Replenishing Groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley: 2024 Update

Strategies to replenish groundwater basins—long used in some areas of the San Joaquin Valley—have
increasingly come into focus as the region seeks to bring its overdrafted groundwater basins into balance
under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). In late 2023, following a very wet winter and
spring, we conducted a repeat survey of local water agencies about their recharge activities and
perspectives, building on a similar survey at the end of 2017, a year with similar levels of precipitation. We found signs of progress on recharge since 2017, as well as areas where more work is needed to take full advantage of this important water management tool.