SGMA implementation often assumes people already know what to do. It assumes they have email, internet access, parcel numbers, passwords, and confidence navigating online systems. But groundwater policy reaches real people at kitchen tables, in rural homes, and through letters they may not understand. This article looks at why SGMA outreach is not a soft extra. It is infrastructure.

Across the Tulare Lake Subbasin, groundwater users are watching closely as the State Water Board proposes changes to how SGMA enforcement...