Fox Canyon GMA asks court to extend Las Posas initial operating yield while modeling disputes are resolved

The Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency board on Jan. 22 voted to recommend that the court continue the basin’s initial operating yield of 40,000 acre‑feet through water year 2025 while consultants complete a basin optimization yield study and modeling questions are resolved.

Jason, assistant agency counsel, told the board the basin optimization yield study—required by the Las Posas Valley adjudication judgment—cannot be completed until December 2025 at the earliest, in part because of outstanding modeling issues and a pending contract or scope‑of‑work agreement with United for use of its coastal model. "The operating yield is the amount of water in the basin that can be used by water right holders," Jason said, using the common analogy: "we're talking about the size of the pie when we're talking about the operating yield." The recommended extension would apply only if Dudek's analysis shows no adverse effect on the…