WaterWrights.net is now sharing Updates in partnership with our friends at WaterOne.ai. We all know SGMA is evolving rapidly. And this is another step for us to keep everyone informed.
Tulare Lake’s State-Plan Clock Is Ticking — and Pumping Fees Could Rise to $35 per Acre-Foot
South Fork Kings GSA reported that State Water Board staff are targeting a draft Tulare Lake interim plan by late summer or fall 2027, with the hearing to adopt it expected at the end of 2027; under that plan, the state pumping fee would increase from $20 to $35 per
acre-foot. Building on prior coverage of probation pressure in the region, GSAs are advancing a revised GSP for March or April 2027 while also confronting new state fees, including a $100 annual fee for certain domestic wells. For South Fork Kings specifically, staff put the cost of seeking a “good actor” exclusion at roughly a $200,000 application fee plus about $50,000 a year to maintain it, an annual charge staff described as a quarter of the application value. Those figures are scaled to the agency’s own pumping, not a published state rate card. Read More
State’s Proposed Tule Plan Would Halt Pumping Within Two Miles of the Friant-Kern Canal
Managers at Lower Tule River Irrigation District, Pixley GSA, and Tea Pot Dome Water District all briefed boards this week on the two-phase interim plan State Water Board staff rolled out to Tule Subbasin GSAs at a July 16 meeting. Building on our August 17 and August 24 coverage, Phase 1 would impose a pumping moratorium on all lands within at least two miles on each side of the Friant-Kern Canal, running from the northern boundary of the subbasin to the southern boundary; Lower Tule staff stressed the “at least.” Staff expect a draft in January 2027 with a State Water Board vote targeted for April, while Phase 2 would step the rest of the subbasin down to sustainable yield on a later and far less defined timeline. Nothing has been published yet: the Board’s own Tule Subbasin page still carries no interim plan. A coalition of subbasin GSA managers is assembling a local alternative they call “Option 3,” with the goal of putting it in front of the Friant Water Authority by Halloween or the first of November, and in front of the State Water Board by January or February. Read More
Two Permitting Shortcuts Growers Used for Fast Recharge Have Expired — Right Before a Possible El Niño Winter
At the California Water Commission, the State Water Board said two tools agencies leaned on for rapid recharge lapsed with prior executive orders: CEQA suspension for temporary water-right permits, and the waiver of the local-plan requirement for flood diversions under Water Code 1242.1. Without a new executive order or a legislative fix, the Board said many parties may be unable to use the 1242.1 flood-diversion pathway this winter if wet conditions materialize, because the local plan requirement is back in force. The statutory pathway itself has not gone away — Water Code 1242.1 runs through January 1, 2029 — what lapsed is the executive-order relief that made it quick to use. The Board urged growers and GSAs to file early, noting reduced filing fees for applications submitted at least 120 days ahead of the intended diversion and five-year temporary permits charged at the same fee as a single season. Statewide, GSPs identify over 500 recharge projects representing 1.5 million acre-feet of additional annual supply. Read More
Westlands Advanced a Land-Based Assessment: a Proposed Maximum of $83.68 Per Irrigable Acre, Ballots Mailing Around October 23
The Westlands Water District board approved the engineer’s report for a proposed special benefit assessment update — subject to a revised golden mussel cost component — and adopted Resolution 118-26 setting a Proposition 218 public hearing for December 15, 2026. The report establishes proposed maximum rates of $83.68 per irrigable acre for priority CVP-eligible lands and $17.46 for other water-eligible lands. Those numbers are not final: the golden mussel component the board sent back is the piece that sets them, and directors discussed on the record that a higher mussel figure would put the rates near $91.06 and about $19. Staff also said the district does not intend to levy the maximum. The district describes the assessment as revenue-neutral, shifting existing costs — USBR capital repayment, State Water Board fees, golden mussel maintenance, and future bond debt service — from water rates onto land-based charges. Grower workshops are set for October 7 and October 21, with staff noting the 45-day ballot mailing timeline falls around October 23. The assessment itself remains subject to the hearing and protest process and has not yet been adopted. Read More
Trends We’re Watching:
Proposition 4 Money Is Coming, but the Big Guidelines Are Not Out Yet
Following up on the Prop 4 grant programs WaterOne flagged earlier this month, two different solicitations are moving at different speeds, and it is worth not confusing them. The draft guidelines now in public comment through noon on October 7 (DWR’s posted deadline), with a September 22 workshop that San Antonio Basin GSA staff plan to attend, are DWR’s 2026 Draft Sustainable Groundwater Management guidelines covering a smaller pot — on the order of $10 million aimed at small GSAs, plus technical assistance. The broader Sustainable Groundwater Management allocation under the bond, roughly $386 million, has no draft guidelines out yet. That is later than expected: on September 8 we reported the draft SGMA Implementation solicitation was expected by the end of September.
At Fillmore and Piru Basins GSA, the discussion put a draft at perhaps November, with awards about a year out. Fillmore and Piru staff have already identified shallow monitoring wells near the Sespe Creek and Santa Clara River confluence, invasive species removal partnerships, and stakeholder outreach as their most realistic candidates, and Westlands Water District is pursuing Prop 4 and REPI funding for golden mussel treatment with no awards received yet. Growers with project ideas should get them in front of their GSA now, but the October 7 date is the small-pot comment deadline, not a deadline for the main money.
Exceedance Letters Are Going Out, and the Cure Windows Are Short
Pixley GSA staff said they were “a little alarmed” by the jump in exceedance in July reporting and warned it will compound over the water year’s remaining five months, with landowners given 30 days to cure by buying credits. Lower Tule River Irrigation District reported 48 acre-feet of exceedance in July, which staff called a good number, but said the same trajectory holds and walked directors through what happens at year-end if it is not
cured: a fine collectible by lien, water taken off the next year’s allocation, and potentially a cease-and-desist order. Because the accounts are tied to the parcel, that lien lands on the landowner even when a tenant runs the account, something directors said landowners who lease out may not realize. Tea Pot Dome Water District sent one landowner a 30-day notice after he took no surface water delivery between February and August. At Upper Ventura River GSA, one of two unregistered wells the agency had been tracking had run up $58,700 in civil penalties at $100 a day as of August 31, and then the property sold; the executive director told the board the new owner is willing to comply, leaving open what becomes of the accrued penalties. The other well’s registration requirement was waived after staff determined it was unlikely to pump more than two acre-feet a year.
Agencies Are Bracing for a Potentially Record El Niño Winter, in Very Different Ways
Since WaterOne’s August coverage of agencies preparing for a wet winter, that preparation has moved from planning to operations. At the Fillmore and Piru Basins GSA meeting, United Water Conservation District reported plans to draw Lake Piru, which sits behind United’s Santa Felicia Dam, down from roughly 80,000 acre-feet to about 30,000 to open storage capacity ahead of potential storms, with stored State Water Project supplies held as a contingency if El Niño underperforms. Omochumne Hartnell Water District is prepping diversion dams and moving hay out of recharge basins. At the California Water Commission, agencies reported roughly 30 temporary pumps pre-positioned across the landscape and 600 to 800 acres cleared for temporary recharge basins, a direct result of post-2023 flood response investment, and the Commission will take up the El Niño outlook at its October meeting. Redwood Valley County Water District staff raised the opposite worry, comparing forecasts to the 1997–98 winter that brought over 100 inches locally and flagging years of deferred channel and creek maintenance.
About WaterOne:
WaterOne is a Fresno-based water management firm serving Central Valley growers, founded by a team from Stanford that combines agricultural expertise with AI engineering. The team offers easy-to-adapt water management tools designed for SGMA. The company actively monitors GSA and irrigation district board meetings, maintaining a database of rule changes for each district while working directly with growers across the Central Valley. You can access their updates on major meetings at GSAs, Irrigation Districts, and State Board from their GSA Database from https://gsa.waterone.ai
About the Team:
Ryo Takanashi is Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at WaterOne. He brings
extensive expertise in commodity trading and agricultural engineering. As the youngest Chief Corn Trader for Japan’s largest commercial importer, Ryo managed 20% of the country’s corn imports while stationed in Kansas and Minneapolis. With an Urban Engineering background, he combines technical infrastructure knowledge with hands-on commodity market experience that required constant analysis of crop conditions, yield forecasts, and supply chain logistics. He holds MS-MBA from Stanford.
Tomo Kumahira is Co-Founder & CEO of WaterOne. Prior to starting WaterOne,
Tomo managed one of Africa’s largest agro-forestry operations as CFO, partnering with small-scale 30,000 farmers and covering 40% of commercial afforestation in Kenya. He began his career in natural resources investment at Mitsubishi Corporation. Tomo holds MS-MBA from Stanford (Knight-Hennessy Scholar and Rotary Global Scholar).
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