The SGMA Weekly | Podcast on RSS.com

The SGMA Weekly

The SGMA Weekly

by WaterOne.ai

Government Earth Sciences

This Isn't Academic Anymore: 4,500 Dead Acres, a $730K Fund Nobody Wants, and the Colorado River's New Rulebook

The pumping restriction taking shape along the Friant-Kern Canal isn't theoretical anymore — one Tule subbasin board member already has 4,500 acres out of production. This week: DWR tells the California Water Commission that every supply project together still won't close the valley's gap; a $730,000 small-farm fallowing fund near Paso Robles has fewer than 10 applicants; Metropolitan rereads the Palo Verde fallowing agreement and January planting gets complicated; Porterville ID GSA adopts its $50.67-per-acre extraction fee. Plus: the five-year GSP reviews where DWR's corrective actions actually bite, Friday's Colorado River Record of Decision, interconnected surface water as the state's recurring red pen, and districts quietly moving idle cash into higher yields. Full recaps of every board meeting we cover: https://gsa.waterone.ai — and try ChatGSA to ask anything about your district. Produced by WaterOne.ai.

Get Your Fields Ready: El Niño, GEARS Invoices, and the Tule Clock — Aug 17, 2026

The strongest El Niño since tracking began may be forming — and Central Valley districts are telling growers to get fields ready before the first storm. Plus: Greater Kaweah's concept to stop allocating "paper water," State Water Board extraction invoices land with a 30-day clock (and a petition playbook if you were billed for banked water), a $200 million cost break moves the B.F. Sisk Dam raise forward, and the Tule moratorium timeline may be speeding up. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

The SGMA Weekly — August 10, 2026

The state's opening offer for one stretch of the Tule Subbasin was zero pumping. Plus: a Tehama County fee ruling starts landing on Sacramento Valley boards, a $25 million federal banking award with a September deadline, golden mussels at O'Neill, and what the Colorado River's final EIS actually says. Full recaps at WaterOne.ai.

A Fee Clears, a Court Voids Another, and the State Eyes Tulare Lake — Aug 3, 2026

Pleasant Valley GSA adopted a $50-per-acre-foot extraction fee after a majority-protest hearing drew just 28 protests out of 333 possible votes — while a California appeals court struck down a neighboring county's groundwater charge as an unconstitutional tax, for the precise reason that it was not tied to pumping at all. We walk through what separates a fee that survives from one that doesn't, ahead of a fall full of Prop 218 and Prop 26 hearings. Also this week: why a $525 acre-foot of transfer water arrives in a San Benito field costing closer to $1,000; the Salinas Valley advisory committee that couldn't agree on a seawater project, and the modeling showing even zero pumping in the pressure zone won't stop the ocean; and the State Water Board's Tule Subbasin framework floating a pumping moratorium along the Friant-Kern Canal — which Mid Kings was told would apply just as readily to Tulare Lake. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district

Groundwater Fees Hit Property Tax Bills, Four Inches of Subsidence Left, and Metering Penalties Arrive — Jul 27, 2026

Groundwater charges are moving off agency invoices and onto county property tax bills in three basins at once — and when a fee is secured against the land instead of sent as an invoice, the leverage changes. Delta-Mendota reported it has roughly four inches of subsidence allowance left before its 2040 threshold, a cushion meant to last until 2040 that it's on pace to spend by 2028. Plus: metering enforcement moves from deadlines to penalties, Vina's advisory committee votes to pull regulatory triggers earlier in 16 of 25 monitoring wells, and Westlands argues Shasta inflows justify more than a 25% allocation. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

Model Watchdogs, Mussel Bills, and Creative Recharge — Jul 20, 2026

South Fork Kings GSA makes what its board calls its most important hire yet — an independent watchdog for the groundwater model that sets allocations — while warning that a failed funding vote could put the state in charge. Plus: the City of Tulare's wells are digging a hole that gets worse rain or shine, the Friant system's golden mussel bill comes into focus, and Chowchilla's rock-filled recharge holes are outperforming ponds ten to one. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info.

Subsidence Alarms, Maxed Fees, and Thirsty Data Centers — Jul 13, 2026

Pixley's subsidence warning lights doubled in a single year — just days before State Water Board leadership sits down with Tule Subbasin GSAs in Visalia to lay out its interim plan roadmap. Meanwhile, the Modesto Subbasin's east side edges toward "undesirable results" territory with 30%+ pumping cuts on the table, more agencies max out their fees, and a proposed data center that could out-drink an entire water district has boards asking whether they're even allowed to say no. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

Tule Pumping Cuts, McMullin's Rebid, and Fees at the Max — Jul 6, 2026

Lower Tule River Irrigation District staff put numbers on possible pumping cuts — 0.6 to 0.9 acre-feet per acre in the worst-affected subsidence zone — while Pixley consultants peg overdraft at roughly 1 acre-foot per acre per year. McMullin Area GSA hits reset on its Expansion Project with August 5 as the key checkpoint, and Corning Subbasin GSA raises fees to the maximum its existing Prop 218 assessment allows. Plus: why the lower aquifer is the problem child, tightening data deadlines across the valley, and growers pushing back on well-by-well data sharing. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

The SGMA Weekly · Jun 29, 2026 · Friant-Kern's $200M Hits the Ground

After years of slow restoration, federal dollars are about to meet dirt on the Friant-Kern Canal. This week's SGMA Weekly covers four Must Knows and three Trends from the past week of California water-agency board action. In this episode: • Friant Water Authority locks in a real groundbreaking date for the $200M Friant-Kern Canal subsidence fix — Phase 2A bid period July–August, October construction start, formal groundbreaking the week of August 17 • Five districts update their long-range water outlooks — the coast comes in flush (Carpinteria selling $840K of surplus state water with Cachuma at 94%, Amador with a 10–12K AF surplus), the valley sharpens (SSJID facing up to 26% dry-year shortfalls, San Benito's 2045 deficit driven by water quality not supply) • Cross Valley Canal expansion comes down to a tough choice — a parallel canal that keeps 500 CFS flowing during construction, or a widened channel that demands a 140-day shutdown • Golden mussel response moves from emergency awareness to month-by-month operations across the connected canals — Dudek evaluating chlorine dioxide and sodium hypochlorite for the Cross Valley Canal Plus three Trends: 2027 demand-management triggers getting drafted (Colusa, Arroyo Seco, Vina each picking their own logic), GSP five-year periodic evaluations opening public comment windows this summer, and Kern locking in dedicated capital funds for its 50-year-old conveyance assets. Read the full briefings at WaterOne.ai. Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district.

Subsidence Goalposts, Sites Reservoir at $1.36B, $200K Basin Fee — Jun 22, 2026

This week the Department of Water Resources is treating subsidence as "irreparable harm" requiring immediate action — a stance shift surfaced at three different boards this week (Chowchilla, North Kern, Omochumne Hartnell). The California Water Commission lifted Sites Reservoir's conditional funding ceiling to $1.36 billion as a September water-rights decision looms. The State Water Board is floating a $200,000 application fee just to request a basin exclusion — comments due July 10. Plus: Pajaro Valley and Desert Water Agency rate decisions hitting binding action, San Antonio Basin enforcement letters going out, the Tulare Lake sub-basin consolidating to a single state liaison, federal "One Big Beautiful Bill" money landing on Delta-Mendota Canal repairs, and conjunctive-use recharge gaining momentum across three different boards. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

1 of 3