NEWS

Water in the Kern River an inspiration for local artists

October 7, 2021

• by Lois Henry

Painters, poets and musicians converged on the state Water Resources Control Board Tuesday as part of an unrelenting campaign to get water in the Kern River through Bakersfield. Bring Back the Kern, a local grassroots group, has facilitated public comments from a wide variety of individuals and groups, including brewers and, now, artists, at the…

Rivers

Kern River lawsuit “unleashed” public’s rights

October 6, 2021

• by Lois Henry

A new player has entered the fray over forfeited Kern River water rights, bolstering the position that the public has a right to a flowing river. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife argues in a legal brief filed recently that the state Water Resources Control Board is absolutely obligated to consider the public trust…

Rivers

They came, they saw, they took out the trash

September 18, 2021

• by Lois Henry

The Kern River got a lot of love this National Clean Up Day with two groups picking up trash along different sections of the river on Saturday. In Bakersfield, about 40 volunteers with Bring Back the Kern, a nonprofit group dedicated to getting water flowing on a more regular basis through town, cleared away trash under…

Rivers

Salmon program takes giant leap thanks to land donation

August 30, 2021

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern

One farmer has single handedly ramped up the pace of a program trying to save native salmon in the San Joaquin River by donating a key sliver of land to the federal government. Connley Clayton donated about eight acres of his Madera County riverfront land to the government’s San Joaquin River Restoration Program. The land…

Rivers

Public is in the ring in fight over Kern River

August 17, 2021

• by Lois Henry

It was clear during the first hearing on the Kern River Tuesday that the public has a seat at the table as never before. Tuesday’s hearing was mostly procedural — setting out which issues would be sorted first and how. Permeating the discussion at nearly every turn, however, was the public trust doctrine, which gives…

Groundwater • Rivers • Water Banking

Proposed groundwater bank sparks legal challenge

August 17, 2021

• by Lois Henry

A battle of groundwater banks is underway in Kern County with accusations that one is poised to mine the local aquifer and sell water outside the area. The two main combatants are the massive Kern Water Bank, which covers 32-square miles straddling Interstate 5 west of Bakersfield, and the Buena Vista Water Storage District, which…

Rivers

Local group files papers in fight over Kern River

August 10, 2021

• by Lois Henry

A new player has entered the legal fray over the Kern River — the public. Actually, it’s a consortium of Bakersfield and other nonprofit, public interest groups that hope to sway the state Water Resources Control Board to, ultimately, re-water the mostly dry Kern River through town. The Flowing Kern Coalition made its debut Tuesday…

Drought • Rivers

State board’s curtailment order could have long-reaching effects

August 10, 2021

• by Lois Henry

The real test of the state’s recently passed ban on the use of water from most of the state’s rivers won’t be later this summer when the ban will likely to go into effect, it will be the upcoming water year. And possibly longer term. This irrigation season is nearly over. But growers and water…

Drought • Friant-Kern Canal • Rivers

Endangered salmon program waiting, watching for possible call on Millertion water

July 21, 2021

• by Lois Henry

As the summer grinds on, farms, towns and a critical native salmon restoration program that all rely on water from Millerton Lake near Fresno continue to hope their water won’t be needed to fulfill irrigation contracts further up the San Joaquin Valley. But in this parched year, nothing is certain. If water is required out…

Rivers • SGMA

Kern River water rights case gets hearing date

July 19, 2021

• by Lois Henry

Whether the Kern River truly has spare water and, if so, how much, has been left up in the air for more than a decade. Now, 11 years after the State Water Resources Control Board ruled the Kern River was not fully appropriated, it will finally start the process of getting at those two key…