New subsidence guidelines from the Department of Water Resources are expected to drop on San Joaquin Valley water managers any day, a prospect that has them both hopeful and worried. The intent of the guidelines is to provide clarity within the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which requires overdrafted regions to enact plans to bring aquifers into balance by 2040. One of SGMA’s primary goals is to halt subsidence, land sinking. Excessive groundwater pumping has caused huge swaths of the San Joaquin Valley to sink, damaging canals, roads and increasing flood risks. Some areas have collapsed on such a large scale, the phenomenon can be seen from space, earning the nickname  “the Corcoran bowl.” Subsidence, though, has been a tricky devil to manage. 

Other groundwater and subsidence news:

• Arizona State University: News release: ASU helps rural communities tackle local water problems​
• Phys.org: Study offers detailed look at winter flooding in California’s central valley
• KVPR (Fresno, Calif.): Podcast: As California regulates groundwater use, a sinking ground is a persisting problem