Kings Digs Deeper on Projects During Less-Than-Average 2025 Water Year

Groundwater agencies in the Kings Subbasin maintained focus on their mission to bring balance to groundwater supplies, despite a below average water year in 2025 reported in this year’s SGMA Annual Report. The year wrapped with surface water supplies at 82% of the long-term average lessening opportunity to capture supplies for aquifer recharge as compared to the previous two years.

But historical data demonstrates fluctuations between dry and wet years is an expected trend. The Kings Subbasin continued to push ahead with recharge projects, with a clear focus on being ready to capture more water when the wet years return, while shoring up their understanding of groundwater conditions through improved monitoring and well data projects.

Eight dedicated groundwater recharge basins yielding an average annual benefit of 13,000 acre-feet were either constructed or in progress in 2025. Since 2020, Kings Subbasin agencies have completed over 31 recharge projects totaling 1,150 acres to advance sustainability goals.

“Sustainability is not going to happen because of one single wet year. While those are needed, it’s critical we make incremental progress every single year regardless of conditions to implement and improve our management tools,” stated North Kings GSA Executive Officer Kassy Chauhan.

“That means building projects. It also means increasing understanding of how groundwater is responding to our strategies through better monitoring and more robust data.”

In North Kings GSA, the Fresno Irrigation District (ID) completed Carter-Bybee Recharge Basin last year, bringing the district’s basin portfolio to 980 total acres; 40 additional acres will be constructed in 2026. To improve its decision-making tools, the GSA built 10 new dedicated monitoring wells while simultaneously running a landowner well registration campaign capturing over 8,000 wells. “You can’t manage what you don’t know. We have a very large GSA covering 311,000 acres. These well projects are giving us insight needed to manage groundwater in a more targeted and effective way,” stated Kassy.

Other recharge projects and well monitoring improvements are on the horizon across the Subbasin.

Central Kings GSA member agency Consolidated ID is in progress on 140 new basin acres. Kings River East GSA member agency Alta ID will bring 120 acres online in 2026.

North Fork Kings GSA is working to supplement its groundwater monitoring network, with seven monitoring wells planned to shed more light on different aquifer zones beneath the GSA’s complex clay layers. This builds on a comprehensive confined aquifer study the GSA led for the basin that shed light on how lower aquifer conditions affect sustainability targets.

“These efforts point to the fact that the Kings remains well-positioned to succeed at achieving sustainability by 2040. But we anticipate groundwater level decline to continue before then, particularly during drier periods,” shared Justin Mendes, North Fork Kings GSA General Manager.

To address this, the Kings Subbasin reported a full first year of its Domestic Well Mitigation program, put in place to support domestic well owners impacted by groundwater level decline.

Justin stated that “getting the program up and off the ground was a lift that the entire subbasin took on together. We are proud it’s been live for now over a year and a half.”