Survey shows most valley farmers largely unaware of groundwater act impacts

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A new survey from the California State University system shows the majority of valley farmers don’t understand and don’t know the impacts of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

The law was passed ten years ago to help preserve sinking groundwater levels across the state.

SGMA won’t be fully in effect until the year 2040 but over the years more and more of its regulations are being implemented

But where it gets complicated is that everywhere is different because some places are further along in their plans.

“The complexity on top of other regulations have made it difficult for farmers,” Ryan Jacobsen with the Fresno County Farm Bureau said.

He says farmers have to keep their heads on a swivel as more regulations on water come into play from SGMA.

Even though the agency was signed into law a decade ago it’s still in the early stages.

The majority of the organization’s work so far has been creating and dividing areas into districts but over the last several years local agencies have begun implementing new regulations for farmers.

Some are further along than others so the rules can be different across the valley.

“Farmers are actually starting to see actual things they have to do on their individual operations and those cuts are going to get tougher and tougher,” Jacobsen said.

Kassy Chauhan with the Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency says they are working with everyone in their community to make the rules known.

“We pride ourselves on making sure we have deep connections with as many farmers as many stakeholders as we possibly can,” Chauhan said.

She says it’s a complicated plan but urges farmers to reach out so they can help them understand.

“The plan itself is over a thousand pages so what we try to do is break it down into bite-size pieces,” Chauhan said.