Agencies and planners held sustainable water management plan meeting

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A storm may be headed our way this week but California is still on track to having its driest year on record.

Water agencies and land use planners met to talk about the need to form a sustainable water management plan.

Wells have run dry all over the Valley this year. You can't see our massive groundwater supply but it is shrinking. The department of water resources estimates the Kings River water basin can hold over 90 million acre feet in underground storage.

David Orth with the Kings River Conservation District said, "That's 90 Pine Flat Reservoirs underneath the ground below us. We do know from monitoring and measurement over the last 40 years that we have extracted about six and a half million acre feet of storage that we have not replenished."

The challenge is to replace what's been lost. A groundwater land use session at Clovis Veterans Memorial Auditorium drew over 200 people, water agencies, farmers, and city and county officials. All interested in developing a reliable water supply.

"Without it our economy's at risk," said Orth. "Without it our quality of life will start to be degraded."

Governor Brown signed legislation allowing local agencies to form groundwater management plans. Models are already in place in some areas.

Ellen Hanak with the Public Policy Institute of California explained, "Some of those models really you look at figuring out what's the sustainable yield and then having everybody who pumps water pay a certain amount per acre foot so that money can be used to fund recharge programs."

Derrik Williams of Hydrometics wondered how crop changes might reduce water usage.

Williams told the crowd, "Let's say we replaced all the nut trees with vineyards."

He says it would not a life-saver. But we've actually seen the exact opposite over the years - crops pulled out and replaced with more profitable almonds and pistachios.