Researchers from University of California San Diego and University of California, Berkeley have found that certain landscapes surrounding California communities are associated with differing rates of Valley fever, a fungal respiratory infection caused by inhaling spores carried in windblown dust. Naturally dry, sparsely vegetated landscapes and some types of farmland were associated with higher disease rates, while other agricultural land uses were associated with lower rates. The findings also suggest that fallowing farmland may influence Valley fever rates in some circumstances. The study was published on August 21, 2026, in Science Advances. … These findings could have implications as California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act accelerates the fallowing of agricultural land in parts of the San Joaquin Valley. 

Other groundwater news:

• SJV Water (Bakersfield, Calif.): Kings County judge allows state to move ahead with groundwater fees for most farmers in the region
• CapRadio (Sacramento, Calif.): That sinking feeling: How excessive groundwater usage is damaging the Sacramento Valley