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State Water Board staff presses Mid Kings GSA on subsidence BMPs and modeling; consultants warn of added time and cost
Summary
Consultants told the Mid Kings GSA board that State Water Board staff asked the GSAs to address recently finalized DWR land-subsidence best-management practices, which requires modeling and coordination with infrastructure owners and may add months and cost; the consultant said GSAs will seek to quantify time and cost before returning to the board.
Amir Hussain, an engineering consultant with Jacinta Consultants, told the Mid Kings River GSA board on Feb. 17 that State Water Board staff reviewed the GSAs’ policies and requested additional work on sustainable management criteria and a newly finalized Department of Water Resources land-subsidence best-management practices (BMP) document.
"They made it very clear to us that this... is the way that they want this to occur," Amir said, describing state staff as seeking detailed modeling to show how GSAs will meet subsidence thresholds. He warned that implementing the BMP at the subbasin scale would require "several months worth of time" and added that it will "add cost" because the BMP demands modeling across multiple wells and coordination with owners of critical infrastructure.
Amir said the GSAs had focused their initial revisions on addressing deficiencies from a 2024 staff report that placed the subbasins on probation, but the state signaled it expects GSAs to also demonstrate compliance with the new subsidence BMP. "When we left the meeting... we basically said we need to go back, regroup a little bit, figure out exactly how much work this is, figure out exactly what this is gonna cost, and then come back to all 5 of the GSAs," he said.
Amir also described the state's GEARS data portal changes: the state now supports GSA bulk uploads of well and pumping data and plans a March meeting to demonstrate the process; the state also will mail new access codes to pumpers, and GSAs and pumpers must retain those mailings to enable uploads.
Board members and residents asked whether GSAs could or should pursue legal action against the state for changing rules during plan reviews. County counsel responded that any legal action would be a board decision and that she would research precedent and options.
Consultants said they would evaluate scope and cost, hold an internal GSA-only meeting to discuss the BMP requirements, and return to the board with cost and schedule implications before proceeding further.
