News

Kern water managers were scolded for "phony number" in their groundwater accounts

Groundwater plans are out for comment

February 14, 2020 • by Lois Henry

The Department of Water Resources has already put a number of groundwater sustainability plans up on its website for public comment. The public has until April 15 to comment on the first batch. Included in this initial group are some plans that have already generated controversy, such as the joint plan for the Tulare Lake…

TUNE IN! KGET Channel 17 in Bakersfield Saturday night Nov. 23 6 p.m.

November 22, 2019 • by Lois Henry

Well this was a quick turnaround! I was invited by KGET Ch. 17 anchor Jim Scott to talk about water on his Kern County In-Depth program. We talked SGMA with Kern Delta Water District’s new Executive Steve Teglia (formerly Asst. City Manager for Bakersfield) and then Jim interviewed retiring Kern County Water Agency General Manager…

Water Banking

Cowboy tactics not helping turn failed McAllister Ranch subdivision into Kern’s newest water bank

July 22, 2017 • by Lois Henry

Well, that didn’t take long. It’s been less than a month since Buena Vista Water Storage District bought the remaining 600 acres of the failed McAllister Ranch subdivision and it’s already butting heads with Bakersfield city officials. Like, major league butting. The city cited the water district last week for excavating several ditches on the…

Water Banking

Twisted saga of failed McAllister Ranch development takes another turn

June 27, 2017 • by Lois Henry

The saga of a local icon of the 2007 real estate crash continues with yet another twist. McAllister Ranch, once touted to become a 6,000-home, elite Bakersfield suburb with its own Greg Norman-designed golf course, has a new owner. Well, part of it. And the owner is only sort of new. Buena Vista Water Storage…

Water Banking

Water districts’ split leaves groundwater bank even more up in the air

March 18, 2017 • by Lois Henry

If all had gone as planned six years ago, the failed McAllister Ranch housing development would be brimming with water right now. Instead, the two agricultural water districts that had hoped to turn the foreclosed subdivision into a groundwater bank are now in court over the 2,000-acre property. The whirlwind courtship that brought Rosedale-Rio Bravo…