SCH Number 2020080457

Project Info

Title

Shafter-Wasco Irrigation District Voluntary Rotational Land Fallowing Project Initial Study/Negative Declaration

Description

To comply with SGMA, a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) was developed for crucial groundwater basins in California. The Kern Groundwater Authority (KGA) is one of eleven (11) Groundwater Sustainability Agency’s (GSAs) within the San Joaquin Valley. SWID is a member of the KGA. In 2015, SWID began implementation of the SWID Recharge Project to help achieve sustainable groundwater levels and avoid the corresponding adverse environmental and economic burden associated with groundwater declines, including increased use of power and energy resources as well as the potential for fallowing of agricultural lands in the District. The main sustainability goal is to maintain an economically viable groundwater resource. One of the multi-pronged approaches is to provide a program to allow the fallowing of agricultural lands for the purpose of reducing water demands relying less on groundwater sources for agricultural irrigation. Long-term groundwater sustainability goals are to implement project and management actions to both increase water supplies and reduce demands within SWID’s management basin. Specific to the reduction in irrigation demand, SWID proposes a Voluntary Rotational Land Fallowing Program. The SWID Board of Directors would decide annually if there is a need to fallow land to reduce irrigation water demand and if there would be a sufficient budget available in the Program and Management Action portion of the SWID Management Area 2 (MA-2) budget to compensate the landowners for fallowing efforts.

2 documents in project