The SGMA Weekly

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Your weekly intelligence briefing on California groundwater. We attend 100+ board meetings so you don't have to. Every week, we break down the must-know decisions, trends of the valley, fee changes, water supply updates, and policy shifts from GSAs and water districts across the Central Valley and beyond. Produced by WaterOne.ai.

  1. Allocations Climb, Storage Slips, and Southwest Kings Closes Loopholes — May 24, 2026

    2D AGO

    Allocations Climb, Storage Slips, and Southwest Kings Closes Loopholes — May 24, 2026

    DWR raised the State Water Project allocation from 30% to 45% on May 15 and Reclamation lifted the CVP South-of-Delta agricultural allocation from 20% to 25% — but statewide groundwater storage still declined by roughly 1.5 million acre-feet in Water Year 2025, with 83% of extractions concentrated in the San Joaquin Valley. Pajaro Valley, Omochumne Hartnell, and Mound Basin all surfaced selective cost-relief signals for ratepayers this week, while Southwest Kings GSA stayed implementation of its allocation policy to close out-of-county and carryover loopholes ahead of a coordinated Tulare Lake single-GSP push targeting Q1 2027. Plus the Prop 4 Climate Bond ($368M statewide, no local match) starts driving real grant-prep across agencies, and the next wave of SGMA fee adoptions and Prop 218 hearings rolls through Yolo, Wyandotte Creek, Mound Basin, Desert Water Agency, Pajaro Valley, and South Fork Kings. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

    10 min
  2. Tule Interim Plan by the Board, Metropolitan Banking Deal, Karla to ACWA — May 18, 2026

    MAY 16

    Tule Interim Plan by the Board, Metropolitan Banking Deal, Karla to ACWA — May 18, 2026

    The State Water Board's Tule interim plan is taking shape — staff revealed it could limit allocations to native safe yield only (under 0.25 AF/acre) with a 2-mile pumping moratorium and $20/AF probationary fees. Plus: four Valley GSAs hired Ewell Group to formalize a ~100,000 AF banking deal with the Metropolitan Water District; DWR Director Karla Nemeth departs July 2 to run ACWA; and golden mussels hit peak spawning with Arvin-Edison's Phase 1 copper treatment killing >90% at ~$3M. Trends: AB 2447 (nitrogen-limits bill) held in Appropriations, snowpack collapse compresses delivery windows, and Prop 4 funding prep moves from awareness to project lists. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

    10 min
  3. Tule Allocation Math Under Audit, GEARS Bug, Prop 4 Push — May 11, 2026

    MAY 11

    Tule Allocation Math Under Audit, GEARS Bug, Prop 4 Push — May 11, 2026

    The State Water Board's denial of the remaining Tule Subbasin exclusion requests is opening into a deeper audit — state officials are now questioning local agencies' 34-year rolling precipitation averages, native sustainable yield calculations, and recharge-credit treatment, which could force structural changes to Basin Safe accounting in coming years. Porterville staff also reported the state is backing off the May 1 GEARS penalty after acknowledging a platform bug that doubled extraction totals for many manual filers (no formal State Water Board notice yet — sourced to PID staff). Plus: Kings and Kaweah growers face a compressed irrigation season with Kings River runoff in the mid-40% range, Mid-Kaweah pushes mandatory well registration with an October 31 target deadline, and the Prop 4 funding cycle starts pulling agencies into project-list mode while modeling and consulting costs become budget pressure points across subbasins. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

    9 min
  4. Kaweah-Tule Banking, $386M Prop 4 Funding, and Turlock's Hockey Stick — May 4, 2026

    MAY 3

    Kaweah-Tule Banking, $386M Prop 4 Funding, and Turlock's Hockey Stick — May 4, 2026

    Four Valley GSAs are in early talks on a Kaweah-Tule groundwater banking concept with Southern California water partners — potentially bringing significant new wet-and-average-year supply into the southern San Joaquin. DWR also outlined nearly $400 million in Proposition 4 groundwater funding with no bond cost share required (draft guidelines fall 2026; applications early 2027). And the Turlock basin's projected "hockey stick" groundwater recovery has arrived two years ahead of schedule. Plus trends on fee authority across Prop 218 / Prop 26 pathways and land repurposing across solar, beneficial-use, and fallowing. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

    9 min
  5. Tule Denials, Spring Fee Hearings, and $500K More to the Mussel Fight — Apr 27, 2026

    APR 25

    Tule Denials, Spring Fee Hearings, and $500K More to the Mussel Fight — Apr 27, 2026

    The State Water Resources Control Board voted 5-0 to deny all eight Tule Sub-basin GSA exclusion requests, citing water-budget gaps over 50 percent of total diversions, subsidence risks, and weak well-mitigation programs. In response, eleven of thirteen GSAs committed to developing a single unified GSP. DWR's April 1 snow survey came in at the second-lowest on record (only 2015 was lower), and the Kings River Water Association is now forecasting April-July runoff at just 46-60 percent of average. A wave of spring fee hearings is hitting calendars — Paso Robles' $22.28-per-acre-foot fee report, San Benito County's projected $0.60-per-acre groundwater management fee, Santa Clara Valley's South County production charge increases, and Diablo Water District's previously-noticed Prop 218 ceiling — all with action coming in May or June. Plus a $500,000 emergency response to golden mussels in the Cross Valley Canal. Read the full recaps at gsa.waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

    10 min
  6. Second-Lowest Snowpack, Powell in Crisis, and a Mussel Breakthrough — Apr 20, 2026

    APR 18

    Second-Lowest Snowpack, Powell in Crisis, and a Mussel Breakthrough — Apr 20, 2026

    California's April 1 snowpack came in at just 18% of statewide average — the second-lowest reading on record — and the effects are already reshaping the 2026 irrigation season across the Valley. Metropolitan Water District staff called the Colorado River outlook "dire" as Lake Powell is forecast to hit its 3,500 ft emergency trigger earlier than expected. Plus: Arvin-Edison's first-of-its-kind golden mussel treatment delivered 100% kill on caged mussels + canal-wide control, and the Water Blueprint's Unified Valley Water Plan puts the long-term supply gap at $13–20 billion in infrastructure — and still leaves up to a million acre-feet unmet by 2040. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

    8 min
  7. Record-Breaking March, Delta-Mendota's Big Win, and Seawater Intrusion Reality — Apr 13, 2026

    APR 11

    Record-Breaking March, Delta-Mendota's Big Win, and Seawater Intrusion Reality — Apr 13, 2026

    March 2026 shattered California temperature and drought records, wiping out snowpack and forcing districts to cut water runs short. Delta-Mendota exits state probation while Tule faces $12M in fees. And Salinas Valley modeling shows that even eliminating all ag pumping won't stop seawater intrusion by 2040. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

    10 min
  8. Lake Powell Nearing Power Pool, New Fees Statewide, and Amazon's Water Deal — Mar 30, 2026

    MAR 29

    Lake Powell Nearing Power Pool, New Fees Statewide, and Amazon's Water Deal — Mar 30, 2026

    Lake Powell is projected to fall within ten feet of minimum power pool as Colorado River inflow drops to 52% of average. Groundwater fees are accelerating across California — from Paso Robles' new volumetric fee to Yolo's tiered structure to Fox Canyon's warning that assessments could rise "by a multiple." Plus: Amazon is paying to double recycled water storage in South Santa Clara County, golden mussel efforts expand across multiple agencies, and annual reports reveal a mixed picture of basin recovery. Read the full recaps at waterone.ai | Try Chat GSA for instant answers about your district --- AI can make mistakes. Check important info. WaterOne.ai (Mizu Analytics, Inc.) strives to provide timely, accurate, and reliable coverage of water, agriculture, and related issues. However, no guarantee is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information presented. All content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided, and WaterOne disclaims all liability for errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from the use of this site. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

    11 min
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About

Your weekly intelligence briefing on California groundwater. We attend 100+ board meetings so you don't have to. Every week, we break down the must-know decisions, trends of the valley, fee changes, water supply updates, and policy shifts from GSAs and water districts across the Central Valley and beyond. Produced by WaterOne.ai.

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