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 emphasized that GSAs have made substantial progress since draft reviews but that key deficiencies remain. Ben Brezing of the Department of Water Resources described the basin’s subsidence record and monitoring improvements and warned that subsidence trends can accelerate again in dry years.

Local leaders and GSA representatives made two themes central to their remarks: (1) the basin’s size and technical complexity, with multiple storage and banking operations and distinct hydrogeologic conceptual model (HCM) areas, and (2) the progress made recently through intense coordination. “This hearing marks a significant milestone, a culmination of nearly 2 years of rigorous effort, collaboration, and commitment from our GSAs,” said Derek Juracek, chair of the Kern County Subbasin Coordination Committee.

Community groups and disadvantaged-community representatives urged a different course. Several speakers said that vulnerable residents and small drinking-water systems remain at risk of dry or contaminated wells and that immediate state oversight would be necessary to protect those users. “To best protect the beneficial uses and users of groundwater in the Kern Subbasin, the subbasin must be moved into probation,” said a community panelist during public comment.

After discussion, Board member Nicole Morgan moved to adopt the board staff’s alternative draft resolution continuing the probationary hearing and adding conditions; a second was offered and the motion passed on a roll-call vote. The adopted resolution includes new language, added at the board meeting, that requires GSAs, as a condition of the continuance, to enhance community outreach and engagement, to work with local community groups on outreach plans, and to give staff those outreach plans within one month of the resolution’s adoption. The staff presentation earlier in the day had also described a schedule — included in the staff materials — that asked GSAs to submit revised draft GSPs by June 20, 2025 and proposed a continued hearing in September 2025 for the board to revisit whether probation remains warranted; staff told the board it would continue its detailed review of the December 2024 adopted plans.

What the continuance does — and does not — do: The continuance keeps the basin under active review but does not immediately impose the full probation reporting and fee requirements described in statute. Instead, it creates a near-term timetable and explicit outreach expectations intended to ensure local agencies finish specific technical and outreach work while the board and staff complete a full technical review of the adopted 2024 GSPs. Board staff said the continuance retains the board’s ability to designate the basin probationary later if deficiencies are not corrected.

Among the concrete items staff identified during the hearing as high priorities for revision were: expansion and validation of the representative groundwater monitoring network (including depth/screen data for monitoring wells); clearer, more protective minimum thresholds and nested monitoring where hydrogeology varies locally; transparent, fund-backed well-mitigation procedures for impacted domestic wells and small community systems; and subsidence mitigation plans near critical conveyance.

The board’s action sets an abbreviated clock for the basin’s agencies and staff to continue technical work and to step up community outreach. Advocates, local officials and GSAs reported frequent, continuing technical meetings since January and said they would deliver revised materials and clarifications to staff for review in coming months. If the GSAs resolve the identified deficiencies and demonstrate they are on track to achieve the sustainability goal, the board’s staff said it will recommend rescinding any future probationary designation and returning the basin to Department of Water Resources oversight.

Ending note: The State Water Board emphasized that the continuance is conditioned on stronger local outreach and clearer timelines for plan corrections. That combination — more technical detail plus more direct community engagement — was the central plank that persuaded board members to allow additional time rather than imposing immediate probationary controls.

Quoted

"This hearing is being held in accordance with the board's notice dated 07/25/2024," Chair Joaquin Esquivel said when he opened the item, reminding participants of the board’s formal role under SGMA.

"Staff recommendations … are to designate the basin as probationary today or continue the hearing to a later date," Natalie Stork told the board in the staff presentation.

"This hearing marks a significant milestone, a culmination of nearly 2 years of rigorous effort, collaboration, and commitment from our GSAs," Derek Juracek said on behalf of the Kern County Subbasin Coordination Committee.

Community members at the hearing urged the board to act more quickly to protect drinking-water users. "To best protect the beneficial uses and users of groundwater in the Kern Subbasin, the subbasin must be moved into probation," one community panelist said.

Ending

Board staff will continue to review the adopted 2024 GSPs and to meet with GSA technical teams. The board’s adopted continuance requires GSAs to provide outreach plans to staff within one month and to submit revised materials for staff review this spring; the board will revisit the probationary question at the continued hearing later this year if issues remain unresolved.