The SGMA Weekly

14:15

An El Niño Emergency, Water by the Acre, and a...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/09/28

California is now under a statewide state of emergency for the developing El Niño, and Friant Water Authority has moved its canal outage up to late October to get ahead of possible flood operations at Millerton Lake. We also cover Pleasant Valley's proposal to allocate groundwater by acreage days before its plan hearing, Fox Canyon's $11.5 million in assessed late-reporting penalties and the automatic reductions it approved, Yolo County's extended well moratorium ahead of the Bay-Delta vote, and

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12:12

No Compensation No Conservation, a $35 Pumping Fee,...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/09/21

Two of California's largest water agencies just stepped back from the state's uncompensated Colorado River conservation commitment, the State Water Board put a date on the Tulare Lake interim plan along with a pumping fee that would climb from twenty to thirty-five dollars an acre-foot, and the two permits that made fast winter recharge possible have quietly expired. We also cover a tight delivery window on the Delta-Mendota Canal, a proposed land-based assessment at Westlands, and some genuinely

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14:00

The Two-Mile Line, a Court Win That Still Costs You,...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/09/14

State Water Board staff have proposed an interim plan for the Tule Subbasin whose first phase would halt pumping on every acre within at least two miles of the Friant-Kern Canal — and the agencies that would live under it have about seven weeks to put a local alternative in front of the Friant Water Authority. In Kings County, a judge told growers they're likely to win on the merits, then applied the pay-first rule and left the fees in place, with one carve-out that changes things for two GSAs. And

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13:08

Seepage for Sale, a Toad in the Way, and $22.8M of...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/09/08

Greater Kaweah wants to buy the water leaking out of district canals and use it to retire the Tier 1/Tier 2 overdraft allocation — this week we hear how that concept is landing at Lakeside Irrigation District and Kaweah Delta WCD. A newly protected toad has stalled a FEMA-funded flood barrier as forecasters warn of a possible Super El Niño, McMullin Area GSA awards its $22.8 million flood-capture expansion, and four heavyweight commenters weigh in on the Delta-Mendota GSP with just a third of a foot

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11:17

This Isn't Academic Anymore: 4,500 Dead Acres, a...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/08/24

The pumping restriction taking shape along the Friant-Kern Canal isn't theoretical anymore — one Tule subbasin board member already has 4,500 acres out of production. This week: DWR tells the California Water Commission that every supply project together still won't close the valley's gap; a $730,000 small-farm fallowing fund near Paso Robles has fewer than 10 applicants; Metropolitan rereads the Palo Verde fallowing agreement and January planting gets complicated; Porterville ID GSA adopts its

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10:03

Get Your Fields Ready: El Niño, GEARS Invoices, and...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/08/19

The strongest El Niño since tracking began may be forming — and Central Valley districts are telling growers to get fields ready before the first storm. Plus: Greater Kaweah's concept to stop allocating "paper water," State Water Board extraction invoices land with a 30-day clock (and a petition playbook if you were billed for banked water), a $200 million cost break moves the B.F. Sisk Dam raise forward, and the Tule moratorium timeline may be speeding up.Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try

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11:38

The SGMA Weekly — August 10, 2026

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/08/10

The state's opening offer for one stretch of the Tule Subbasin was zero pumping. Plus: a Tehama County fee ruling starts landing on Sacramento Valley boards, a $25 million federal banking award with a September deadline, golden mussels at O'Neill, and what the Colorado River's final EIS actually says. Full recaps at WaterOne.ai.

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14:17

A Fee Clears, a Court Voids Another, and the State...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/08/03

Pleasant Valley GSA adopted a $50-per-acre-foot extraction fee after a majority-protest hearing drew just 28 protests out of 333 possible votes — while a California appeals court struck down a neighboring county's groundwater charge as an unconstitutional tax, for the precise reason that it was not tied to pumping at all. We walk through what separates a fee that survives from one that doesn't, ahead of a fall full of Prop 218 and Prop 26 hearings. Also this week: why a $525 acre-foot of transfer

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12:40

Groundwater Fees Hit Property Tax Bills, Four Inches...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/07/28

Groundwater charges are moving off agency invoices and onto county property tax bills in three basins at once — and when a fee is secured against the land instead of sent as an invoice, the leverage changes. Delta-Mendota reported it has roughly four inches of subsidence allowance left before its 2040 threshold, a cushion meant to last until 2040 that it's on pace to spend by 2028. Plus: metering enforcement moves from deadlines to penalties, Vina's advisory committee votes to pull regulatory

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11:48

Model Watchdogs, Mussel Bills, and Creative Recharge...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/07/21

South Fork Kings GSA makes what its board calls its most important hire yet — an independent watchdog for the groundwater model that sets allocations — while warning that a failed funding vote could put the state in charge. Plus: the City of Tulare's wells are digging a hole that gets worse rain or shine, the Friant system's golden mussel bill comes into focus, and Chowchilla's rock-filled recharge holes are outperforming ponds ten to one.Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for

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11:53

Subsidence Alarms, Maxed Fees, and Thirsty Data...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/07/13

Pixley's subsidence warning lights doubled in a single year — just days before State Water Board leadership sits down with Tule Subbasin GSAs in Visalia to lay out its interim plan roadmap. Meanwhile, the Modesto Subbasin's east side edges toward "undesirable results" territory with 30%+ pumping cuts on the table, more agencies max out their fees, and a proposed data center that could out-drink an entire water district has boards asking whether they're even allowed to say no. Read the full recaps

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11:48

Tule Pumping Cuts, McMullin's Rebid, and Fees at the...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/07/06

Lower Tule River Irrigation District staff put numbers on possible pumping cuts — 0.6 to 0.9 acre-feet per acre in the worst-affected subsidence zone — while Pixley consultants peg overdraft at roughly 1 acre-foot per acre per year. McMullin Area GSA hits reset on its Expansion Project with August 5 as the key checkpoint, and Corning Subbasin GSA raises fees to the maximum its existing Prop 218 assessment allows. Plus: why the lower aquifer is the problem child, tightening data deadlines across the

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10:13

The SGMA Weekly · Jun 29, 2026 · Friant-Kern's $200M...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/06/29

After years of slow restoration, federal dollars are about to meet dirt on the Friant-Kern Canal. This week's SGMA Weekly covers four Must Knows and three Trends from the past week of California water-agency board action. In this episode: • Friant Water Authority locks in a real groundbreaking date for the $200M Friant-Kern Canal subsidence fix — Phase 2A bid period July–August, October construction start, formal groundbreaking the week of August 17 • Five districts update their long-range water

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13:02

Subsidence Goalposts, Sites Reservoir at $1.36B,...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/06/22

This week the Department of Water Resources is treating subsidence as "irreparable harm" requiring immediate action — a stance shift surfaced at three different boards this week (Chowchilla, North Kern, Omochumne Hartnell). The California Water Commission lifted Sites Reservoir's conditional funding ceiling to $1.36 billion as a September water-rights decision looms. The State Water Board is floating a $200,000 application fee just to request a basin exclusion — comments due July 10. Plus: Pajaro

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9:51

Indian Wells Goes to Trial, Kern Tightens Subsidence...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/06/13

A California court enters Phase 2 of the Indian Wells Valley safe-yield trial — testing how a court-adjudicated number will line up against a GSA's SGMA sustainable-yield. Kern Subbasin moves to a stricter "critical head" subsidence standard tied to DWR's January 2026 BMPs. Plus: Tule advances a 20-year land repurposing program, Salinas weighs a deep-aquifer pumping moratorium, and the well-registration enforcement era gets real across multiple basins. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat

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9:48

McMullin's $56M Vote, $176M Federal Awards, and a...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/06/07

McMullin Area GSA's Proposition 218 election just passed in a landslide to fund a $56M flood capture expansion. The Bureau of Reclamation announced $176M in fresh Aging Infrastructure awards for the Delta-Mendota Canal and O'Neill Pumping Plant, with a $37.5M Kiewit contract approved to start the first canal subsidence fix. And a federal letter to DWR just opened up the larger ~$3B California Aqueduct Subsidence Program cost-share fight. Plus: White Wolf sharpens subsidence rules along the Aqueduct,

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8:04

Federal Canal Money, Snowpack Collapse, and Oakley's...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/06/01

Federal canal-repair money just hit California in a big way: $200M to Friant-Kern, $235M to Delta-Mendota, and $50M to the San Luis Canal — totaling $485M+ in OBBB / Bureau of Reclamation investments discussed across this week's board meetings. Meanwhile, the snowpack supplying it all just collapsed to 3.5% of normal in the Tuolumne basin — a depth-of-collapse not seen since 1977. And Oakley extended its data-center moratorium another 10½ months, landing right inside Diablo Water District's service

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10:22

Allocations Climb, Storage Slips, and Southwest Kings...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/05/23

DWR raised the State Water Project allocation from 30% to 45% on May 15 and Reclamation lifted the CVP South-of-Delta agricultural allocation from 20% to 25% — but statewide groundwater storage still declined by roughly 1.5 million acre-feet in Water Year 2025, with 83% of extractions concentrated in the San Joaquin Valley. Pajaro Valley, Omochumne Hartnell, and Mound Basin all surfaced selective cost-relief signals for ratepayers this week, while Southwest Kings GSA stayed implementation of its

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9:31

Tule Interim Plan by the Board, Metropolitan Banking...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/05/16

The State Water Board's Tule interim plan is taking shape — staff revealed it could limit allocations to native safe yield only (under 0.25 AF/acre) with a 2-mile pumping moratorium and $20/AF probationary fees. Plus: four Valley GSAs hired Ewell Group to formalize a ~100,000 AF banking deal with the Metropolitan Water District; DWR Director Karla Nemeth departs July 2 to run ACWA; and golden mussels hit peak spawning with Arvin-Edison's Phase 1 copper treatment killing >90% at ~$3M. Trends: AB

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9:07

Tule Allocation Math Under Audit, GEARS Bug, Prop 4...

The SGMA Weekly ·

2026/05/11

The State Water Board's denial of the remaining Tule Subbasin exclusion requests is opening into a deeper audit — state officials are now questioning local agencies' 34-year rolling precipitation averages, native sustainable yield calculations, and recharge-credit treatment, which could force structural changes to Basin Safe accounting in coming years. Porterville staff also reported the state is backing off the May 1 GEARS penalty after acknowledging a platform bug that doubled extraction totals

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