Gene Bogart, longtime Bakersfield water chief and Kern River advocate, dies at 78

Gene Bogart, who ushered in an era of new projects for the City of Bakersfield’s water department, died May 31. He was 78.

Though he left an indelible mark on water, particularly the Kern River, in Bakersfield, it was never Bogart’s intention to have a career in the water world.

He grew up tough and poor in Bakersfield, without a father and raised mostly by his older brother, according to his youngest son, Jeff Bogart.

“They were really on their own,” Jeff said. “My dad, fought his way out of that environment and was the first in his family to get an education.”

He was among the first students to take classes at California State University, Bakersfield when it opened its doors in 1970. He earned his degree in sociology in 1973, according to CSUB.

“His thought was he wanted to work with juveniles, maybe as a warden. He knew that population well,” Jeff Bogart said.

As luck would have it, however, he’d gotten a job at Tenneco West in 1969 under John Chafin who tasked him with becoming a hydrographer – measuring and recording the flows and distribution of the Kern River.

Tenneco owned significant rights to Kern River water, as well as the riverbed, weirs and canal head gates from about Hart Park to Enos Lane.

That was when he discovered water was the “love of his life, to a degree,” Jeff said.

Gene Bogart not only became a hydrographer, he set the standard for record keeping on the river.

When the City of Bakersfield bought Tenneco’s river rights and property in 1977, Tenneco’s river crew, including Chafin and Gene Bogart, were hired in the city’s Water Resources Department.

There was a bit of irony in that move, as Bogart told SJV Water in 2020 for a story about the 50th anniversary when the city first voted in 1970 to sue Tenneco West to get a piece of the river.

“When the city started making noises about buying the river, we just laughed. We all thought it’d be a cold day in hell before a public agency would get its hands on the river.”

But the city did get its hands on the river and Bogart not only worked for the city, he eventually rose through the ranks to run the Water Resources Department from about 1985 until he retired in 2003.

His years at the helm were busy as Bogart pushed to reconstruct dilapidated weirs and improve the distribution system, said retired Water Resources Manager Florn Core, who took over after Bogart retired.

“He was a major force in that,” Core recalled. “He pushed to get those projects done and, for the most part, they’re all still there and operating today.”

Bogart was also instrumental in getting money to help build the Kern River Parkway and bike path. That included buying the last remaining private parcels on the river so the entire river channel is now owned by the city. Core said residents Bill Cooper and Rich O’Neil, the city’s most well-known river advocates, were great at conceptualizing a river park corridor, but it was Bogart who did the nitty gritty work of finding the money and organizing the work to get it done.

“Gene never got enough credit for that,” Core said. “That parkway would not be what it is today if Gene hadn’t been there behind the scenes. He was for it 100%.”

Multiple people shared in Bogart’s knowledge of the river and city’s water system.

“Gene knew every path and road along the river, and we explored them all,” wrote Kern River Watermaster and retired Water Department Manager Art Chianello in an email about Bogart. “I will miss him.”

Jeff recalled his father’s tenure with the city as “the golden age” of getting projects done. And his dad loved every minute.

So much so, that family vacations and family time was always intertwined with water.

“We had the classic Griswold vacations where we’d pack up the car and head out, but he’d take us to reservoirs,” Jeff said. His dad had the kids with him to take readings at canals at night and Jeff still has a vivid memory of being at the Beardsley weir in the Kern River when he was about seven where Gene was checking on its reconstruction “to make sure it was being done right.

“He had a lot to be proud of,” Jeff said.

Gene Bogart is survived by his wife, Donna, and sons Jeff and Michael.

Services are pending with Greenlawn Funeral Home Northeast.