By Don A. Wright
The Kern Groundwater Authority Groundwater Sustainability Agency held its Wednesday, May 22, 2024 board of directors meeting in Bakersfield and online with Zoom. Still the best online platform in my opinion. There’s been a lot going on in the San Joaquin Valley water world. Highs and lows, gutters and strikes. The Kings County Farm Bureau is suing the State Water Resources Control Board over its handling of the Tulare Lake Subbasin
probationary decision. The Friant Water Authority and the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority have shook hands and agreed to clean up some long problematic concerns between the two organizations – And the Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Metropolitan Water District.
Unpacking just those three recent events – leaving alone another attack on wells by the coastal elite – there is a lot going on.
The Meeting
The meeting began at 8:00am with Chairman Dan Waterhouse calling the meeting to order and those gathered saluting the great flag of the United States of America. Under public comments – there were none. The April minutes were approved without fiddling around with the content.
Attorney Valerie Kincaid gave the financial report. It appears she has taken over, at least temporarily, some of the tasks normally handled by an executive director. Kim Brown liked what she heard and moved to approve the financials. Ms. Brown has an extensive background in accounting and with her support the report was passed.
Attorney’s Report
Kincaid reported on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act probation process. She said the Tulare Lake Subbasin challenge is the first of its kind and many of the cause of actions in the suit are important statewide. The complaint charges the State Board staff
has misread the “good actor” provision. She said the Kings County Farm Bureau will have to decide on the strategy which translates to slow motion legal processes or a risky quick ruling. Part of the problem is the State Board is taking DWR findings on GSPs and adding another layer of conditions and that is much like moving the goal posts.
Legislation
The legislation began with the above mentioned Assemblyman Steve Bennett’s AB 2079
which prohibits new wells within a half mile of existing wells if there has been more than 0.1 feet of subsidence in the past four years. The Department of Water Resources is backing this bill and there is AB 828 that exempts wetlands and disadvantaged communities from SGMA. No moving the goal posts there. Go local control.
DWR is having a forum on Ariel Electro Magnetic data tomorrow. This is where the helicopter tows a giant magnet around to map what’s underground.
Grants
Jason Gianquinto gave an update on grants. Some of the money is going to subsidence monitoring along the Friant Kern Canal within the Kern Subbasin. I also think I heard the usual about grant money being delayed or on its way as in check’s in the mail.
Joint Powers Authority Revisions
Kincaid reported the revised JPA draft has been finalized and released into the wild. She expects the circulation to be completed next month and the number of board members
should change. It’s being restated but it also has new provisions and is a new start in many ways. This may be a template for other subbasins facing probation or just reorganization after having rolled down the SGMA Road aways in the JPA sedan and come to find out somebody else needs to ride shotgun after a while.
Royce Fast said it would be good to get the financial changes cleared up right away. Waterhouse there may be a larger audience and the need for a bigger room. When the KGA first started the meetings were packed like a slave galley. Yes, I used the term slave galley, don’t soak your panties in gas and threaten to strike a match and make me reexplain the history of the reference. Having room to meet has been a challenge since the Kern County Board of Supervisors no longer hosted the gathering. The revised JPA doesn’t require a dissolution of the current JPA.
Coordination Revisions
If I understood there will be another revision – the coordination agreement between the GSAs within the Kern Subbasin. This agreement was set up to include an annual revisit to make sure it is still relevant to the ongoing situation. Kincaid said there are no earth
shattering changes but there are some substantial updates to be aware of – GSAs without a GSP can now participate, for example.
GSP Revision
Yet another revision is the KGA Groundwater Sustainability Plan. All the GSPs in a subbasin have to participate in the GSP but DWR will only accept one plan. So, in light of the State Board’s actions against the good folks in Kings County the other subbasins facing the possibility of probation are sprucing up their GSPs and resubmitting. The Kern Subbasin is one such party.
The above three revisions are all part of the effort to avoid probation. One way to look at it; SGMA was nominally written to address the lack of surface water recharge supplies resulting in an over reliance on pumping groundwater. Ten years later it has become a tool for the state to fine the agricultural community in the San Joaquin Valley millions and millions of dollars for not writing a Groundwater Sustainability Plan the state approves of.
Will the millions of dollars the subbasins have already invested in writing this plan be taken into consideration? If the state holds a subbasin in probation for more than a year it will impose its own GSP. Will the state use the data from the existing GSPs or start from
scratch? If it uses existing data will the state reimburse the subbasins for the money they spent developing the data? Is there any known universe where the state can produce a superior GSP for less than four or five times the amount of money the subbasins spent on their GSPs?
Will the societal impact of extracting a hundred million dollars or more from the area’s economic engine be taken into consideration? The disadvantaged communities the state proports to care deeply about depend on agriculture. As the need for fallowing increases the tax base shrinks and the need for social services increases as the funding goes away; will the taxes from the Bay Area and Southern California be used to make up the difference?
Good news, we’re going to protect your well from the evil businesses in your area. Bad news, you’re going to have to either move or go on welfare because we had to shut down all the evil businesses in your area.
New Biz, Correspondence & Closed Session
Next Waterhouse called for any new business and there was none. Nor was there any correspondence to discuss. The closed session had one case of potential litigation and Waterhouse adjourned the open portion of the meeting at 8:36am. Go be good to each other and yourselves.
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SGMA The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 calls for the formation of Groundwater Sustainability Areas within Basins and Sub-basins to develop Groundwater Sustainability Plans.
Staff: Valerie Kincaid – Attorney
The Kern Groundwater Authority membership:
Chair Dan Waterhouse – Semitropic WSD, Royce Fast – Kern County WA, Andrew Pandol – Kern Tulare WD, Kim Brown – Kern Water Bank Authority, , Gary Morris – West Kern WD & Rob Goff – Westside District Water Authority. Brandon Morris – Southern San Joaquin MUD, John Gaugel – Cawelo WD, Kevin Andrew – North Kern WSD, Gary Unruh – Rosedale Rio Bravo WSD, Randy Bloemhof – Shafter Wasco ID
DWR Listing: Basin San Joaquin, Sub Basin Kern 5-022.14
