Kings County groundwater agencies move closer toward reconciliation

Fetched 2026-06-24 20:12 from sjvwater.org

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Kings County groundwater agencies move closer toward reconciliation

Fractures are rapidly mending in the Kings County region after groundwater agencies split apart two years ago when the state placed the region on probation.

In the latest show of unity, the Mid-Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) voted June 9 to join a region-wide effort to write a single groundwater management plan, rather than each of the five GSAs writing its own.

At the same meeting, a representative of the Kings County Water District, which abandoned the GSA in 2024, asked to reconcile. After the district left, Mid-Kings had to be re-formed with Kings County as its lead agency and Chuck Kinney, the county’s redevelopment director, as its general manager.

“I think Kings County Water District, we’ve all agreed, all the board, has agreed that we would like to have some type of involvement back with the GSA because we feel like Chuck and you guys need help,” Mello said during the June 9 meeting. “Whether it’s financial, staffing, whatever.”

“We need to figure this out and we need to figure it out fast.”

The five GSAs are hoping to present a cohesive plan that the Water Resources Control Board finds acceptable to bring the Tulare Lake subbasin, which covers most of Kings County out of probation. The Water Board placed the area on probation in 2024 after its 2022 plan was deemed inadequate for, among other things, not doing enough to stop subsidence, or land sinking.

While the Mid-Kings didn’t immediately give Mello an answer, Board member and Kings County Supervisor Doug Verboon agreed with Mello’s sentiment.

“I think it’s time to start that conversation, now we have a new manager,” Verboon said. Adding that he’d like to give the new manager about a few months to get acclimated before starting reconciliation talks.

He referred to Kings County Water District’s new manager, Madalyn Vieira , who was hired in May to replace Dennis Mills, who was fired in April.

That one change in management triggered the basin-wide reunification efforts, with El Rico GSA also voting to work on a single plan since, “The reason for breaking up is now gone,” according to Jeof Wyrick, El Rico’s board chair.

El Rico has long blamed Mills for landing the Tulare Lake subbasin on probation as he refused to approve a last minute groundwater plan in 2024 to replace the 2022 plan that had been rejected by the state Water Board.

Mills declined to sign off on the 2024 plan because he said it still allowed for too much subsidence and the Water Board wouldn’t accept it.

Without a new plan to consider, the Tulare Lake subbasin was put on probation, which comes with multiple state fees and groundwater pumping reporting requirements. A lawsuit by the Kings County Farm Bureau held off those sanctions for some time. But Kings County farmers were required to report extractions starting May 1.

A judge is still considering a motion by the farm bureau to quash retroactive pumping fees.

Mid-Kings also also approved a contract with Stacie Ann Silva to act as the subbasin’s liaison with the Water Board. Her $10,000-per-month fee will be split between the five GSAs based on acreage, once all GSAs approve it.

All the GSA but one, Southwest Kings GSA have approved the contract.

“A big part of what I do is help landowners decide how they’re going to move forward under SGMA (the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act),” Silva told the board. Silva also runs Altum Aqua Logic, a consulting firm.

While most of her clients are outside of the Tulare Lake subbasin, she said she would dedicate most of her time to working with the subbasin.

“In the capacity of trying to get this Tulare Lake subbasin through the next six to eight months, the majority of my focus would be here.”