Rivers Archives - Page 4 of 8

Valley rivers going dry

July 14, 2021

• by Lois Henry

Southern San Joaquin Valley Rivers are running at near historic lows — again. In fact, the Bakersfield City Council passed a resolution Wednesday officially declaring the Kern River as running at only 17% of normal, it’s second driest year since record keeping began in 1893. The driest year on record was 2015, the worst year…

Rivers

Kern River memories, photos sought

July 6, 2021

• by Lois Henry

The grassroots group Bring Back the Kern has launched a new public awareness campaign to pluck residents’ memories of a flowing river through Bakersfield. Bring Back the Kern, formed in 2020, advocates finding ways for water to flow through the Kern River channel through town on a more frequent and consistent basis. The group has…

Drinking Water • Friant-Kern Canal • Rivers

Drought reduces runoff from watersheds burned by wildfires

May 13, 2021

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern

Drought isn’t all bad. In fact, it’s turning out to be a dry blessing in disguise this year as the lack of snow means less runoff in areas burned by the massive Creek and Sequoia Complex wildfires in 2020. The Creek Fire, which started on September 4, 2020, burned nearly 380,000 acres of the San…

Drinking Water • Rivers

Innovative partnerships and exchanges are securing the Gila River Indian Community’s water future

May 13, 2021

• by Sharon Udasin

Editor’s note: This story is part of a collaboration — Tapped Out: Power, justice and water in the West — that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News, California Health Report, Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, Circle of Blue, Columbia Insight, Ensia, High Country News, New Mexico In Depth and SJV Water. It was made possible by a…

Rivers

Bakersfield brewers send suds with a message to State Water Board

May 7, 2021

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern

Bakersfield raised a brew, literally, to the State Water Resources Control Board on Friday in honor of the Kern River. An iced down package of seven locally made craft beers was delivered to board members as part of the latest outreach effort by Bring Back the Kern, a local group advocating for water to flow…

Conservation • Drought • Federal System • Rivers • State System • Water Banking

Virtual Water Summit – May 25

April 20, 2021

• by Lois Henry

The Water Association of Kern County’s annual Water Summit is virtual this year but will still pack a punch of who’s who in the water world. The day kicks off with an update on water brought to the San Joaquin Valley via the federal Central Valley Project. The speaker will be Deputy Bureau of Reclamation…

Rivers • Uncategorized

Bakersfield children’s book takes a trip down the Kern River

April 15, 2021

• by Lois Henry

The successful Bakersfield children’s book series “Indy, Oh Indy” has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund its sixth upcoming book, titled “The Mighty Kern River.” The book was inspired by a larger effort from the grassroots group Bring Back the Kern to raise awareness about Bakersfield’s mostly dry river and efforts to revive a more…

Rivers

Longtime Kern water manager retires

April 14, 2021

• by Lois Henry

Dana Munn, a fixture in the Kern County water world, has taken an early retirement from Shafter-Wasco Irrigation District due to medical issues, he announced Tuesday. Though his retirement date hasn’t been set, it is considered imminent, according to the irrigation district. The district is hoping to find a retired water manager to take over…

Rivers

State will hear Kern River water rights case

April 2, 2021

• by Lois Henry

Is there water available on the Kern River and, if so, how much? Parties to the long-running river dispute will finally get a hearing by the State Water Resources Control Board on those questions, at least. The big question — who should get the water? — will have to wait. Still, this is the first…

Groundwater • Rivers

Double blast of lawsuits fired at proposed Kern groundwater bank

February 12, 2021

• by Lois Henry

A major water banking proposal northwest of Bakersfield that won coveted Proposition 1 funding in 2018, was hit by two lawsuits earlier this month, one claiming it is nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing intent on selling Kern River water to southern California. The City of Bakersfield and the Kern County Water Agency…

NEWS