For the first time, growers in a critical water-stressed area of California's San Joaquin Valley must report how much groundwater they are pumping, as the state moves to regulate a resource long accessed without oversight. The move aims to address declining water levels and land subsidence.
For the first time, growers in a critically water-stressed region of California are mandated to disclose their groundwater pumping volumes. This marks a significant shift from generations of unregulated access to well water on private land.
The State Water Resources Control Board issued an order requiring landowners in parts of the San Joaquin Valley, specifically around Corcoran and Pixley, to submit comprehensive reports by a recent deadline. This action stems from the board’s 2024 placement of the Tule and Tulare Lake groundwater subbasins on probation due to insufficient efforts to curb excessive pumping, which has led to alarming declines in water levels.
The collected data will be used to implement a fee structure – $300 per well plus $20 per acre-foot of water used – designed to fund state oversight and encourage responsible water management. Natalie Stork, director of the state water board’s sustainable groundwater management office, emphasized the importance of data-driven decision-making, stating, “You can't manage what you don't measure. ” The San Joaquin Valley has undergone substantial agricultural transformation over the past century, dramatically altering the landscape.
The once-vast Tulare Lake, formerly the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, was drained to facilitate crop irrigation, reappearing only during periods of significant flooding. Today, water is extracted from wells and channeled through ditches to irrigate extensive fields of tomatoes, cotton, almonds, grapes, and other valuable crops surrounding the now-dry lakebed. State estimates reveal that these two regions collectively lost approximately 213,000 acre-feet of groundwater in 2025, equivalent to roughly 45% of Los Angeles’s annual water consumption.
This relentless groundwater depletion is causing the land to subside, with areas near Tulare Lake sinking over 6 feet and parts of the Tule area dropping more than 7 feet since 2015. This subsidence has already inflicted significant damage on critical infrastructure, including the Friant-Kern Canal, a vital water conduit for farms, necessitating $326 million in repairs and reducing its capacity.
State regulators are urging local water agencies to intensify their efforts to address overpumping and mitigate land subsidence, warning of the potential for hundreds of domestic wells to run dry. Over 2,000 landowners were required to report their groundwater usage by the May 1st deadline, although small well owners and specific areas within the Tule region were exempt.
While acknowledging the necessity of reporting, farmer Garrett Gilcrease, president of the Kings County Farm Bureau, described the state’s online system as “cumbersome and tricky. ” The Kings County Farm Bureau has initiated legal action challenging the probation of the Tulare Lake area and seeking to prevent the implementation of the proposed fees, citing concerns about the financial burden on already struggling agricultural businesses.
Gilcrease highlighted the challenging economic climate, stating, “It's approaching a depression… We're in a time now where there is not a single crop that makes money. ” California’s move towards groundwater regulation is a relatively recent development compared to other western states, but it is now actively implementing its 2014 groundwater management law, which mandates local agencies to develop plans to address overpumping by 2040.
Growers advocate for a phased-in approach to regulation, fearing that immediate and drastic measures could devastate the industry. The region’s major landowners, including J.G. Boswell Co. and Sandridge Partners, alongside smaller-scale farmers, are grappling with the implications of these new regulations. In the Tule area, some farmers have already begun reducing pumping under existing local agency rules, resulting in fallow fields and significant operational adjustments
Groundwater California Water Management San Joaquin Valley Water Rights
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