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As if California’s water supplies weren’t already sufficiently imperiled, a bill that would have taken a small step toward groundwater regulation unfortunately has now stalled.

Sen. Lois Wolk’s Senate Bill 1317 would have slowed the speed at which new wells are drilled, and denied permits for wells in critically overdrafted basins until groundwater regulations begin to take effect in 2022. But it ran into opposition from agricultural interests and local government agencies.

The California drought is now in its fifth year. But what if we told you it could take four more years to get out of it?

That’s the alarming result of a study published June 21 in Geophysical Research Letters. The study analyzed California’s mountain snowpack to assess the severity of the current drought and compare it to past water shortages. The study found that the current drought is, without question, the worst ever recorded in the state as measured by the “deficit” in the snowpack and the crucial freshwater it provides to the state.

Delta interests won another last-minute, temporary reprieve on Friday in their efforts to block Southern California’s controversial $175 million purchase of about 20,000 acres of land in the fragile estuary.The deal had been expected to close as soon as next week, after the 3rd District Court of Appeal on Thursday lifted an order that had delayed the purchase for several weeks.But the court reinstated that order Friday after San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties, along with Delta farmers and environmentalists, pleaded for time to persuade the state Supreme Court to take up the matter.

After weeks of uncertainty and pressure from members of Congress, federal officials this week announced a plan for managing water releases from California’s largest reservoir this summer in a manner that will not involve cutbacks in farm water deliveries — at least if all goes as hoped.

For more than a month, federal agencies have battled behind the scenes over how to balance the needs of California farms and two endangered fish species whose populations have been decimated by years of drought and environmental decline.