State to examine desert groundwater agency’s “safe yield” data
The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority board agreed at its March 11 meeting to provide the data it used to set its safe, or sustainable, yield amount to the Department of Water Resources for review. DWR made the request as a trial over the issue is upcoming this June where a judge will look over evidence and set a safe yield figure for the eastern Kern County basin independently. … The Indian Wells Groundwater Authority groundwater plan, including its safe yield estimate of 7,600 acre feet per year, was approved by DWR in 2022. Others in the basin, principally the Indian Wells Water District, have disputed the authority’s safe yield figure, suggesting the amount is closer to 14,000 acre feet a year.
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