Taxpayers for Accountability for Our Groundwater

What guides us

Four priorities. One shared future.

Groundwater decisions shape whether families can stay, businesses can grow, and our desert communities can endure. We advocate for a process worthy of those stakes.

01

Current science

Use the best available local research and keep assumptions about recharge, safe yield, and basin conditions open to rigorous review.

02

Public accountability

Give residents clear access to decisions, contracts, spending, supporting records, and the reasoning behind major water policies.

03

Practical affordability

Pursue workable solutions that protect groundwater without imposing costs our families, farms, and local businesses cannot bear.

04

Local water protection

Scrutinize new large-scale water demands so existing communities are not left carrying the risk or the bill.

How we got here

A long-running debate became an urgent local issue.

For generations, people in the Indian Wells Valley have debated how much water enters our basin and how much can be used responsibly. California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, known as SGMA, turned that debate into a formal planning process.

The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority was created to develop and carry out a Groundwater Sustainability Plan. As allocations, fees, and an imported-water proposal took shape, many residents felt that important scientific, financial, and community questions were not receiving adequate attention.

Our group argues that the plan understates recharge, assigns the full amount it recognizes to the Navy despite substantially lower actual use, and prioritizes imported water without an equitable comparison of alternatives. Group organizers also report that replenishment fees have been collected for years without imported water being purchased.

Our perspective Statements about disputed recharge estimates, allocations, fees, and policy choices on this site describe the concerns and positions of our citizen group. Linked public records are provided so readers can examine the underlying materials directly.

2014-15

SGMA changes the conversation

California enacts SGMA in 2014, and the law takes effect in 2015. It requires high- and medium-priority basins to establish local governance and plans designed to reach groundwater sustainability.

2020-21

New fees reach local water users

The Groundwater Authority adopts management and replenishment fees. Residents and businesses raise questions about affordability, legality, and the proposed path to imported water.

2021-now

Comprehensive adjudication proceeds

A court process is addressing groundwater rights and basin issues. The Indian Wells Valley Water District maintains official case information and technical materials for public review.

2026

Residents organize again

Led by Tammy Charlon Bouyer and Laraine Hemrick, local residents reconnect stakeholders, convene community conversations, and form this grassroots group around shared priorities.

Today

Showing up and asking better questions

Members attend public meetings, request records, invite technical speakers, engage in local civic life, and advocate for decisions that reflect the valley's needs and values.

Community action

Protecting Inyokern from an outsized water risk.

When a data center was proposed for downtown Inyokern, members asked a basic question: what would its water demand mean for a desert basin already facing hard choices?

The group helped bring the proposal into public view and urged agencies to examine its potential water use, infrastructure impacts, and financial consequences. Residents worried that one large new user could undermine lower-cost sustainability options and shift the cost of major infrastructure onto the existing community.

100+ local residents submitted letters opposing the proposed project, according to group organizers.

That effort brought residents and public agencies together around a shared principle: water-intensive development must not put the future of the Indian Wells Valley, or the people already here, at unacceptable risk.

Questions worth asking

Good policy starts with clear answers.

These are the questions we bring to public meetings, records requests, and community conversations.

Are decisions using the most complete, current basin science?

Recharge and safe-yield estimates drive every other choice. New geophysical data, groundwater models, and technical studies should be explained publicly, tested against competing interpretations, and updated when evidence changes.

Do allocations reflect actual use and equitable responsibility?

Allocations determine who bears reductions, fees, and future risk. The public deserves to understand the data, legal reasoning, and policy judgments behind them.

Where has fee revenue gone, and what has it delivered?

Residents and businesses should be able to trace revenue, contracts, reserves, project spending, and measurable outcomes through clear and timely public reporting.

Has imported water been compared fairly with lower-cost options?

Before committing the valley to a major pipeline and its long-term operating costs, decision-makers should transparently compare conservation, reuse, transfers, recharge, demand management, and other credible alternatives.

Who pays when a new project brings major water demand?

Growth should account for its full water and infrastructure impacts. Existing households and businesses should not quietly inherit costs created by a new large-scale user.

Your voice belongs here

Help shape the future of our valley.

Follow us on Facebook

01

Come to a meeting

Meet neighbors, hear from invited speakers, and help choose where the group focuses next. Check our Facebook Events for the next gathering.

02

Show up in public

Attend Ridgecrest City Council, Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority, and Indian Wells Valley Water District meetings when groundwater issues are on the agenda.

03

Read and share

Use the independent and official resources below. Ask informed questions, share source documents, and help make a complicated process understandable to more neighbors.

Read the record

Groundwater resources

Start with the source material. These agency pages, technical studies, and public portals offer context for the decisions affecting the Indian Wells Valley.

Case documents