Desert water basin hopes to dive into California water market
If you’ve got water for sale, the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority has $50 million to spend. Or, it will once it starts collecting a controversial, five-year, $2,000-per-acre-foot pumping fee that was approved by the authority last week. Specifically, the desert groundwater basin about 100 miles northeast of Bakersfield in the Mojave Desert, is looking…
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Proposed single delta tunnel could cost $15.9 billion
A single tunnel proposed to take water under the sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and deliver it to farms and cities in the south could cost $15.9 billion, give or take, according to an initial assessment discussed at the Delta Conveyance Authority meeting on Thursday. This is a scaled down version of a proposal under Gov….
Read MoreCalifornia to Friant-Kern Canal: “No $ for you!”
Any hope that California might kick in money to fix the sagging Friant-Kern Canal was killed Thursday when a bill that would have provided $400 million toward the effort was stripped of all funding. The bill, SB 559 by State Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, had been stuck in the suspense file (a kind of legislative…
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THIS JUST IN: New Executive Director named at Water Association of Kern County
Expect to see a lot more about water in Kern County on your favorite social media platform in the near future. “The Water Association of Kern County is all about outreach and education and there’s no better way to do that than social media,” said new Executive Director Jenny Bertagna Holtermann. Holtermann was recently named…
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Western Kern River bike path extension to start this month
Residents will soon be able to scoot, cycle, jog or hike on the bike path all the way from the middle of Bakersfield to Buena Vista Lake. Construction on a 7-mile-long extension of the Kern River bike path from its current terminus at Enos Lane to Buena Vista Lake south of Highway 119 will begin…
Read MoreUnlikely source promises (a little) water for the Kern River
If all goes according to plan, there will be water in the Kern River through spring in most years. And not just when Mother Nature dumps a boatload of snow in the Sierras. The City of Bakersfield is poised to ink a deal with Buena Vista Water Storage District that will provide at least some…
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N-i-i-i-i-ce kitty!
Retired Shafter farmer David Bell snapped a photo of what appears to be a young mountain lion as Bell was biking on the Kern River Parkway early Tuesday morning. You need to login to view the rest of the content. Please Login. Not a Member? Join Us
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Clean water advocates hoping to safeguard SAFER funding
Just when it looked like small drinking water systems in California were finally getting the long-term help they so desperately need, along came COVID-19. The state is peppered with failing small systems, many serving low-income communities without the resources to repair them. At least one-third of those failing systems are in the San Joaquin Valley,…
Read MoreValley farmers look to Kern River tributary to replenish groundwater
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Could “angel investors” buy a piece of the Friant-Kern Canal?
An investor funding proposal that could substantially increase the Friant-Kern Canal’s historic flow capacity is gaining interest among the Friant Water Authority’s member districts. In theory, that investor money could bump the amount of water that has historically flowed down the canal on the Central Valley’s eastern flank by up to 800 cubic feet per…
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