Virtual PPIC Panel Gauges Groundwater Recharge Success by ACWA Staff Jun 21, 2024 Water News With overdraft causing big problems in the San Joaquin Valley, and groundwater recharge among the most promising ways to protect against hotter, longer dry periods, is California socking away enough water during wet periods? Answering that question was the subject of a June 11 virtual panel discussion hosted by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) and now available for viewing online. Titled “Replenishing Groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley,” the panel was moderated by PPIC Water Policy Center Senior Fellow Ellen Hanak and featured Stephanie Anagnoson, Director of Water and Natural Resources at Madera County; Jeevan Muhar, Engineer Manager with Arvin-Edison Water Storage District; Jon Reiter, Board of Directors member with Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa Water District; and Steven Springhorn, Supervising Engineering Geologist with the California Department of Water Resources. The discussion followed up on PPIC surveys in 2017 and 2023 of dozens of urban and agriculture water managers who were asked how recharge efforts were going, how much progress they’ve made and what they thought was needed next. The PPIC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that includes a Water Policy Center. Its mission is to inform and improve public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research.
