By Monserrat Solis, California Local News Fellow, SJV Water

Kings County farmers have more time to fight the State Water Resources Control Board’s requirements to measure water quality in their wells and pay extraction fees.

A temporary restraining order blocking those actions was extended to September 13 by Kings County Superior Court Judge Kathy Ciuffini during a hearing on August 20.

The meters and other measures were issued by the water authority after it imposed a suspended sentence on April 16 for the Tulare Lake sub-basin, which includes most of Kings County, for failing to have an adequate plan to recharge and conserve groundwater in the region, as required by the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

Under probation, producers must register their wells for $300 each, install flow meters, report withdrawals to the state and pay $20 per acre-foot of water pumped. Probation is the first step toward a possible state takeover of pumping capacity if water managers and state officials cannot develop an adequate groundwater plan by April 2025.

Before the state’s probation measures took effect, the Kings County Farm Bureau sued the Water Board for violations of the California Code of Civil Procedure and the Water Code and sought a temporary restraining order. Ciuffini issued a temporary restraining order on July 15.

Ciuffini was expected to make a decision on the temporary restraining order at the August 20 hearing, but instead he extended the temporary restraining order.

“We are glad we got the extension,” Dusty Ference, executive director of the Kings County Farm Bureau, said in a statement. “We were hoping to hear their opinion on the (restraining order) yesterday. Not hearing their opinion and extending the (temporary restraining order) is the best outcome.”

Edward Ortiz, spokesman for the water association, said the association looks forward to the court’s future decision.

Garrett Gilcrease, a farmer and vice president of the Farm Bureau, said he doesn’t have an extension of the injunction on his bingo card of legal options, but he’s satisfied.

“The judge is doing exactly what a judge should do: He is looking at all aspects,” he said.

According to Ference, producers now have more time to defend themselves against the reporting requirements and fees.

“I think they’ll appreciate the relief,” he said of the region’s producers. “Even if it’s temporary, we’re all going to get nervous if there are no answers.”

Five other regions in the San Joaquin Valley also have had their groundwater plans deemed inadequate and are scheduled for parole hearings before the water board. The Tule sub-basin, which includes the southern half of Tulare County’s lowlands, will go before the board on September 17.

Next up is the Kaweah Subbasin, which includes the northern half of the Tulare County valley, with a hearing scheduled for January 7, 2025. Then the Kern Subbasin will come before the committee on February 20, 2025.

Hearings are expected to take place in the Chowchilla, Delta-Mendota sub-basins later in 2025.

Although Judge Ciuffini’s injunction applies only to growers in the Tulare Lake sub-basin, growers and water managers in other regions where parole hearings are scheduled are closely monitoring the court’s actions.

The next court date for a case management conference is September 13.

SJV Water is an independent, nonprofit water news site for the San Joaquin Valley. www.sjvwater.org. Send us an email at [email protected]