The Well Fixer's Warning

The Atlantic | August 17th, 2021

The well fixer and I were standing at the edge of an almond orchard in the exhausted middle of California. It was late July, and so many wells on the farms of Madera Co

The well fixer and I were standing at the edge of an almond orchard in the exhausted middle of California. It was late July, and so many wells on the farms of Madera County were coming up dry that he was running out of parts to fix them. In this latest round of western drought, desperate voices were calling him at six in the morning and again at midnight. They were puzzled why their pumps were coughing up sand, the water’s flow to their orchards now a trickle.

Thousands of domestic and public supply wells face failure despite groundwater sustainability reform in California’s Central Valley

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | September 8th, 2023

Time-varying land subsidence detected by radar altimetry: California, Taiwan and north China

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | June 21st, 2016

Contemporary applications of radar altimetry include sea-level rise, ocean circulation, marine gravity, and icesheet elevation change. Unlike InSAR and GNSS, which are wi

Contemporary applications of radar altimetry include sea-level rise, ocean circulation, marine gravity, and icesheet elevation change. Unlike InSAR and GNSS, which are widely used to map surface deformation, altimetry is neither reliant on highly temporally-correlated ground features nor as limited by the available spatial coverage, and can provide long-term temporal subsidence monitoring capability. Here we use multi-mission radar altimetry with an approximately 23 year data-span to quantify land subsidence in cropland areas. Subsidence rates from TOPEX/POSEIDON, JASON-1, ENVISAT, and JASON-2 during 1992–2015 show time-varying trends with respect to displacement over time in California’s San Joaquin Valley and central Taiwan, possibly related to changes in land use, climatic conditions (drought) and regulatory measures affecting groundwater use. Near Hanford, California, subsidence rates reach 18 cm yr with a cumulative subsidence of 206 cm, which potentially could adversely affect operations of the planned California High-Speed Rail. The maximum subsidence rate in central Taiwan is 8 cm yr. Radar altimetry also reveals time-varying subsidence in the North China Plain consistent with the declines of groundwater storage and existing water infrastructure detected by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, with rates reaching 20 cm yr and cumulative subsidence as much as 155 cm.

Tri-County Water Authority Groundwater Sustainability Plan

Tri-County Water Authority | December 18th, 2019

Tulare Lake Fact Sheet

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | October 12th, 2023

Tulare Lake Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan

Kings County Farm Bureau | January 29th, 2020

Tulare Lake Subbasin Probationary Hearing Draft Report

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | October 12th, 2023

The State Water Board recognizes that significant efforts were made by local public agencies in the Tulare Lake Subbasin since the passage of SGMA to form groundwater sus

The State Water Board recognizes that significant efforts were made by local public agencies in the Tulare Lake Subbasin since the passage of SGMA to form groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) and then develop detailed technical and other information supporting the adoption and implementation of a groundwater sustainability plan (GSP) for the subbasin. Despite those efforts, in January of 2022, DWR reviewed the GSP to determine if it met SGMA’s requirements and found it to be incomplete. Following revisions made by the GSAs in the subbasin, DWR reevaluated the GSP in March of 2023, determined it to be inadequate, and referred the subbasin to the State Water Board, as required by SGMA. Consistent with SGMA, the State Water Board may now consider whether to designate the Tulare Lake Subbasin as a “probationary basin,” a term that is used in SGMA to describe the first stage of state intervention. Click here for Appendix to the report.

Tulare Lake Subbasin Probationary Hearing Draft Staff Report, Appendix A Summary Table of Proposed Deficiencies and Potential Actions to Address Deficiencies

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | October 12th, 2023

Click here to see the main related draft report.

Click here to see the main related draft report.

Tulare Lake Subbasin Probationary Hearing Final Staff Report

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB)nia | March 29th, 2024

State Water Board staff have identified specific deficiencies in the Tulare Lake Subbasin 2022 GSP and have outlined potential corrective actions to address those specifi

State Water Board staff have identified specific deficiencies in the Tulare Lake Subbasin 2022 GSP and have outlined potential corrective actions to address those specific deficiencies. The Final Staff Report also incorporates deficiencies identified by DWR’s determination. Deficiencies that have been identified within the GSP relate to: * Chronic lowering of groundwater levels with insufficient management criteria. * Continued land subsidence (sinking). * Further degradation of groundwater quality.

Tule Subbasin Probationary Hearing Final Staff Report

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | August 30th, 2024

Board staff identified specific deficiencies in the Tule Subbasin 2022 GSPs and outlined potential corrective actions to address those specific deficiencies. • Chron

Board staff identified specific deficiencies in the Tule Subbasin 2022 GSPs and outlined potential corrective actions to address those specific deficiencies. • Chronic lowering of groundwater levels with insufficient management criteria. • Continued land subsidence (sinking). • Further degradation of groundwater quality. • Depletions of interconnected surface water.