Delano’s “big dig”
The state’s new groundwater law has prompted a lot of dirt movement in the Central Valley. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act passed in 2014 mandates that overdrafted water basins get their aquifers in balance — don’t pump out more than goes back in — by 2040. In order to get there without massive farmland fallowing, most valley water managers have been adding as many acres of recharge ground as possible. The Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District has been particularly aggressive.