The San Joaquin Valley groundwater crisis developed through generations of decisions that often made sense at the time. Now SGMA has brought the bill to our table, and what we do next will become the inheritance we leave behind.

California often talks about farmers and landowners as “pumpers,” reducing people to the water they use. But SGMA is not only a groundwater policy. It is a human transition reaching kitchen tables, family farms, widows, older landowners, and rural communities trying to understand what comes next.