<p> California is continuing to put the pressure on water rights holders as the state has recently ordered more than 2,600 water agencies and users in the Sacramento Valley to <B>stop pumping water from the Sacramento River and its tributaries</b>.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> The State Water Resources Control Board has warned that if conditions worsen, senior water rights holders could possibly see restrictions as well, especially going into summer months, according to the Sacramento Bee. Failure to comply with these restrictions could result in fines of $1,000 per day and $2,500 per acre-foot of diverted water. This issue is only made worse by the fact that <B>groundwater pumping is unregulated</b> in the state. The state can’t appease everyone, and the issue is only complicated by its hierarchical water system.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">As Jay Lund, a water resources professor at UC Davis, explains, “[California has] what’s largely a system of seniority and water rights, where, if that use of water was established decades or a century ago, it has a higher priority than someone that comes in today.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> “We recognize how challenging this drought is for junior water-right holders and their customers,” said board chairwoman Felicia Marcus. “…and we will make adjustments in real time, based upon the flow in our river and streams … and other new information.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Both junior and senior water rights holders have access to groundwater, but with concerns that pumping is already becoming excessive, how much worse can this problem get? Excessive pumping has already caused much of the ground in the San Joaquin Valley to <B>sink up to 28 feet</b> in some areas. Still, it seems like there may be some improvement plans ahead…<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> With Senate Bill 1168, Senator Fran Pavley is requiring local agencies to develop <B>groundwater-management plans</b>. According to the Sacramento Bee, the governor has also included almost $5 million in his proposed 2014 – 2015 budget for the Department of Water Resources to monitor groundwater levels.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Summer is quickly approaching, but there’s little the state can do at this point unless there’s an effective groundwater management plan put in place. Can supplies be stretched any further for both senior and junior water rights holders? And if restrictions are placed on senior water rights holders, there will almost definitely be a fight.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we continue our coverage on California’s drought and any further restrictions placed on water rights holders. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
