By Rachel Becker, CalMatters
A Kings County judge today issued a temporary restraining order against the state that pauses its unprecedented move to crack down on groundwater depletion in California’s agricultural heartland.
The decision by Superior Court Judge Kathy Ciuffini grants Kings County growers a temporary reprieve from a state mandate to monitor and report how much water they pump from heavily over-pumped aquifers. The order will last through a hearing in August, when the judge will consider issuing a preliminary injunction.
The State Water Resources Control Board in April put Kings County water managers on probation under the state’s landmark groundwater law — a first step towards wresting control of the severely depleted Tulare Lake groundwater basin in the San Joaquin Valley.
The groundwater basin serves vast swathes of dairies, ranches and farms, including those controlled by agricultural giants J.G. Boswell Company and Bay Area developer John Vidovich.
These powerful companies have representatives that serve on the local groundwater agencies that were put on probation in April, after repeated warnings that their plans failed to adequately address dried up wells, contaminated water and sinking earth worsened by over pumping.
Calling the judge’s decision a “massive step” toward a victory, the Kings County Farm Bureau has argued in court that the state’s actions will cause them “imminent harm.”
“The way that it’s been implemented so far is completely inappropriate and wrong,” said farm bureau Executive Director Dusty Ference.
“Having a requirement to have meters installed on groundwater pumps in the middle of the irrigation season, in the middle of July, put everybody at risk,” Ference said. “For so many, complete irrigation systems would have had to come offline for an extended period of time to get meters installed and make sure that they’re calibrated correctly.”
State water board spokesperson Edward Ortiz said the board disagrees with the judge’s order and is considering its legal options. The requirement to report groundwater use is an “important part of the probationary process,” Ortiz said, “which protects groundwater resources for the benefit of all Californians.”
Kings County Supervisor Doug Verboon, a fourth generation corn and walnut farmer, had mixed feelings about the judge’s temporary order.
“I don’t think it’s going to go away…We’re the only ones that are on probation because we can’t come together. We have the most overdraft, and the most ground subsidence,” Verboon said. “The writing’s on the wall that we need to monitor our groundwater. The more we put it off, the harder it will be to do this.”
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