VIDEO: What is 2nd Point on the Kern River?
Kern River Watermaster Mark Mulkay explains what 2nd Point is on the Kern River and why it’s so important to understanding how the river works. Screenshot.
This is the third in a series of videos attempting to break down and explain who owns the Kern River.
Structures along the river measure its flows and then divvy it up between its historic owners. So, it’s important to understand these structures, where they are and how they work.
We looked at First Point of measurement in our last video. That’s where the flows are first measured.
Those measurements have a direct impact on the structure we visit in this video, which is called Second Point of measurement.
Per an 1888 foundational agreement on the river, 1/3 of its flows must be delivered to Second Point west of Bakersfield from March through August each year.
Kern River Watermaster Mark Mulkay explains more.
Coming next:
- The Intertie – It may have a spy novel-sounding name, but in reality the Intertie is just a big concrete weir built to move floodwater into the California Aqueduct. And it’s the key to ongoing state hearings about whether the river has “available” water.
- State Hearings – We lay out why the state Water Resources Control Board is holding hearings on the Kern River, who’s arguing for which slice of the river’s flows and whether any of this will result in a reborn river through Bakersfield.
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