the board. A recording of the hearing, including comments by the California Farm Bureau, is available here.