Lemoore area growers and landowners weren’t happy about giving out their well locations and pumping data but said, if they had to, they’d rather give that information to a local agency than the state.

“The state represents LA and Sacramento, not us,” said home owner Cynthia Dias, who registered her domestic well with the South Fork Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) at its second well-registration workshop held March 26.

“I’d rather it be on a local level than the state,” she said of giving out her private well information.

The turnout, about 45 people, was significantly higher than the GSA’s first workshop March 3 where only nine people showed up.

Local Control Preferred Over State Intervention

“We’ve made really good progress,” South Fork General Manager Johnny Gailey reported at a grower’s advisory group the following day.

The GSA now has 45 accounts in its system with 120 ag and 38 domestic wells registered. South Fork Kings is aiming to register all wells within its boundaries by July 1.

Gailey said he’s spoken to some growers who are against the requirements and don’t plan on sharing their well data or location.

Ultimately, Gailey believes those who register late may face a fee. That would need to go to the board for approval, he confirmed.

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Warnings Against Avoiding Registration

Another landowner and domestic well owner, Joe Annon, who attended the March 26 workshop warned against avoiding registration.

“It’s going to catch up to them,” he said.

Landowner Dean Shiroyama agreed.

“Doing this is going to be way better than dealing with the state,” he said of local registration.

He referred to the state Water Resources Control Board, which put the Tulare Lake subbasin, most of Kings County, into probationary status nearly a year ago for lacking an adequate groundwater plan per the Sustainable Groundwater Management Plan.

Under probation, farmers were going to have to meter and register their wells, at an annual cost of $300 each, report extractions and pay $20 per acre foot pumped. That would have been on top of fees and assessments they already pay to their groundwater agencies and water districts.

Probation would last a year while state and local water managers work to come up with a groundwater plan that protects domestic wells and halts subsidence, among other requirements.

State Probation and Legal Hurdles

If a plan didn’t come together in that year’s time, the state could step in and set its own pumping limits.

However, all of that was paused in the Tulare Lake subbasin after the Kings County Farm Bureau sued the state and a judge issued a preliminary injunction against those state sanctions.

Since then, South Fork and the other four groundwater agencies in the subbasin have been working to redo the region’s groundwater plan, including building their own well registration and monitoring systems.

It’s unclear when the Water Board could review the groundwater agencies’ efforts, as the state has appealed the injunction and ceased communicating with local water managers while the legal issues are ongoing.

About the Author

Monserrat Solis covers Kings County water issues for SJV Water through the California Local News Fellowship initiative. 

About SJV Water

SJV Water is an independent, nonprofit news site covering water in the San Joaquin Valley, www.sjvwater.org. Email us at sjvwater@sjvwater.org.