By Don A. Wright
The Kern Non-Districted Land Authority held its board meeting on Monday, July 27, 2026 at the Kern County Water Agency headquarters in Bakersfield and online. This authority was formerly the Kern Groundwater Authority. Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act counties were supposed to be the backstop for implementing SGMA on land that didn’t have an overlying district that could provide surface water. Kern County opted out of taking on non-districted lands, also known as White Areas because on most maps of districts were color coded. If the land wasn’t in a district, it appeared white on a map.
Why the change from White Areas to non-district? Why do we call homeless people unhoused? I have my thoughts but I don’t know for sure. Let’s just say it’s a more accurate description. The Kern Groundwater Authority predates SGMA and was the obvious go to organization for the implementation of the act. However, actual water and irrigation districts as political subdivisions of the State of California had a natural interest in administrating SGMA in lands within their jurisdiction. I believe this may have fractured the original Kern Groundwater Authority and the need for an additional entity to care for lands outside of districts. There you have it – for whatever this slice of opinion is worth.
The Meeting
Things got started with roll call and the flag salute at 2:00pm. There was no public comment and the minutes were approved. Executive Director Jenny Holtermann gave the financial report. She reported moving some funds from the money market account to the checking account while leaving the savings account alone. She said everything is stable and on track. There were no questions and the financial report was approved.
Next the accounting firm of Barbich Hooper King Dill & Hoffman, LLC presented the board with an audit proposal for $12,000 maximum. Holtermann said the past audits were difficult but now that she’s had a chance to consolidate the necessary documents things should be smoother. The board agreed and approved the proposal.
Holtermann walked the board through the budget and she said there needs to be another cash call for items that weren’t originally in the budget. The call is for almost $8,000 per member. Cash calls are common occurrences in this type of organization.
Executive Director’s Report
Holtermann said Provost & Pritchard and EKI have been working on filling in the data gap and may need to drill monitoring wells. It sounded like there isn’t much help coming from landowners. Much of the area is rangeland with smaller domestic wells on the eastern portion of the KNDLA.
Holtermann also reported the Land IQ reports have been continually upgraded and are now much easier to work with. Good for them. The engineering firm of Provost & Pritchard is representing the KNDLA at more and more technical committee meetings which sounded good since they have the technical skill. A demand management ad hoc committee has been meeting to develop a plan and policy position for that issue.
Turns out a portion of KNDLA’s westside is within a subsidence impacted area near the California Aqueduct and that opens up more issues.
Demand Management
Holtermann said the committee has been gaining traction and showed the board some of the work product for its review. She said although the demand management plan isn’t at the Phase III level yet they are preparing for such an eventuality. Don’t forget demand management usually means setting pumping yield maximums. Start telling folks how much they can pump and no more – that’s not an easy task that sits well. So, the more they can get a reasonable plan together the better. The ad hoc committee will be meeting again, I believe it was said, next week. They are certainly looking for as much buy-in as possible.
Attorney’s Report
Valerie Kincaid gave an update saying DWR recently released some material on how to bring on new board members as a technical help. One of SGMA’s deadly sins involves the interconnect of ground and surface waters. The final interconnect ground/surface water guidance has yet to be released. DWR is still reviewing the revised Kern Subbasin plans sent them by the State Water Resources Control Board. There are a number of other subbasin plans on DWR’s review plate and the five year Groundwater Sustainability Plan updates.
Kincaid reported the State Board began requiring pumping reports in the Tulare Lake and Tule Subbasin. The State Board is looking at limited pumping both local and subbasin wide to prevent subsidence. There has to be a 90-day review and meetings and I don’t believe that has been scheduled just yet.
Kincaid the courts are beginning to look at SGMA and there has been a ruling in the Sacramento Valley setting wellhead fees. The Vina GSA also challenged having to continue defending a GSP from further litigation after DWR approval. It sounded like a knowledgeable judge is on the case.
Correspondence
Holtermann said she received comments from Kern County on the Phase I of groundwater operations. The county has some questions and it turned out to be an easy fix for everyone in clarifying a point. The Local Agency Formation Commission, a county office that sets physical boundaries such as city limits is getting more involved
with SGMA. The Kern County LAFCo is also about to receive a SGMA 101 presentation at its next meeting in August. LAFCo said it needs more information to help it make better decisions. This is right up Holtermann’s alley. The board liked the idea.
That was that and the open session ended at 2:34pm. There was one item of anticipated litigation on the closed session agenda. So, good be good to each other and yourselves.
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Kern Non-Districted Land Authority, formerly the Kern Groundwater Authority, typically meets on the 4th Monday of the month at the Kern County Water Agency headquarters 3200 Rio Mirada Drive, Bakersfield, CA 93308 and online.
Directors include: Board Chairman – Barry Watts, Rosedale-Rio Bravo WSD, Devon Yurosek – Kern Non-Districted Lands representative and Debbie Wise – Kern Non-Districted Lands representative.
Staff: Jenny Holtermann – Executive Director, Valeria Kincaid – Attorney
The 22-Part Membership is comprised of:
- Kern County Water Agency (Jurisdictional Member)
- Kern-Tulare Water District
- Kern Water Bank Authority
- West Kern Water District
- Westside District Water Authority
- Arvin-Edison WSD
- Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa WSD
- Tejon-Castac WSD
- Eastside Water Management Area (Associate Member)
- Kern Delta WD
- KCWA Improvement District No. 4
- Southern San Joaquin Municipal Utility District
- Shafter-Wasco Irrigation District
- Shafter-Wasco Irrigation District 7th Standard Annex
- North Kern WSD
- Cawelo Water District
- Semitropic WSD
- Kern Water Bank GSA
- Olcese Water District
- Rosedale-Rio Bravo WSD
- Buena Vista WSD
- KCWA Pioneer Project GSA
