English | Español

Facebook-f Twitter Linkedin-in Instagram
Login
Donate

NEWS

•

Kern’s final groundwater plan approved

• by Lois Henry
After months of fireworks over low-ball pumping numbers and concerns that some groundwater agencies wouldn’t get on board, Kern’s last Groundwater Sustainability Plan was approved Wednesday with barely a murmur. The Kern Groundwater Authority board of directors voted unanimously to adopt its final GSP with just two weeks to spare before the massive document is…
Read More
•

Kern groundwater tally not adding up

• by Lois Henry
San Joaquin Valley farms and towns have pumped the basin’s groundwater so furiously and for so long that parts of the valley are sinking, endangering roads and bridges and even breaking one of the main canals that brings in water to support local agriculture. Yet, here in Kern County, state-mandated water budgets presented by several…
Read More
• •

Salty water spat erupts over “no man’s land” of Mendota Pool

• by Lois Henry
The federal government has OKed a 20-year extension of a water exchange program for one Central Valley water district that another district says will illegally foul its water. The Bureau of Reclamation billed the exchange program as a way to “optimize water supplies and reduce pumping impacts” by allowing a group of Westlands Water District…
Read More
• • •

Irrigation water prices under SGMA causing sticker shock

• by Lois Henry
Reaction was hushed when Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District General Manager Eric Averett asked the small group of farmers Tuesday morning if any were interested in buying irrigation water at the previously unheard of price of $770 an acre foot. No papers rustled. Keyboards went silent. And none of the growers raised a hand. Such…
Read More

Kern groundwater shortfall numbers closer to reality

• by Lois Henry
New numbers coming in from water districts to the Kern Groundwater Authority show a groundwater overdraft of 249,644 acre feet a year – and that’s a good thing. “At the last meeting, I admonished water managers to get serious about this, and I’m pleased to report that they have,” said Dennis Mullins, chair of the…
Read More
• •

No-nonsense Kern water leader dies at 67

• by Lois Henry
Dennis Mullins led the first attempt to measure Kern groundwater under new state law.  For long-time local attorney Dennis Mullins, life was a banquet of knowledge and one of his greatest joys was filling himself up so he could help others. He was well-known for his ability to pare down and communicate complex issues, often…
Read More

SJV Water doin’ someSGMA talk on KGET Ch. 17

• by Lois Henry
KGET Ch. 17 Anchor Jim Scott in Bakersfield invited SJV Water back for more water talk this week. The show, Kern County In Depth, airs THIS Saturday (Feb. 1) at 6 p.m. on Channel 17. SJV Water Editor and CEO Lois Henry talks with Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District General Manager Eric Averett and Kern…
Read More

Farmers looking for answers in groundwater plans

• by Lois Henry
Now that actual pumping amounts are coming out per the state’s new groundwater law, farmers, bankers, farm managers and others are getting a clearer picture of their post SGMA worlds. And they have questions. About 25 people attended a recent groundwater sustainability plan presentation in Shafter for landowners in the Shafter-Wasco Irrigation and North Kern…
Read More
Sponsored

Receive the latest news

Subscribe To Our Weekly Newsletter & Get Email Notifications

Enter your email address to receive INSTANT ALERTS of new articles and to be added to SJV Water’s WEEKLY NEWSLETTER