Kings River Conservation District - 5-022.08 SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - KINGS
Kings River Conservation District - 5-022.08 SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - KINGS
A. Applicant Information
Requesting Agency Information
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Agency Name: | Kings River Conservation District | ||
Address: | 4886 E Jensen Ave | ||
City: | Fresno | Zip: | 93725 |
Work Phone: | (559) 237-5567 | Cell Phone: | |
Email: | eosterling@krcd.org | Fax: |
Revision Request Manager Information
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Person Name: | Eric Osterling | ||
Address: | 2975 North Farmersville Blvd. | ||
City: | Farmersville | Zip: | 93223 |
Work Phone: | (559) 302-9987 | Cell Phone: | |
Email: | eosterling@greaterkaweahgsa.org | Fax: |
B. Description of Proposed Boundary Modification
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Modify the subbasin boundary to correct small segments that divide various local jurisdictions.
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- Jurisdiction Internal
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Kings River Conservation District proposes to modify the Kings Subbasin boundary as follows: A) Detach a portion of the narrow southern tail running between the Westside and Tulare Lake Subbasins re-drawing it to follow the northern boundary of John Heinlen Mutual Water Company to its junction with the South Fork Kings River, and B) Modify the southeastern boundary so that it runs along the Fresno and Kings County line in Alta Irrigation District detaching the Kings County portion of Alta ID to the Tulare Lake Subbasin. The proposed modifications simplify the boundary by snapping it to existing jurisdictional lines and reconciling small pieces of land that, from a jurisdictional standpoint, could prove to be difficult for overlying water agencies to manage in accordance with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 (SGMA). At a regional scale, the proposal roughly preserves the Kings Subbasin's existing shape and size. The proposed adjustments do not significantly impact previous and ongoing groundwater management efforts in the region.
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- 5-022.08 SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - KINGS
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N/A
C. Initial Notification and Combination of Requests
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Yes
Local Agency Potential Basin(s)/Subbasin(s) Kings River Conservation District 5-022.09 SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - WESTSIDE , 5-022.12 SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - TULARE LAKE , 5-022.08 SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - KINGS , 5-022.07 SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - DELTA-MENDOTA 5-022.08 SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - KINGS -
No
E. General Information
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A proposed description of the lateral boundaries is attached. No changes to the current definition of the definable bottom of the Kings Subbasin are being proposed.
F. Notice and Consultation
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Alta Irrigation District, Consolidated Irrigation District, Kings County Water District, Kings River Conservation District, County of Kings, John Heinlen Mutual Water Company (private)
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In addition to close coordination with agencies involved in ongoing regional groundwater planning efforts, GIS files were obtained from multiple sources including counties, county LAFCos, cities, districts and State agencies. These files were overlaid on a map of the existing subbasins. Included and adjacent agencies were identified and contacted one by one to educate them on the proposal, solicit their input and to gauge their interest in other related areas of the SGMA planning process.
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As was explained earlier, KRCD identified and then contacted all impacted agencies one by one to educate them on the proposal, to solicit input and to gauge interest in other related areas of the SGMA planning process. A webpage ( www.kingsgroundwater.info ) was developed which contains detailed information on the proposal, including an interactive GIS map that allows interested agencies and the public the ability to review existing and proposed boundaries at a regional scale as well as at a highly detailed local scale. Countless emails and phone calls were exchanged over the past year between KRCD staff and various impacted parties. KRCD also coordinated over a dozen face-to-face meetings with local overlying and adjacent interests to work through questions and concerns pertaining to certain areas of the proposal.
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A public hearing was noticed and held on January 27, 2016, at Fresno Irrigation District. Included is proof of publication of the notice in a local newspaper and copies of the sign-in sheet, agenda and materials from the hearing. Below is a link to the webpage where notice of the hearing was also published. No public comments were received during or following the public hearing.
*** http://kingsgroundwater.info/sgma-legislation/groundwater-basin-boundary-modifications/
KRCD staff has also presented the boundary modification proposal in front of representatives of each of the five (5) Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) groups that overlie the subbasin, to the Fresno County SGMA Working Group and has hosted more than two dozen one-on-one meetings with interested agencies and overlying private land owners.
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No formal comments have been received at this time. All impacted local agencies were directly involved in the iterative modification process and opted to provide informal input that was incorporated by KRCD into the final proposal.
G. General Existing Groundwater Management
All requests for jurisdictional modification pursuant to Section 342.4 MUST include responses to the following questions.
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In cooperation with regional partners, the KRCD recently completed the development of a hydrologic model for the Kings Subbasin which fully covers the proposed boundary. Also overlying the proposed boundary is the Kings Basin Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (Kings IRWMP) and five (5) SB-1938 Groundwater Management Plans (GWMPs) which coordinate on regional implementation through a memorandum of understanding. These efforts within the proposed subbasin area have forged a strong foundation for SGMA implementation through the building of relationships, coordinated data collection, technical studies and regional planning.
![Help Tip](/basinmod/resources/images/icons/help.png)
The proposed modifications seek to contiguously distribute most agencies so that they are contained entirely within either the Kings or Tulare Lake Subbasins. Taking such action will reduce the number of subbasins and GSAs several agencies would alternatively need to coordinate with. Any remaining overlaps have been discussed and agreed to amongst all impacted agencies.
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Since 1964 the Kings Subbasin has lost over 8 MAF of groundwater. In some areas of the subbasin groundwater elevations have dropped more than 100 feet in that same period of time while in other areas elevations have only dropped by about 10 ft. Local agencies have actively monitored groundwater conditions for many years and have begun to develop groundwater recharge and banking projects to mitigate chronic overdraft. In wet years the aquifer rebounds considerably, however periods of drought have resulted in a net average annual overdraft of more than 135 TAF that newly formed GSAs will be required to address.
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The proposed boundary modification will have only a nominal impact on various state programs, including California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM), local GWMPs and the Kings Basin IRWMP, and various Central Valley modeling and monitoring programs. It is believed that these changes will not significantly change historical regional calculations of water storage and water quality conditions. However, over time these efforts will require investments of time and resources towards adoption of the new boundary.
H. Local Support
All requests for boundary modification must include the following:
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In addition to the meetings, emails and phone calls over the last year, KRCD created and updated the website linked to below. KRCD also sent a mass email notifying the identified agencies in the Kings and Tulare Lake Subbasins of the schedule and current (at the time) boundary descriptions and proposals.
http://kingsgroundwater.info/sgma-legislation/groundwater-basin-boundary-modifications/
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County of Fresno and Kings County Board of Supervisors have provided letters of support (attached). Other agencies have offered to provide similar letters as deemed necessary by DWR.
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No opposition is known to exist at this time.
I. Hydrogeologic Conceptual Model
Requests for boundary modification, must include a document or text to a clearly defined hydrogeologic conceptual model demonstrating each of the following:
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KRCD requests a waiver of this requirement as the proposed modification does not include hydrogeologic features that would significantly impact the ability to sustainably manage groundwater in either the Kings or Tulare Lake Subbasins. To demonstrate hydrogeologic understanding of the subbasin, attached is a report documenting the development of a local groundwater and surface water model which covers the proposed boundary.
L. Technical Studies for All Jurisdictional Modifications
Requests for a jurisdictional boundary must attach or provide a URL or upload a file for the following:
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Currently GSA formation efforts in the Kings Subbasin are dovetailing off of five existing AB 3030 / SB 1938 GWMPs and the intra-basin coordination of those plans. Representative agencies whom are participating in each of the five GSA groups are signatory to a Kings Subbasin SGMA Coordination MOU and meet monthly to discuss topics of mutual interest. KRCD staff facilitates this group and also regularly attends individual GSA formation group meetings throughout the subbasin. At this time it is believed that the subbasin will be managed by multiple GSAs and multiple GSPs coordinated through legal agreement.