Just the Facts: Land, Water, and Agriculture in the Colorado River Basin

Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy (Babbitt Center) | March 1st, 2022

Kern County Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan 2025

Kern County Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (KCSGSA) | August 29th, 2025

The Kern Subbasin (Kern Subbasin) Amended Groundwater Sustainability Plan (2025 Plan)  presents the overview of each of the seven GSPs that together constitute the 2025

The Kern Subbasin (Kern Subbasin) Amended Groundwater Sustainability Plan (2025 Plan)  presents the overview of each of the seven GSPs that together constitute the 2025 Plan, including which GSAs are covered by each GSP and whether the GSP includes supplemental “blue pages” specific to the portion of the Kern Subbasin that the GSA manages consists of seven closely coordinated (and nearly identical) Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) and the Kern Subbasin Coordination Agreement. The 2025 Plan represents a critical milestone in the Kern Subbasin and all 20 Kern Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agencies’ (GSAs) ongoing commitment to achieving long-term groundwater sustainability under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Developed collaboratively by all 20 GSAs, the 2025 Plan responds directly to regulatory feedback from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), incorporating the latest data, technical refinements, and input from interested parties. 

Kern County Subbasin Staff Review of 2025 Draft of Groundwater Sustainability Plans

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | September 5th, 2025

The Kern County Subbasin (subbasin or basin) is a critically overdrafted subbasin in the southern portion of the San Joaquin Valley with an area of about 1.78 million acr

The Kern County Subbasin (subbasin or basin) is a critically overdrafted subbasin in the southern portion of the San Joaquin Valley with an area of about 1.78 million acres. The subbasin is currently managed by 20 GSAs. DWR determined the subbasin’s 2022 GSPs were inadequate and referred the subbasin to the State Water Board in March 2023, which initiated the state intervention process. The subbasin GSAs submitted their revised, adopted GSPs to the Board in December 2024, and Board staff determined that these updated GSPs did not resolve all the deficiencies identified by staff in the previous GSPs. On February 20, 2025, the State Water Board held a hearing to determine whether to designate the subbasin as probationary. In recognition of the substantial progress the subbasin made, the Board continued the hearing to September 17, 2025, giving the GSAs additional time to resolve the remaining deficiencies and directing the GSAs to submit revised draft GSPs to the Board by June 20, 2025 for review. On June 20, 2025, the GSAs submitted seven amended draft GSPs to the Board (2025 Draft GSPs). Board staff reviewed the 2025 Draft GSPs and conclude that the GSAs substantially, though not completely, address the deficiencies identified in the previous GSPs. Staff recommends returning the subbasin to DWR for review of the updated GSPs pursuant to Water Code section 10733.4 if the GSAs resolve three of the remaining issues: (1) providing an adequate mitigation program for drinking water wells impacted by any constituent for which a minimum threshold is established in the GSPs, including 1,2,3-TCP, where groundwater management activities cause concentrations to exceed those minimum thresholds; (2) providing an adequate mitigation program for state small water system wells (or domestic wells with more than four service connections) impacted by groundwater management activities; and (3) eliminating the Kern Non-Districted Land Authority GSA Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement May 2026 sunset provision, which would result in unmanaged areas of the subbasin that are a potential basis for state intervention.

Kern Groundwater Authority Groundwater Sustainability Plan

Kern Groundwater Authority | January 30th, 2020

Kern River Groundwater Sustainability Agency Groundwater Sustainability Plan

Kern River Groundwater Sustainability Agency (KRGSA) | December 5th, 2019

Kings County Farm Bureau vs. California State Water Resources Control Board

Superior Court of California, County of Kings | September 12th, 2024

Kings River East GSA Groundwater Sustainability Plan

Kings River East Groundwater Sustainability Agency (KREGSA) | December 13th, 2019

Kings River East GSA Groundwater Sustainability Plan (Revised)

Kings River East Groundwater Sustainability Agency (KREGSA) | July 5th, 2022

Land Transitions and Dust in the San Joaquin Valley

Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) | July 24th, 2022

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires groundwater users to bring their basins into balance over the next two decades. In the San Joaquin Valley, this

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires groundwater users to bring their basins into balance over the next two decades. In the San Joaquin Valley, this will mean taking more than 500,000 acres of agricultural land out of intensive irrigated production. Among other issues, this could potentially lead to air quality impacts if the lands become new sources of dust, especially windblown dust, which can have numerous negative short- and long-term health and environmental impacts. In addition, the changing climate may exacerbate risks as warmer temperatures can dry out soils and increase dust emissions. The overall air quality impact of transitioning agricultural land to new uses is nuanced, but proactive management can help to identify high-risk areas and at-risk communities, and direct effort and funding to the most cost-effective interventions.

Land Use and Water Quality on California’s Central Coast: Nutrient Levels in Coastal Waterways

University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz) | July 17th, 2003

Increased focus on addressing non-point source (NPS) pollution throughout the U.S. has raised awareness of agriculture’s impact on water quality. Growers are being a

Increased focus on addressing non-point source (NPS) pollution throughout the U.S. has raised awareness of agriculture’s impact on water quality. Growers are being asked to voluntarily limit the effects of their operations on adjacent waterways through programs such those initiated by county Farm Bureaus. If pollution cannot be voluntarily controlled, growers may face mandatory regulatory actions in the future. Maintaining water quality is an ongoing challenge in the Monterey Bay watershed, where industry, urban development, and farming all affect sensitive waterways. Excess nitrogen and phosphorous, herbicides, insecticides, and sediments that end up in sloughs and wetlands surrounding Monterey Bay have compromised water quality, contaminated shellfish, birds, and other wildlife, and generated unsafe levels of nitrate in drinking water.  Although nutrient contamination is well recognized, to date there have been few efforts to link water quality with land uses such as urban development and farming in the region. To determine the way that land uses affect nitrogen and phosphorous concentrations in central coast waterways, researchers Marc Los Huertos, Lowell Gentry, and Carol Shennan have monitored water flow and sampled water quality in the Pajaro River and in other Pajaro Valley and Elkhorn Slough watershed creeks and agricultural drainages, for the past two water years (October 2000–September 2002). The research takes place through the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (the Center) and is part of a larger U.S. Department of Agriculture grant awarded to Center director Shennan. This water quality monitoring program was developed in cooperation with the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau, local Resource Conservation Districts, and other groups.  We are particularly interested in the concentrations of two nutrients, nitrogen (nitrate-N) and phosphorus (ortho-P, also known as soluble reactive phosphorus), that are components of non-point source (NPS) pollution originating from urban and agricultural land uses.