Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
State Rejects Initial Madera Groundwater Sustainability Plan
Bill McEwen updated website photo 2024
By Bill McEwen, News Director
Published 5 years ago on
February 27, 2020

Share

In the first indication of how strict state officials will be with new groundwater sustainability agencies, the Department of Water Resources has refused to accept groundwater plans covering the Madera subbasin because one of those agencies did not sign a coordination agreement.

Portrait of SJVWater.org chief executive officer Lois Henry
Lois Henry
SJV Water
The DWR has not posted the submitted groundwater sustainability plans on its website and notified all the GSAs that it is talking with the State Water Resources Control Board — the state’s enforcement arm — about the issue.
“After the consultation process is complete, DWR will notify you of our final determination for the GSPs in the Madera Subbasin. In the interim, DWR is not posting the GSPs for public review and is not initiating a public comment period,” states the letter with the GSAs received Monday.

Lions Raisins

The holdout GSA in the Madera subbasin is the New Stone Water District, which covers about 4,500 acres on the western edge of the 200,000-plus-acre subbasin. The district’s board appears to be run by a single farming family, the Lions, who own Lions Raisins.

The New Stone Water District board appears to be run by a single farming family, the Lions, who own Lions Raisins.
Though New Stone GSA’s spokesman Roger Skinner characterized the problem as minor, others are more concerned.
“I think the next step may be that the state sets a date for a probationary hearing,” said Stephanie Anagnoson, director of Madera County’s Department of Water and Natural Resources and its GSA.

Is Madera the Test Case?

Probationary status under the state’s new Sustainable Groundwater Management Act could bring harsh consequences, such as the state dictating pumping amounts and fees of $300 per well and $40 per acre-foot pumped.
Water managers in several subbasins have wondered if a single holdout on coordination could throw the whole subbasin into probation.
Madera may be the test case.
There are seven GSAs in the Madera subbasin. Four of them submitted a joint groundwater plan. Those included Madera County, Madera City, Madera Irrigation District, and Madera Water District. The other three GSAs, including New Stone, Gravelly Ford, and Root Creek, submitted groundwater plans individually.

Picture of a canal in Madera County
One of SGMA’s goals is to balance beneficial water use and reach sustainability through cooperative water management.

Districts Must Agree on Data

SGMA mandates that no matter how many plans are submitted, they must use the same data, methodology and agree on certain basics, such as water budgets — how much water is coming into the subbasin and how much is being pumped out.
New Stone believes it has 4,500 acre-feet more water than the other GSAs would agree to so it refused to sign the coordinating agreement, according to Anagnoson.

“We’ve been negotiating a coordinating agreement for a year. There’ve been a number of issues that New Stone has said were deal breakers and we’ve worked through them. Then other issues come up.” — Stephanie Anagnoson, director of Madera County’s Department of Water and Natural Resources
Skinner agreed that is the crux of the issue.
“We had a disagreement and the other parties chose to submit (GSPs) without going any further with us,” Skinner said. “But our board president has talked with DWR about the issues and they felt it was minor and we could get it resolved.”
Anagnoson didn’t hold out much hope for a simple resolution.
“I think it is a very big deal,” she said. “We don’t have any evidence this 4,500 acre-feet exists. We’ve been negotiating a coordinating agreement for a year. There’ve been a number of issues that New Stone has said were deal breakers and we’ve worked through them. Then other issues come up.”

New Stone Refused to Talk About Coordinating Agreement

In December, Anagnoson said, New Stone representatives refused to even discuss the coordinating agreement. So the other GSAs let DWR know they would be submitting an agreement signed by six of the seven GSAs.
“All of the agencies agreeing and signing the coordination agreement, are traditional public agencies with long experience serving the public interest. We all know how serious this is. But the way the law was written, it allows one party to put an entire basin into probation,” Anagnoson said.
Calls to the other five GSAs were not immediately returned.
The specter of state intervention through being put in probationary status has been the stick herding water managers forward on SGMA, despite often being at odds over who’s pumping more water and how much is truly being recharged.
Though SGMA doesn’t accept or fail a GSP based on its water budget, the calculation shows how badly overdrafted basins are.
In the Kern subbasin, water managers endured a public tongue lashing last October when they turned in water budgets suggesting that subbasin was only overdrafted by 85,000 acre-feet a year.
The true number is closer to 350,000 acre-feet a year, according to more recent calculations.
About the Author
Lois Henry is the CEO and editor of SJV Water. She has 30 years’ experience covering water and other issues in the San Joaquin Valley. Henry lives with her husband, five dogs, one orange cat, and a cranky rescue mustang horse in Bakersfield.

DON'T MISS

Manfred Calls Athletics’ New Park in Sacramento Charming, Reaffirms Vegas Move

DON'T MISS

CA Bill Would Ban Anti-Aging Products for Kids Under 18

DON'T MISS

Justin Herbert, Chargers Will Play Their 2025 Season Opener in Brazil

DON'T MISS

Ohtani Progresses in Dodgers Return with Second Bullpen Session

DON'T MISS

Trump Suggests US Agencies Should Negotiate Bills, Rather Than Pay Them in Full

DON'T MISS

Laundry Secrets From the Baseball Pros — the Clubhouse Staffers Who Wash MLB Uniforms

DON'T MISS

A$AP Rocky Returns to a Life of Music, Fashion, Film and Rihanna With His Acquittal

DON'T MISS

Trump Media Company Sues a Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Investigating Bolsonaro

DON'T MISS

Trump, Musk Misrepresent Social Security Data on Payments to Centenarians

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Seize 27 Firearms in Search Warrant, Arrest Suspect

UP NEXT

A$AP Rocky Returns to a Life of Music, Fashion, Film and Rihanna With His Acquittal

UP NEXT

Man Shot and Killed by Police After Throwing Rocks at Cars

UP NEXT

New Self-Pollinating Almond Tree Could Be Huge for a Big Fresno Cash Crop

UP NEXT

Leonard Peltier Released After Biden Commuted Sentence in FBI Agents’ Killings

UP NEXT

CA Electricity Bills Could Soar Even Higher as Big Tech Builds More Data Centers

UP NEXT

Small Businesses Drive the Economy. Yet Their Funding Is at Risk Under Trump.

UP NEXT

Death of South Korean Actor at 24 Sparks Discussion About Social Media

UP NEXT

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

UP NEXT

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

UP NEXT

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

Bill McEwen,
News Director
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email

Ohtani Progresses in Dodgers Return with Second Bullpen Session

29 minutes ago

Trump Suggests US Agencies Should Negotiate Bills, Rather Than Pay Them in Full

56 minutes ago

Laundry Secrets From the Baseball Pros — the Clubhouse Staffers Who Wash MLB Uniforms

1 hour ago

A$AP Rocky Returns to a Life of Music, Fashion, Film and Rihanna With His Acquittal

2 hours ago

Trump Media Company Sues a Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Investigating Bolsonaro

2 hours ago

Trump, Musk Misrepresent Social Security Data on Payments to Centenarians

2 hours ago

Fresno Police Seize 27 Firearms in Search Warrant, Arrest Suspect

2 hours ago

NATO Holds Massive Combat Drills Amid US Policy Shift

2 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Khamphanh Srimala

2 hours ago

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Says Trump Is Living in a Russian-Made ‘Disinformation Space’

3 hours ago

Manfred Calls Athletics’ New Park in Sacramento Charming, Reaffirms Vegas Move

PHOENIX — Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred called the Athletics temporary home charming but reiterated he expects the franchise will open i...

5 minutes ago

5 minutes ago

Manfred Calls Athletics’ New Park in Sacramento Charming, Reaffirms Vegas Move

8 minutes ago

CA Bill Would Ban Anti-Aging Products for Kids Under 18

20 minutes ago

Justin Herbert, Chargers Will Play Their 2025 Season Opener in Brazil

29 minutes ago

Ohtani Progresses in Dodgers Return with Second Bullpen Session

President Donald Trump points to a reporter and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Ben Curtis)
56 minutes ago

Trump Suggests US Agencies Should Negotiate Bills, Rather Than Pay Them in Full

1 hour ago

Laundry Secrets From the Baseball Pros — the Clubhouse Staffers Who Wash MLB Uniforms

2 hours ago

A$AP Rocky Returns to a Life of Music, Fashion, Film and Rihanna With His Acquittal

2 hours ago

Trump Media Company Sues a Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Investigating Bolsonaro

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend