California court slams state water regulators for overstepping authority in key agricultural hub

A California Superior Court has cracked down on state regulators for penalizing a key agricultural region’s water managers, chastising officials for potentially unlawful behavior.

Judge Kathy Ciuffini, of Central California’s Kings County Superior Court, last week issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the State Water Resources Control Board from requiring fees and reports from growers who over-pump the area’s groundwater.

In the injunction, Ciuffini affirmed allegations that the State Water Board had issued “underground regulations,” which could cause undue harm to the livelihoods of the region’s growers.

Officials put this southern portion of the San Joaquin Valley under “probation” in April, saying they had identified multiple deficiencies in the Tulare Lake basin’s groundwater sustainability plans.

Water extraction had caused so much damage to certain areas that the Tulare Lake basin sunk as much as six feet from June 2015 to April 2023, according to a State Water Board staff report.

Probation would have meant that farmers who pumped 500 acre-feet or more of water each year would have had to meter and register their wells at a cost of $300 each, report their pumping activities and pay $20 for each acre-foot extracted, according to the SJV Water news site.

The State Water Board defines probation as a “first phase of intervention,” in which groundwater pumpers must cover the costs associated with assessment, planning and enforcement of that intervention.

In the weeks following the State Water Board’s announcement, the petitioning parties, led by the Kings County Farm Bureau, filed a complaint to the court requesting a judgment voiding the probationary resolution.

The petition accused the State Water Board of undertaking “a series of processes which were outside its authority” and imposing protocols that would be “expensive, duplicative and punitive.”

In the injunction, Ciuffini agreed with the plaintiffs’ assertion that the State Water Board was “exceeding its authority,” adding that “the Court believes plaintiffs will prevail” on this issue in court.

“The harms to the Plaintiffs have been and will be substantial if a preliminary injunction is not issued,” Ciuffini wrote.

The judge stressed the court’s recognition of the State Water Board’s responsibility “to consider adverse impacts groundwater extraction would have on public trust resources,” while acknowledging the need “to protect such resources where feasible.”

Nonetheless, she said that the court did not identify sufficient merits in a state argument that an injunction would cause harm to domestic water quality.

Responding to the injunction, State Water Board spokesperson Edward Ortiz expressed the agency’s disagreement with the ruling, noting in an emailed statement that it blocks regulators from taking probationary action in “the critically overdrafted Tulare Lake Subbasin.”

“All Californians benefit when groundwater is managed sustainably,” Ortiz stated. “Groundwater makes up a significant portion of the state’s water supply and serves as a critical buffer against the impacts of drought and climate change.”

Under the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), passed 10 years ago, Ortiz said that “local agencies are responsible for the sustainable management of their groundwater basins.” But state agencies, he explained, must ensure that local managers achieve the law’s goals. 

“The State Water Board believes that SGMA is clear and that the Board has the authority it needs to implement SGMA, as it has in the Tulare Lake Subbasin, to protect vital groundwater supplies,” Ortiz said.

“We are considering further legal options to uphold the Board’s oversight of critically overdrafted basins,” he added.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the State Water Board placed another part of the same region, called the Tule Groundwater Subbasin, under probationary status, noting that overdraft there is likewise threatening drinking water quality and groundwater levels.

“The ultimate goal of SGMA, and the probationary process, is for groundwater subbasins to be managed sustainably at the local level,” Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Water Board, said in a statement. “We are committed to helping groundwater agencies make that happen by providing guidance and support.”