News

Tulare Lake Subbasin Annual Report to the State in progress

Following the adoption of a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP), the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) to submit annual reports to the California Department of Water Resources on April 1st of every year.

The Annual Report serves to inform and update both the State and stakeholders on groundwater conditions and sustainability progress in the entire Tulare Lake Subbasin. GSA managers in the Tulare Lake Subbasin are coordinating to ensure important data is included in this year’s Annual Report. The Report will include information from the Tulare Lake Subbasin’s five GSA’s monitoring networks, data on groundwater extraction, surface water supply, total water use, water quality, and changes in groundwater storage. View last year’s report here.

You can also explore the Department of Water Resource’s SGMA portal here. This portal allows local agencies and GSAs to submit, modify, and view the information required by SGMA, and allows the public to view submitted information and provide comments when applicable.

Frank Gornick appointed to represent City of Lemoore on Board of Directors

Frank Gornick, City of Lemoore Council member, joined the SFKGSA Board of Directors filling Seat 1.

In 2019, Gornick was honored by the Lemoore Chamber of Commerce as the city’s Citizen of the Year for his service as the Chancellor of the West Hills College District. According to The Leader, “Gornick’s leadership transformed the local district.” SFKGSA is honored and excited to welcome Director Gornick to the Board.

At the January 21, 2021 Board meeting, Director Gornick was nominated and appointed as the Secretary of the Board. Click HERE to learn more about the SFKGSA Board of Directors.

Progress made on Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) pilot test

Since approved to conduct an Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) test in November, the South Fork Kings GSA has made substantial progress to pilot the high priority project.

Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) is an innovative groundwater management method used in many parts of the United States to inject water for underground storage to be withdrawn later when surface water is limited, especially during periods of drought. The South Fork Kings GSA included ASR in its Groundwater Sustainability Plan as a high priority among the portfolio of projects to bring groundwater supplies into balance and received a grant to test the concept locally.

To date, the South Fork Kings GSA purchased transducers and hired a contractor to modify wells for the test. An aquifer pump test is scheduled for early February to determine key parameters for this project. Lemoore Canal Company has agreed to provide up to 75 acre-feet of water for the pilot test which will consist of three main phases. Water will be injected for a three-month period, stored for two months, and then taken out and used on surrounding fields.

The ASR Pilot Test is funded by the Climate Resilience Grant, a grant that was awarded by the Bay Area Council Foundation in June 2020 to help local communities across California strengthen their resilience to climate change. Read more about how SFKGSA obtained this $200,000 grant here.

Tulare Lake Subbasin will submit grant application for recharge projects in the region

Preparations are being made to apply for round one of the CA Department of Water Resources (DWR) SGMA Implementation Grant, available to critically overdrafted subbasins. South Fork Kings GSA will work to submit a letter of support on the Tulare Lake Subbasin’s grant funding application for recharge projects that bring basin-wide benefits.

The Subbasin is currently considering which projects in the Groundwater Sustainability Plan, a joint document outlining sustainability in the Tulare Lake Subbasin, to submit for funding. Groundwater recharge projects under consideration are outside of the South Fork Kings GSA but bring a benefit by meeting subbasin-wide sustainability objectives. Groundwater recharge is a primary tactic for improving groundwater conditions by which extra surface water, rainfall and snowmelt, is captured to sink below the soil into the groundwater aquifer.

The SGMA Implementation Grant is funded by Proposition 68, with the first round providing $26 million for critically overdrafted subbasins. The Subbasin has not yet determined its funding request amount. The maximum award is $5 million, and minimum is $2 million.

Another $77 million will be available in round 2 for medium-priority, high-priority, and critically overdrafted subbasins. The South Fork Kings GSA is in the Tulare Lake Subbasin, designated under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) to be critically overdrafted.

Groundwater Data Protection Policy adopted unanimously following committee and public review process

The Groundwater Data Protection Policy was adopted unanimously by the South Fork Kings GSA Board at their December 3, 2020 meeting. The draft was available for a 30-day public comment period beginning October 19 and ending November 18 and was revised under the direction of the Policy Committee after receiving one comment.

The policy outlines the South Fork Kings GSA’s duties and obligations in the process of acquiring data from landowners within its service area, with intent to keep any data collected private to the fullest extent allowed by the law. The South Fork Kings GSA will use publicly available information to learn about groundwater wells and pumping data, while working to engage in cooperative relationships with landowners to gather critical data for successful groundwater management.

Steve Jackson appointed to Policy Committee

The South Fork Kings GSA Board approved the appointment of Steve Jackson to the Policy Committee at its December 3rd meeting. Jackson is involved in ongoing SGMA efforts in the South Fork Kings GSA and serves on the Board of two Tulare Lake Subbasin GSAs, Tri-County Water Authority and Southwest Kings.

The Policy Committee is tasked with the development of policies that will guide the South Fork Kings GSA in its efforts to achieve groundwater sustainability in the area. A Groundwater Data Protection Policy adopted by the Board was developed under the guidance of the Policy Committee. The Committee will continue its work to draft policies in the coming months.

$200,000 Grant Awarded to Support Groundwater Sustainability in the South Fork Kings GSA

The South Fork Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency (SFKGSA) along with their technical consultant, Geosyntec Consultants and Kings River Conservation District, successfully obtained a $200,000 grant to support groundwater sustainability activities. Located in a region with variable water supply and susceptible to drought, the California Resilience Challenge grant awarded by the Bay Area Council Foundation will support SFKGSA’s groundwater sustainability by funding an Aquifer Storage and Recovery pilot program and a crucial data collection effort.

Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) is an innovative groundwater management method used in many parts of the United States to inject water for underground storage to be withdrawn later when surface water is limited, especially during periods of drought.

ASR is ideal for areas where conditions are not ideally suited for putting water back into the ground using recharge basins. Much of the land within the SFKGSA features dense soil types and clay layers making percolation to deeper groundwater zones inefficient. The work associated with the grant will evaluate the feasibility of ASR in the SFKGSA and determine if it is viable to scale with landowners on-farm.

The SFKGSA’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan, a roadmap to sustainable groundwater management, includes ASR as a high priority among the portfolio of projects to bring groundwater supplies into balance. The grant funding will allow the South Fork Kings GSA to conduct a pilot test of ASR and accelerate implementation of this supply-side solution to support groundwater recovery.

In addition to the ASR pilot program, landowner and community outreach will be used to obtain data on groundwater use and irrigation practices. To kick off work on the grant, a survey will be sent to all SFKGSA landowners and community residents in the coming months. The survey will assist in filling in crucial information for a more accurate picture of groundwater use.

The California Resilience Challenge grant is a statewide effort led by businesses, utilities, and a diverse range of partners, to build local and regional climate resilience and to support a shared vision for a resilient California in the face of climate threats, like drought. The South Fork Kings GSA is among twelve diverse, replicable, and innovative climate change adaptation projects across California to receive a grant. To view the other winning projects, click here.

Board Approves $8.71 Assessment, Secures Budget Revenue to Implement the Groundwater Sustainability Plan

The Board approved an assessment of $8.71 per acre for Fiscal Year 2021 at their June 18th meeting. Based on assessable acreage of 71,277.6 acres, this generates a projected revenue of $620,828 for agency administration and professional services to implement the Groundwater Sustainability Plan. The approved assessment is a decrease from the $9.80 per acre assessment collected in the previous fiscal year, which was the maximum amount approved by South Fork Kings GSA landowners in the Proposition 218 assessment election passed in 2018.

Items in the Fiscal Year 2021 budget include $75,324 for administrative costs, $488,948 for professional services including legal expense and technical tasks, and a $35,532 contingency. The remaining balance includes funds to repay member agencies for their start-up contribution to form and administer the South Fork Kings GSA prior to the assessment election revenues.

Especially critical is beginning the process of implementing the tasks and projects outlined in the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) adopted earlier this year in January. Professional services to be carried out by the South Fork Kings GSA’s technical consultant, Geosyntec, include work on a groundwater accounting program, a groundwater monitoring program and associated data management system, coordination with surrounding basins, and the initiation of an Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) pilot project, among others. The cost of the ASR pilot project and related stakeholder outreach activities will be offset with the awarding of the California Resiliency Challenge grant (read more).

To view the approved Fiscal Year 2021 budget, click here.

First Annual Report submitted to the State; improvements in data are needed to maximize efficiency moving forward

Higher data accuracy will help South Fork Kings GSA landowners take advantage of every drop

The South Fork Kings GSA, together with the four other Tulare Lake Subbasin GSAs, submitted the first Annual Report on groundwater conditions to the CA Department of Water Resources on May 5, 2020. The Annual Report focuses on groundwater conditions in water year 2019 (Sept 2018 – Oct 2019) informed by water data, both directly measured and estimated, to update the State and stakeholders on groundwater sustainability progress.

Information includes both surface water and groundwater data that when used together, provide a picture of water use in the Subbasin. Surface water supplies provided a heavy lift to meet water demands in the Subbasin, totaling 584,906 acre-feet for the period, with local river supplies accounting for 91% of the total.

A substantial 90% of the 480,390 acre-feet groundwater extraction estimate was derived from land use information, including agricultural crop demand using imaging collected by satellite. Land use estimates using satellite imagery are useful to develop an understanding of groundwater demand but are less accurate than direct measurement tools like meters or verified crop information reported by landowners. Because groundwater extraction data is key to understanding groundwater balance, the South Fork Kings GSA is aiming to achieve higher accuracy.

Improving the accuracy of data, starting with more precise groundwater extraction measurement, will help water managers strategically manage supplies to benefit landowners while achieving sustainability under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

With an accurate read on groundwater conditions, water managers gain a firmer grasp on how much groundwater can sustainably be used. Overreliance on land use estimates can inhibit maximum groundwater use efficiency and carries a higher risk of creating pumping deficits that then must be retroactively and stringently corrected. By removing uncertainty, landowners have the opportunity to take advantage of every drop available.

An upcoming landowner survey in the South Fork Kings GSA is part of the agency’s efforts to fine tune data on groundwater supply within its service area. The focus on gathering accurate groundwater data moving forward will help the South Fork Kings GSA maximize its water supplies for stakeholders while ensuring long-term use is balanced.

Tulare Lake Subbasin awarded $500,000 DWR grant to recover GSP development costs and fund future monitoring efforts

The Tulare Lake Subbasin received its full grant funding request of $500,000 from the CA Department of Water Resources (DWR). The Tulare Lake Subbasin, encompassing the South Fork Kings GSA, was among 53 applicants statewide to receive funding to support Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) development and implementation.

The Subbasin plans to use $350,000 of the funds to recover a portion of the GSAs’ contributions to finalize development of the GSP, the roadmap to balance groundwater supplies. The remaining $150,000 will be divided among the GSAs to fund GSP implementation activities. The South Fork Kings GSA plans to utilize its portion of the funds to support groundwater level monitoring efforts, a critical data-gathering activity for assessing sustainability progress.

DWR awarded approximately $47 million in total grant funds across the State. Proposition 68, passed in 2018, provides a significant $46.25 million of awarded funds. The additional $1.6 million is provided through Proposition 1, passed in 2014, conditional upon future reappropriation of grant funds in Fiscal Year 2021/22.

The grant is part of DWR’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Grant Program providing funding for sustainable groundwater planning and project implementation through a competitive grant solicitation process. The Subbasin was previously awarded $1.5 million for GSP development in an earlier round of the program’s solicitations.

In addition to the DWR grant program the South Fork Kings GSA Board will continue to pursue other funding opportunities to offset the costs of implementing SGMA. At this time two additional grant funding opportunities are being pursued. An application has been submitted for DWR’s Technical Support Services grant to fund monitoring well installation. The well would provide data on groundwater levels in the deep aquifer zone below the Corcoran clay. A separate application was submitted for a private Climate Resiliency Grant to fund outreach efforts and Aquifer Storage and Recovery pilot testing.