San Joaquin Valley – Kern County
Statistics
- Basin Name
- San Joaquin Valley – Kern County
- Basin Number
- 5-022.14
- SGMA Basin Priority
- High
- Critically Overdrafted
- Yes
- Hydrologic Region Name
- Tulare Lake
- Counties
- Kern
Basin Notes
2003: Bulletin 118 basin description
2014: CASGEM basin prioritization – High.
2016: New subbasin, White Wolf 5-022.18, was created from a portion of the original Kern County subbasin. Revised basin boundary description
2020: January 30 – Kern River Groundwater Sustainability Agency (KRGSA) filed Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) with DWR; Kern Groundwater Authority (KGA) filed GSP with DWR; Henry Miller Water District filed GSP with DWR (per SGMA portal) but no public copies are available online; Olcese Water District GSA Groundwater Sustainability Plan filed with DWR
2022: January 28 – DWR notifies GSAs that the basin-wide plan is incomplete
April 21 – The Arvin-Edison Water Storage District Groundwater Sustainability Agency (AEWSD GSA), Wheeler-Ridge Maricopa Water Storage District (WRMWSD) GSA, and Tejon-Castac Water District (TCWD) GSA (collectively referred to as the “South Kern GSAs”) notify DWR that, in coordination with the Arvin Community Service District, they intend to initiate development of a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) for the portion of the Kern County Subbasin (DWR No. 5-022.14) that is South of the Kern River.
July 27 – Henry Miller Water District submits a revised GSP to DWR
Kern County Groundwater Authority resubmits GSP to DWR
July 29 – Kern River GSA resubmits a revised GSP to DWR
August 1 — Buena Vista GSP submitted a new GSP
2023: March 2- DWR finds the revised basin GSPs inadequate
2025: February 20 – Probationary hearing held by SWRCB
August – Revised GSP developed by basin GSAs
September 5 – SWRCB staff review recommends the state return the Kern County Subbasin to DWR for review of the updated GSP and multiple basin compliance plans. Hearing scheduled for 9/17/25
At-A-Glance
California Water Library Documents About This Basin
Kern County Subbasin Staff Review of 2025 Draft of Groundwater Sustainability Plans
California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | September 5th, 2025
The Kern County Subbasin (subbasin or basin) is a critically overdrafted subbasin in the southern portion of the San Joaquin Valley with an area of about 1.78 million acr
Kern County Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan 2025
Kern County Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (KCSGSA) | August 29th, 2025
The Kern Subbasin (Kern Subbasin) Amended Groundwater Sustainability Plan (2025 Plan) presents the overview of each of the seven GSPs that together constitute the 2025
Assessing Causes and Consequences of Winter Surface Water Dynamics in California's Central Valley Using Satellite Remote Sensing
Wiley Online Library | June 3rd, 2025
California's Central Valley is increasingly vulnerable to winter floods. A comprehensive spatial baseline of flood extents is critical for inundation analyses that can en
The State Water Project Delivery Capability Report 2023 Addendum - Impacts of Subsidence
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | May 7th, 2025
The purpose of this addendum is to show how ongoing subsidence effects on the California Aqueduct will impact operation of the State Water Project (SWP). The addendum pro
Kern County Subbasin Probationary Hearing Final Staff Report
California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | January 21st, 2025
The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board or Board) staff developed the Probationary Hearing Final Staff Report (Final Staff Report) for the Kern County
Quantification of record-breaking subsidence in California’s San Joaquin Valley
Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | November 19th, 2024
Assessing potential effects of oil and gas development activities on groundwater quality near and overlying the Elk Hills and North Coles Levee Oil Fields, San Joaquin Valley, California
PLOS | August 5th, 2024
Pulse Flows Component of the Water Storage Investment Program Groundwater Projects Supplemental Environmental Impact Report
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | July 30th, 2024
This final supplemental environmental impact report (Final SEIR) has been prepared for the Pulse Flows Component of the Water Storage Investment Program (WSIP) Groundwate
Drought, water management, and agricultural livelihoods: Understanding human-ecological system management and livelihood strategies of farmer’s in rural California
Elsevier | July 11th, 2024
California Subsidence Program - Subsidence and Groundwater Monitoring Project
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | June 21st, 2024
This Initial Study (IS) and Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) has been prepared by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to address the environmental impa
CV-SALTS Groundwater Sustainability Plan Data Integration Report Integrated Scope of Work - Task 5.3 (Draft)
Central Valley Salinity Alternatives for Long-Term Sustainability (CV-SALTS) | June 20th, 2024
The purpose of Prioritization & Optimization (P&O) Study Task 5.3 (Information Extraction from Groundwater Sustainability Plans [GSP]) is to extract and organize
Replenishing Groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley: 2024 Update
Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) | June 6th, 2024
Strategies to replenish groundwater basins—long used in some areas of the San Joaquin Valley—have increasingly come into focus as the region seeks to bring its overd
Land-use interactions, Oil-Field infrastructure, and natural processes control hydrocarbon and arsenic concentrations in groundwater, Poso Creek Oil Field, California, USA
Elsevier | May 7th, 2024
Groundwater sustainability and land subsidence in California’s Central Valley
Water (MDPI) | April 22nd, 2024
The Central Valley of California is one of the most prolific agricultural regions in the world. Agriculture is reliant on the conjunctive use of surface-water and groundw
Basin-scale responses of groundwater-resource quality to drought and recovery, San Joaquin Valley, California
Hydrological Processes (Wiley) | April 15th, 2024
Groundwater-resource quality is assumed to be less responsive to drought compared to that of surface water due to relatively long transit times of recharge to drinking-su
Establishing ecological thresholds and targets for groundwater management
Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | April 3rd, 2024
Groundwater is critical for many ecosystems, yet groundwater requirements for dependent ecosystems are rarely accounted for during water and conservation planning. Here w
Notice of Entry of Order for Implementation of Preliminary Injunction – Case No. Bcv-22-103220-Gap, Bring Back the Kern et al v. City of Bakersfield et al
Superior Court of California, County of Kern | November 14th, 2023
Ruling on Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Case No. Bcv-22-103220-Gap, Bring Back the Kern et al v. City of Bakersfield et al
Superior Court of California, County of Kern | October 30th, 2023
Multiple-well monitoring site adjacent to the Elk Hills Oil Field, Kern County, California
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | October 26th, 2023
Spectral characterization of dissolved organic matter in groundwater to assess mixing with oil-field water near selected oil fields, southern California
Science of The Total Environment (Elsevier) | September 16th, 2023