Dry wells in Rosedale get help but make me wonder

●

April 1, 2019

I checked in with Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District recently to see how its “dry well” program was going.

It’s steady. Meaning the agricultural water district is still getting a steady influx of claims from owners of wells that have gone dry.

Not because of the drought, per se.

But because of how groundwater has been managed, some might say mismanaged, in our shared basin.

For those who don’t commit every one of my columns to memory, I’ll explain.

In the last drought before this one, waaay back in 2009, Rosedale-Rio Bravo saw its water tables dropping sharply despite many efforts to recharge water on its lands.

The district looked around and ultimately pointed fingers at two major groundwater banking projects — the vast Kern Water Bank and Kern County Water Agency’s Pioneer Project.

Author

Lois Henry

CEO and editor Lois Henry has spent 30 years covering the San Joaquin Valley.

She was raised on a ranch east of Fresno and attended Fresno State where she majored in Journalism.

In Bakersfield she covered a variety of beats including the military, social services, the oil industry, city and county government and did a stint in Sacramento at The Californian’s capitol bureau.

Henry spent 10 years as a manager and was the lead editor for the paper’s many award-winning projects.

In 2007, she began a twice weekly, investigative column and was able to focus on one of her passions – water.

Valley residents innately understand the importance of water. Henry has helped develop that understanding by untangling the complicated knots of rights, lawsuits, contracts and deals by which water is moved and consumed.

She plans to continue that mission through SJV Water.

Henry lives with her husband, one dog and two very spoiled cats in Bakersfield.

Dry wells in Rosedale get help but make me wonder

Author

Related Articles