State Water Board pauses decision on probation for Kern County Subbasin, adds community outreach conditions

The State Water Resources Control Board voted Feb. 20 to continue — rather than immediately impose — a probationary designation for the Kern County Subbasin under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The board adopted the alternative draft resolution that continues the probationary hearing and includes new conditions requiring local agencies to expand community outreach and report on those efforts to board staff.

The board’s staff had presented two options: designate the basin probationary now based on deficiencies identified in groundwater sustainability plans, or continue the hearing to give local groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) more time to correct outstanding issues. “Staff recommendations … are to designate the basin as probationary today or continue the hearing to a later date,” Natalie Stork, director of the Office of Sustainable Groundwater Management, told the board during the morning presentation.

Why it matters: The Kern Subbasin supports municipal systems, more than three-quarters of a million residents and large-scale agricultural production. A probationary designation would trigger basin-level reporting and fee requirements for many pumpers and could lead to state interim management if deficiencies are not fixed; a continuance preserves local management while setting firm deadlines for corrective action and for improved outreach to impacted communities.

Board staff’s report found persistent gaps across multiple topics: coordination among the basin’s 20 GSAs; groundwater-level sustainable management criteria and monitoring networks; potential for localized well impacts; land subsidence near major conveyance such as the California Aqueduct and the Friant–Kern Canal; and groundwater quality protections. Staff and Department of Water Resources technical presenters…