California’s drought might be over, but the state continues to suffer groundwater woes. The state’s first groundwater market for individual landowners hopes to address some of those problems. For much of California’s history, groundwater was completely unregulated – cities and farmers freely pumped from underground aquifers. Then in 2014, the state passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) to help curtail over-pumping during droughts and bring groundwater basins into sustainability. One powerful way to achieve that, says Matthew Fienup, is with market forces.