Monday December 12, 2022
KVPR —
A wave of dry wells has hit the San Joaquin Valley hard this year putting the Valley on track to see the most dry wells since the state began tracking that information in 2013.
And while wells have dried up throughout the state, the Valley is the epicenter of dry wells.
As of the end of November, the Valley had 1,017 wells go dry. That represents 72% of all dry wells reported statewide, according to the Department of Water Resources (DWR) dry well database. These numbers only include wells that are reported to the state, meaning the issue could be more widespread.
During summer, the Valley saw nearly 200 wells go dry each month, according to DWR’s tracking system. That rate slowed as winter approached but there were still 78 dry wells reported in October and 40 in November.
The number of dry wells so far is on track to exceed 2015, the worst year of the state’s last drought.