Kern GSPs add monitoring, raise water‑level thresholds and outline mitigation pathways for dry and contaminated wells

State Water Board staff told members on Sept. 5 that the 2025 draft GSPs for the Kern subbasin contain substantive technical changes intended to reduce the risk of undesirable results, expand the monitoring network and clarify mitigation steps for impacted wells.

Key technical changes described by staff include higher minimum groundwater‑level thresholds at many monitoring locations, clearer quantitative definitions of “undesirable results” for groundwater level, quality and subsidence, and more prescriptive minimum‑threshold action plans. Staff said minimum thresholds were raised at roughly 35 monitoring wells in the representative network and that some thresholds increased by tens of feet in specific places to reduce the risk of subsidence and protect beneficial uses.

Monitoring network and data gaps: The GSAs subdivided the basin into 111 hexagons to test representativeness of domestic wells and the monitoring network; staff said the representative network for groundwater‑level monitoring currently covers about 187 wells and the…