It can take up to two years and tens of thousands of dollars to dig a new domestic well for your family.

In drought years, such as 2011-2015 when this project started, little or no water is allocated to California Central Valley farms from the California State Water Project or the Central Valley Water Project (the federal water project). With groundwater already under stress due to lack of water recharge, pumping water from underground aquifers, the only alternative, at greater and greater depths depleted shared groundwater. Increasingly, private family wells that reach on average 100 - 200 feet become dry as large corporate farmers, who can afford to dig wells even deeper (some over 2000 feet deep), empty the aquifer to levels well below the few hundred feet of private, domestic wells. Since 1994, land used to plant and grow water intensive almond and pistachio groves in parts the Central Valley has tripled. Due to increased global demand, California grows 80% of almonds sold worldwide. These hundreds of thousands of acres of nut groves, owned by global investors, reap huge profits and create million-dollar harvests, and need copious gallons of water, robbing individual families of their right to water in their homes. While well permits are granted at astonishing high rates for agriculture, drilling new wells is not affordable for most rural residents. While California has some years with rain and snowpack, it will return to drought conditions due to climate change.

You have run out of time and money.

Nelly Servin, Every Last Drop

The California Well Rush

In drought years, surface water for farmers is scarce; therefore an increasing number of large capacity agricultural wells have been drilled in the San Joaquin Valley to provide reliable water supplies for crops. California law gives landowners the right to the water under their property known as “overlying groundwater right.” But because groundwater is a limited resource, the state is growing concerned about this proliferation of wells. In 2014, California created the State Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requiring water agencies to bring into balance water extraction (pumping) and water replacement (recharge). With the sustainability plan slated to take effect in 2040, families on private domestic wells are still at risk of running out of water.

Tomas Garcia, For the Whole Community

Enter SGMA (Sustainable Groundwater Management Act)

In 2014, during the drought crisis, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) in California  developed a strategic plan for its Sustainable Groundwater Management (SGM) Program. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act empowers local agencies to sustainability manage groundwater resources. It will: (1) develop regulations to revise groundwater basin boundaries; (2) adopt regulations for evaluating and implementing Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) and coordinate agreements; (3) identify basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft; (4) identify water available for groundwater replenishment; and (5) publish best management practices for the sustainable management of groundwater.  The question is, who sits at the table?