SUBTERRANEAN BLUES
A few weeks ago, three dozen people gathered in the Chalfant Community Center to talk about groundwater, packing every seat and lining the walls.
On the agenda: a discussion of a proposed agreement between the Tr-Valley Groundwater Management District (TVGMD) and its former partner, and a presentation on a modeling project that could end up validating concerns raised before the split.
Some attendees were there on behalf of Fish Slough, a rare high-desert wetland west of Chalfant that is home to endangered pupfish, unique microfauna, and Indigenous petroglyphs. Fish Slough has been a flashpoint in Tri-Valley groundwater debates for years, especially now that one of the springs feeding the wetland has dried up.
Others came because the wells supplying their homes are dropping. Chalfant resident Denver Billings is one of them: his well has fallen five feet in five years, and he’s bracing for the cost of redrilling.
Many residents blame alfalfa farming in Hammil Valley, as local growers have historically resisted any limits on pumping.
And that’s the crux of it. The question of whether to pass the agreement has surfaced before: the same people, the same tension, but now under increasing pressure from a shrinking water supply.
At issue is whether the TVGMD will rejoin a basinwide groundwater plan or continue to operate on its own as state scrutiny intensifies. If the basin’s priority is upgraded, the district could be forced to produce an expensive Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) on its own, or accept outside oversight it has so far resisted.
A related debate in 2021 prompted TVGMD to leave Owens Valley Groundwater Authority (OVGA) after the state downgraded the basin’s priority, eliminating the legal requirement to submit a plan.
OVGA had been tasked with creating a GSP for the entire basin under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). But during the process, the state downgraded the basin’s priority status, meaning a GSP was no longer legally required.
According to Carol Ann Mitchell, who has served on the TVGMD board for 38 years, ranchers saw proposed pumping restrictions in the draft plan and decided they wanted out before anything became binding now that their participation was no longer required by the state.
That decision was reinforced by political dynamics that often placed Tri-Valley’s concerns behind those of better-funded agencies, such as Inyo County. Mono County bowed out at the same time. The Sheet covered the breakup in the Oct. 16, 2021 issue.
On paper, the exit didn’t matter much. Low-priority basins don’t have to submit GSPs, and OVGA wasn’t penalized. But in practice, it carved a deep divide between residents and growers in the TVGMD, ultimately shifting the board’s priorities toward the growers.
In the years following the split, TVGMD struggled to set its own course, trying to balance competing demands from across the community, residents and growers alike.
The tension culminated in a bitterly contested 2023 election to fill the seventh seat on the board that would break a deadlock between domestic representatives and agricultural members.
While it’s not uncommon to have a GSA largely managed by growers, the lines can be blurred in a region like Tri-Valley as everyone depends on wells for their livelihoods, not just those in agriculture.
The pro-agriculture candidate ultimately prevailed, and the board has remained divided since, Mitchell said. The Sheet covered that race on April 29, 2023.
Meanwhile, after the split, OVGA opted to complete a GSP anyway. It was purely voluntary, but, in its view, was better than being caught flat-footed later. The authority submitted the plan in 2022.
Then, this summer, the state sent it back with an “incomplete” rating. Without Mono County and TVGMD, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) said the plan could legally cover only part of the basin. Fish Slough and the entire Tri-Valley region were left outside the management framework.
If the basin’s priority ever increases, OVGA would be out of compliance, or TVGMD could suddenly be responsible for producing its own, very expensive, standalone GSP. Many believe that priority shift is imminent, especially as Fish Slough continues to dry up.
“TVGMD is most likely going to be subject to SGMA,” said Kristen Stipanov, a local attorney who has studied the issue extensively. “If they were ranked medium priority, they would be obligated to work under their own GSP or work under the OVGA sustainability plan. […] My read is that they don’t have enough funding to create their own GSP.”
To avoid that scenario, OVGA reached out to TVGMD and Mono County with a proposed memorandum of understanding to stitch the fractured basin back together under a single management structure.
“If such an agreement was reached, the GSP would be modified accordingly, adopted by the three GSAs, and resubmitted jointly,” wrote OVGA executive director Holly Alpert in a July 8 letter.
In theory, the agreement could take many forms. In practice, it likely won’t take any. Mono County declined quickly, deferring to Tri-Valley’s position.
“If there was a desire from Tri-Valley [to join the agreement], we would support that,” Mono County Supervisor Rhonda Duggan said.
TVGMD has not issued a formal response, but board members have indicated they’re skeptical the benefits (access to a hydrologist, a streamlined state process) outweigh the costs and increased oversight. At last month’s meeting, the board tabled the item.
In the meantime, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) submitted a neutral, separate comment to DWR on Dec. 4, explaining that the two basins (Tri-Valley and Owens Valley), deserve separate distinctions because they are geographically different.
“CDFW encourages DWR to consider that Fish Slough and the Tri-Valley area should be established as a single subbasin, separate from the greater Owens Valley, to better address the continued impacts of ongoing groundwater level declines to fish and wildlife resources,” it stated.
That letter also outlined evidence and data that groundwater depletion was related to Hammil Valley agriculture, which is something conservationists are working independently to prove.
To support these efforts with more concrete information, Mono County received a state grant to hire a groundwater modeling consultant to improve understanding of the region’s hydrology last year. Most Tri-Valley data has been historical or anecdotal, and this project aims to bridge that gap.
OVGA oversees the modeling effort because Mono County doesn’t have its own hydrologist (Inyo County has one), but TVGMD will ultimately decide what, if any, policy actions to take based on the results.
The modeler provided a first look at the project during last month’s meeting in Chalfant. The science was preliminary (the full model is due this summer) but the audience’s questions largely focused on what the model didn’t cover.
For one, three new monitoring wells near Fish Slough will not be included unless Mono County or the board finds additional funding to expand the scope.
Chairman Greg Allen, who also owns a pack station in Bishop, denied the possibility of gaining additional funding.
“Right now, the money we have is the money we have. There’s no other money,” he said. “Unless we put a pot at the back door and have people drop money in it, where’s the money coming from?”
Some residents interpreted the resistance differently.
“If those wells proved that Hammil Valley was affecting Fish Slough, it would reasonably affect the ranchers in Hammil Valley,” boardmember Mitchell said. “It’s taken a long time to prove it, but eventually it will be unmistakably proven.”
Some speakers tiptoed around this implication; others were blunt, pushing the board to take more initiative. Nick Buckmaster, CDFW employee in attendance in his personal capacity, was among the blunt.
“You are a groundwater sustainability agency,” he said. “That gives you authorities more than just what you say you can do.”
In his view, no one had adequately explained to the board how its powers changed once it became a state-recognized groundwater authority, including the authority to manage its own funds and adopt policies to rein in growers.
Chairman Allen bristled at the suggestion, saying it asked too much of a volunteer board.
The next TVGMD meeting in Chalfant is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. There is no formal deadline for responding to OVGA, but Alpert said she hopes the board gives direction soon.
“I’m definitely on the hook to report back to the OVGA board at its next meeting, probably February or March,” she said. “But that isn’t a deadline for them to have an answer. I just need to say what I know at that point.”
Even if TVGMD declines the agreement, OVGA can still move forward with the portions of the GSP that fall within Inyo County, even in its incomplete state.
