Topics: SGMA and California Groundwater
& the West has been closely tracking the effect of California’s landmark 2014 groundwater reform law, as new agencies take shape and implement plans to put this precious resource on a sustainable path by 2040.
In times of scarcity, California’s best new source of water? Reuse.
While expensive solutions like new reservoirs and seawater desalination grab attention, California communities are quietly building up their capacity to clean stormwater and wastewater for reuse for irrigation, industry and, yes, drinking water too.
A simmering revolt against groundwater cutbacks in California
New agencies find making sustainability plans is hard, but easier than persuading growers to accept them.
California Water on the Market: Q&A with Barton “Buzz” Thompson
Three months after the first market trades of California water futures, a conversation about economic forces and an essential material for life.
Small Farmers Wait for California’s Groundwater Hammer to Fall
Farmers, large and small, are beginning to grapple with what the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act means for them. Many expect to see cutbacks on pumping once the program is fully implemented in 2040.
Putting a Tempest into a Teapot: Can California Better Use Winter Storms to Refill its Aquifers?
With new rules coming into effect, farmers and municipalities using groundwater must either find more water to support the aquifers or take cropland out of use. To ease the pain, engineers are looking to harness an unconventional and unwieldy source of water: the torrential storms that sometimes blast across the Pacific Ocean and soak California.
As California’s Groundwater Free-for-All Ends, Gauging What’s Left
New rules and new technology are giving farmers and managers a better look at groundwater supplies.
To Save Crops, Farmers Took Groundwater. Then the Land Sank
Like the topsoil, structures built 40 years ago to contain floodwaters are cracking, too.
To Manage Groundwater, California Must First Get Basin Boundaries Right
A vineyard in Paso Robles. Mattyshack via Flickr By Felicity Barringer A hidden treasure, groundwater has long sustained agriculture through California’s cycles of drought. Decades
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Staff and Contributors
Geoff McGhee
Associate editor
Geoff McGhee specializes in interactive data visualization and multimedia storytelling. He is a veteran of the multimedia and infographics staffs at The New York Times, Le Monde and ABCNews.com. MORE »
Xavier Martinez
Editorial Assistant
Xavier graduated from Stanford in 2023 with a degree in economics and is currently a master’s student in Stanford’s journalism program. He has written about the high phone call costs faced by U.S. inmates, temporary Mexican workers’ interactions with the labor market and the efficacy of government healthcare assistance programs. A lifelong lover of charts and maps, he enjoys combining data journalism with narrative-style reporting.
‘& the West’ is published by the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University, which is dedicated to research, teaching, and journalism about the past, present, and future of the North American West.
Bruce E. Cain
Faculty Director
Kate Gibson
Associate Director
