Rivers Archives - SJV Water

Rivers

Bakersfield to take a deep dive on the Kern River – supplies, demands and rights

February 21, 2023

• by Lois Henry

The Bakersfield City Council at its meeting Wednesday will likely approve a $288,350 contract to conduct a detailed study of the city’s water supplies and demands with a strong focus on Kern River operations. Though the proposed study, on the consent agenda, isn’t in direct response to a lawsuit filed last year against the city…

Rivers • Uncategorized

VIDEO: More water in the Kern River – where from this time?

February 21, 2023

• by Lois Henry

The Kern River came alive again recently as the Kern County Water Agency pumped water into one section of the dry riverbed from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Various water agencies have been using the river to move or store water as supplies have increased thanks to the relatively wet winter California has experienced so…

Drought • Rivers

River water from 150 miles away flows through parts of the Kern River

February 6, 2023

• by Lois Henry

The lower Kern River has flowing through its dry bed after years of drought. But it’s not actually Kern River water….

dams • Rivers

State and federal agencies want fish ladder restored on Merced River

February 1, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Two powerful state and federal agencies have stuck their toes, so to speak, into an ongoing lawsuit against Merced Irrigation District demanding the district reopen a long defunct fish ladder. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and National Marine Fisheries Service both sent letters to Merced Irrigation District after Water Audit California sued the…

Drought • Rivers

State laws hamper flood flow storage but one San Joaquin Valley water district cut through the red tape. Can others follow?

January 14, 2023

• by Lois Henry

It seems like such a no brainer: Grab the floodwater inundating California right now and shove it into our dried up aquifers for later use. But water plus California never equals simple. Yes, farmers and water districts can, legally, grab water from the state’s overflowing rivers, park it on their land and it will recharge…

Drought • Rivers

A river appears in the Kern River bed

January 14, 2023

• by Lois Henry

There was water snaking through the Kern River bed through Bakersfield on Friday. The City of Bakersfield was moving water it was obligated to release down the river for power plants through the riverbed and into Truxtun Lakes, the lake at the Park at Riverwalk and Aera Park, according to Daniel Maldonado, a city water…

Rivers

VIDEO: Kern River Parkway wells

January 4, 2023

• by Lois Henry

In 2000, the Kern County Water Agency got $23 million in funding from Proposition 13 for a number of water projects, including to restore a minimum flow in the Kern River through Bakersfield using six wells. The agency built the wells. But has never used them to restore the river….

Rivers

Conditions “significantly improved” for Kern River watershed

January 3, 2023

• by SJV Water

Water watcher Scott Williams put out his Kern River Snow and Water Report on Monday and, based on national, statewide and local data, things have gone from “eh…” to fairly promising. Precipitation in the upper Kern basin, which feeds the North Fork of the Kern river was 134% of average for the water year to date….

Rivers

Kern River “restoration” wells pumping but not to restore the river

December 28, 2022

• by Lois Henry

An observant reader emailed SJV Water recently asking about a well he noticed near Calloway Drive that was pumping water into the brimful Cross Valley Canal just north of the dry Kern River “all summer long and beyond.” He wondered if that was a well owned by the City of Bakersfield and, if so, where…

Rivers

Bakersfield sued over “dewatering” of Kern River

November 30, 2022

• by Lois Henry

Several public interest groups sued the City of Bakersfield Nov. 30 alleging the city has been derelict in its operation of the Kern River by diverting most of its flows to agriculture and other uses leaving a dry riverbed through the heart of town. “The river is dry, but not because of a lack of…

NEWS

Bakersfield to take a deep dive on the Kern River – supplies, demands and rights

VIDEO: More water in the Kern River – where from this time?

River water from 150 miles away flows through parts of the Kern River

State and federal agencies want fish ladder restored on Merced River

State laws hamper flood flow storage but one San Joaquin Valley water district cut through the red tape. Can others follow?

A river appears in the Kern River bed

VIDEO: Kern River Parkway wells

Conditions “significantly improved” for Kern River watershed

Kern River “restoration” wells pumping but not to restore the river

Bakersfield sued over “dewatering” of Kern River

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