On August 26, 2025, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors (“Board”) adopted an urgency ordinance (Urgency Ordinance (“UO”) No. 1576) that imposes a 45-day moratorium for the issuance of new or modified agricultural groundwater well-permits in designated “Focus Areas” (see Figure 1 below). In addition to preventing the issuance of new permits, the moratorium will prevent Yolo County from approving eleven pending well permit applications that were submitted before the moratorium was put in place. The Board scheduled another public hearing for October 7, 2025, where it will consider extending the moratorium for an additional 10 months and 15 days.

Other groundwater news:

• Caravan News (Stockton, Calif.): Stockton hosts groundbreaking of groundwater recharge basins