Some farmers in southern Tulare County – where excessive groundwater pumping has already caused hundreds of millions in damage to the Friant-Kern Canal – are back to pumping like crazy while there’s a gap in oversight. It hasn’t gone unnoticed. “They have got to be serious about stopping the pumping,” said Jeevan Muhar, general manager of Arvin-Edison Water Storage District Groundwater Sustainability Agency. “It needs to stop for the canal to function as it is supposed to.” The “they” Muhar referred to is the Tule East Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA), which took over a large chunk of the Tule subbasin after its predecessor, Eastern Tule GSA, folded. But there’s not much that can be done right now as Tule East is still in its formation stages.

Other groundwater news around the West:

• KJZZ (Phoenix): Judge has struck down Arizona water rules for homebuilders. But what comes next is still unclear​
• ABC15 (Phoenix): Judge sides with developers challenging Arizona groundwater regulations
• Arizona’s Family (Phoenix): Uranium mine near Grand Canyon wants higher arsenic limit in groundwater