Less than two months after agreeing to join forces with the City of Porterville to manage area groundwater, the Porterville Irrigation District board voted Tuesday to abandon the partnership and hold a public hearing on whether to form its own groundwater agency. That hearing will be held May 13. … The breakup is a continuation of the strife that has dogged the Tule subbasin as it struggles to comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which mandates aquifers be brought into balance by 2040. Squabbles and lawsuits have centered on the southeastern portion of the subbasin where some growers are blamed for overpumping so much that the ground has collapsed, sinking a 33-mile section of the Friant-Kern Canal. 

Other groundwater news:

• Arizona Department of Water Resources: News release: Reducing groundwater overdraft to protect people and farms: DWR staff brief Willcox draft AMA plan