California water regulators are cracking down on a second farming area in the San Joaquin Valley for failing to take adequate steps to curb overpumping that is depleting groundwater, causing the land to sink and damaging a canal that transports water for 1 million acres of farmland and more than 250,000 people.

The State Water Resources Control Board has voted unanimously to place the Tule groundwater subbasin on probationary status, a step that brings additional state oversight, new water fees and requirements for most well owners to report how much they are pumping.

"It just strikes me that we really are in a crisis," board Vice Chair Dorene D'Adamo said after hearing hours of testimony from farmers, water managers, residents and lawyers.

State officials cited deficiencies in local groundwater management plans, including chronic declines in aquifer levels that they estimate could put more than 550 domestic wells at risk of going dry during drought.

They also said the plans don't adequately limit excessive pumping that is causing the ground to sink in parts of the area. D'Adamo said the damage that rapid land subsidence is causing along parts of the Friant-Kern Canal is disturbing and needs to be addressed.

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