Support
Your donations, subscriptions, sponsorships and social media shares help support strong local coverage of this essential resource.
Featured in
Check out SJV Water’s story about a sinking town in the Central Valley that was published in the NEW YORK TIMES!
TUNE IN
Remember to tune in to KERN Newstalk 1180 am/96.1 fm every Tuesday morning at 7 a.m.
Sponsored Advertising
SJV Water is happy to accept sponsored banners. Now offering Website & Newsletter Banner Ads.
Latest News
Where does the water go? The Kern River’s abrupt stop, practically mid-channel, can be jarring. The full river suddenly goes dry just outside Bakersfield leaving a dusty channel snaking through the heart of town. Why? Where does all that water go? Who owns it? How does it all work? Our video project, “Law of the…
- August 8, 2022
• by Lois Henry
The prospect of being sent to California’s “groundwater cop” strikes dread in the hearts of most water managers. But for John Vidovich, having the Tulare Lake subbasin come under the glare of the State Water Resources Control Board may be the only way to end an irrigation practice by the J.G. Boswell Company that he…
- August 3, 2022
• by Lois Henry
Drought cut short a pilot program to bring South Fork Kern River water through Lake Isabella and down 60 miles to farmland northwest of Bakersfield. Now, a raft of lawsuits could upend the environmental impact report in support of the project, which has been a goal of the Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District since it…
- August 3, 2022
• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water
Water managers in the San Joaquin Valley who regularly work with residents of poor, rural communities facing water insecurity are applauding last month’s sharply critical audit of the state Water Resources Control Board. The California State Auditor’s report found a serious lack of urgency on the part of the water board, which is tasked with…
- August 2, 2022
• by Lois Henry
The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority in eastern Kern County has signed a “letter of intent” to buy the rights to 750 acre feet of state water for $6,396,000 from a State Water Project contractor in Kings County. The purchase is part of the authority’s plan to bring that overdrafted groundwater basin into balance. The…
- July 28, 2022
• by Lois Henry
Southern California Edison has stopped taking water out of the North Fork of the Kern River for a state fish hatchery that has been closed for nearly two years but added a new diversion that river advocates are calling a “dangerous precedent.” The move comes several weeks after river advocates complained the utility was using…
It’s no simple feat to raise a dam. In fact, it’s taken the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 34 years to get from the first feasibility study to expand the dam at Lake Success in Tulare County to finally getting construction underway. The improvements to Lake Success’ Schafer Dam, named after longtime Tule River watermaster…
- July 27, 2022
• by Lois Henry
Kern County water managers are, for the most part, sticking with the proposed Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta tunnel but are keeping an eye on details still to come – how it will actually operate and how much the water will cost. The Department of Water Resources released a draft environmental impact report on the latest iteration…
Receive Notifications
Enter your email address to receive INSTANT ALERTS of new articles and to be added to SJV Water’s WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
NEWS SEARCH
Water Resources
Maven’s Notebook is an excellent daily accounting of California water happenings statewide.