Overview

• State aquifers gained an estimated 2.2 million acre-feet of water in the 2024 water year, driven largely by about 1.9 million acre-feet of managed aquifer recharge.
• Despite last year’s gains, agencies pumped roughly 11.5 million acre-feet of groundwater across 98 basins, with the Central Valley accounting for over 84 percent of extraction.
• The Department of Water Resources warns that long-term groundwater levels continue to decline, especially in the Tulare Lake and San Joaquin River regions, and nearly half of monitored wells have fallen over two decades.
• Early data for the 2025 water year indicate notable dryness in agricultural and southern areas, raising concerns over supply resilience under hotter, drier conditions.
• Officials are pushing to streamline environmental reviews for the $20.1 billion Delta Conveyance Project to bolster water delivery and uphold regulations limiting pumping through 2042.