Friant lawsuit over sinking canal altered but moving forward
One of multiple charges in a lawsuit that pins blame for the perpetually sinking Friant-Kern Canal on a single Tulare County groundwater agency was recently removed. The Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency (ETGSA) hailed the move as vindication. But plaintiffs, the Friant Water Authority and Arvin-Edison Water Storage District, said the change was simply meant to narrow the complaint in order to get faster action against Eastern Tule. The stakes could not be higher as the entire Tule subbasin, which covers the southern half of Tulare’s valley portion, is looking down the barrel of a possible pumping takeover by the state Water Resources Control Board. The Water Board, the enforcement arm of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, has scheduled a “probationary hearing” for the subbasin Sept. 17.