Mid Kings River GSA approves well registration, measurement and recharge policies; staff to implement database and begin data collection

The Mid Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency on May 13 approved three initial policies to support a revised Groundwater Sustainability Plan: a well registration policy, a groundwater pumping measurement policy and a private groundwater recharge policy.

The board voted unanimously to adopt the three policies after a presentation from the stakeholder advisory committee and the GSA’s engineering consultant. “The wells need to be registered by April of 2026,” Amir Hussain, engineering consultant with Josintech, said while describing the registration timeline and the need to locate domestic and production wells across the GSA.

The policies are intended to build the data and crediting systems the GSA will use as it moves toward allocations and subsidence management, officials said. The registration policy requires owners to register wells with the GSA (no registration fee), the measurement policy establishes allowed methods for reporting pumping, and the recharge policy creates a framework for giving credits to parties that put water into the basin.

Why this matters: the GSA must document where and how much groundwater is pumped in order to manage declines and subsidence and to comply with Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) reporting requirements. Board members and members of the stakeholder committee said the policies are early-stage steps to build a usable database and measurement program before the GSA develops allocations or a subsidence management plan.

Key approvals and actions - Well registration policy: the board approved a registration requirement covering all wells in the GSA area, with domestic wells included and no registration fee. The board voted 4-0 to approve the policy (moved by Supervisor Rusty Robinson; second by Supervisor Richard Vallee). - Groundwater pumping measurement policy: the board approved a measurement policy that allows…