Thursday Top of the Scroll: Chaos continues to reign among Kings County water agencies following state action
It’s been two and a half months since the state brought the hammer down on water managers in Kings County for lacking an adequate plan to stem overpumping in the region and the situation is, in a word – chaotic. One groundwater sustainability agency (GSA) has imploded, leaving the county to potentially pick up the pieces. Another doesn’t have enough money in the bank to pay its newly hired manager. One GSA has repeatedly canceled meetings, others appear to be crafting their own plans and one is banking on being exempted as a “good actor,” despite the state’s repeated insistence that there will be no such exemptions in San Joaquin Valley basins now under scrutiny. Oh, and the Farm Bureau is suing the state Water Resources Control Board over its vote April 16 to put the region, the Tulare Lake subbasin, into probation – the first step toward a possible state pumping takeover. All this while a deadline is rapidly approaching July 15 for all Kings County pumpers to register their wells and begin tracking their groundwater consumption.
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