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Rivers

Kern River at its lowest in 2,000 years

April 1, 2019

• by Lois Henry

A new study confirms that 2015 saw the Kern River run at its lowest level since Jesus walked the earth. “Although there have been longer droughts, the 2015 water year represents the driest in the last 2,015 years and the 2012–2015 drought represents the driest four-year period in the record,” the study states. The study,…

Groundwater

Dry wells in Rosedale get help but make me wonder

April 1, 2019

• by Lois Henry

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…

Groundwater

New groundwater world a scary, confusing place

April 1, 2019

• by Lois Henry

The county continued its pattern on Tuesday of declaring itself a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) over the exact boundaries previously declared a GSA by water agencies. To date, the Kern Board of Supervisors has “filed over” five nascent GSAs, creating a lot of grumbling and ill will along the way. (I’ll get back to that.)…

Groundwater

Farm land in Kern is down, but don’t fret

April 1, 2019

• by Lois Henry

Agricultural land values in the Central Valley, and Kern County, have slipped a bit but most analysts aren’t worried about a major drop. Though water will become a larger question mark in coming years. For now, analysts are looking at the recent dip in values as more of a “breather” from the meteoric rates at…

Water Banking

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

April 1, 2019

• 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…

Water Banking

Twisted saga of failed McAllister Ranch development takes another turn

April 1, 2019

• 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

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

April 1, 2019

• 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…

Personalities

Water conspiracy or just poor optics?

April 1, 2019

• by Lois Henry

There’s a reason Matt Hurley wears so many hats, his critics say. And he does wear a lot of hats: General manager of Angiola Water District, Green Valley Water District and Deer Creek Storm Water District; chairman of the newly formed Tri-County Water Authority; and he’s a director on the Fresno Slough Water District and…

Floods

Survey says! We got a boatload of water coming soon

April 1, 2019

• by Lois Henry

The numbers are in and they are good. Amazing, actually. The April 1 manual snowpack survey for the Kern River basin shows we are at an overall 215 percent of average, according to the Department of Water Resources. (See side box for particulars.) The basin was at 49 percent of average last year and that…

Federal System

Water, water everywhere, but can we keep it?

April 1, 2019

• by Lois Henry

Will we get the water? That’s the question everyone’s been asking. (And by everyone, I mean the other five or six people I know who are as weirdly interested in water as I am.) Storms are dumping, rivers are rising and lakes are filling — finally. Will we be able to squirrel that water away…

NEWS

Kern River at its lowest in 2,000 years

Dry wells in Rosedale get help but make me wonder

New groundwater world a scary, confusing place

Farm land in Kern is down, but don’t fret

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

Twisted saga of failed McAllister Ranch development takes another turn

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

Water conspiracy or just poor optics?

Survey says! We got a boatload of water coming soon

Water, water everywhere, but can we keep it?

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