California cracks down on water pumping: ‘The ground is collapsing’

Farm region near Tulare Lake has been put on probation' as overpumping of water has caused faster sinking of ground

Even after two back-to-back wet years, California's water wars are far from over. On Tuesday, state water officials took an unprecedented step to intervene in the destructive pumping of depleted groundwater in the state's sprawling agricultural heartland.

The decision puts a farming region known as the Tulare Lake groundwater subbasin, which includes roughly 837 sq miles in the rural San Joaquin valley, on probation" in accordance with a sustainable groundwater use law passed a decade ago. Large water users will face fees and state oversight of their pumping.