California water officials can move ahead with enforcement of the state’s landmark groundwater regulation after an appellate court ruled Wednesday that a state crackdown on pumping in Kings County is likely, in large part, legal. State regulators had worried that their ability to enforce the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act had been eroded when a Superior Court judge last year temporarily halted state sanctions in a heavily pumped, agricultural stretch of the San Joaquin Valley. … But in a 41-page decision, the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno reversed the injunction on the state’s enforcement actions, which were to remain in effect as the case played out.

Other groundwater news:

• SJV Water (Bakersfield, Calif.): Appellate court tanks injunction that had held off state groundwater intervention in Kings County
• California Department of Water Resources: News release: Public comment period opens for groundwater sustainability plans