NEWS

by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting trainee
Spring-run Chinook Salmon are starting to spawn in the San Joaquin River after a brutally dry, hot summer. But the success of the juvenile fish is uncertain as the drought and high temperatures continue. Spring-run salmon, which return to the river from the ocean as adults in spring months, have been absent from the San…
by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting trainee
Water has become a major roadblock to desperately needed housing in rural communities throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Water scarcity and lack of infrastructure has scared off developers just when housing is most needed, according to officials and nonprofits that work on both water and housing. “The lack of development interest has a lot to…
by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting trainee
Kettleman City, a popular stop for travelers on Interstate 5 with its host of gas stations and fast food joints, is on the brink of going dry. If that happens, those businesses could shut down. Lawmakers and others are trying to work out a fix but so far, things are moving slowly. “If they don’t…
by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
Phones were ringing practically non-stop at Self-Help Enterprises toward the end of this summer with valley residents all calling about the same problem: Their wells had gone dry. Employees were fielding 100s of calls a month from people whose wells had dried up, Marliez Diaz wrote in an email. Diaz is a water sustainability manager…
Painters, poets and musicians converged on the state Water Resources Control Board Tuesday as part of an unrelenting campaign to get water in the Kern River through Bakersfield. Bring Back the Kern, a local grassroots group, has facilitated public comments from a wide variety of individuals and groups, including brewers and, now, artists, at the…
A new player has entered the fray over forfeited Kern River water rights, bolstering the position that the public has a right to a flowing river. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife argues in a legal brief filed recently that the state Water Resources Control Board is absolutely obligated to consider the public trust…
by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
State drinking water officials have quietly targeted a dozen small, disadvantaged water systems in Fresno for possible state aid. But it could still take up to three years to get through the paperwork and start putting pipes in the ground. “It takes a long time, years, to go from concept to actual construction starting,” acknowledged…
by Lois Henry
The Kern River got a lot of love this National Clean Up Day with two groups picking up trash along different sections of the river on Saturday. In Bakersfield, about 40 volunteers with Bring Back the Kern, a nonprofit group dedicated to getting water flowing on a more regular basis through town, cleared away trash under…
by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
Water transfers, trades and sales doubled this year as drought left San Joaquin Valley farmers scrambling for supplies. “This has been kind of an exceptional year for transfers,” said Sam Boland-Brien, program manager at the State Water Resources Control Board’s Division of Water Rights. Boland-Brien said he’s seen about twice the amount of transfers this…
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