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Bill aimed at repurposing farmland is a step closer to passing

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
Lawmakers may be close to passing a bill aimed at helping farmers cope with water restrictions. Assembly Bill 252, the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Incentive Program, would set up a program under the California Department of Conservation to use grant money for repurposing former ag land in critically over drafted groundwater basins. The bill was authored…
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Drought outpaces plans to fix failing drinking water systems

• by Jesse Vad and Lois Henry
This story was produced with funding and support from Fresnoland, for the Fresno Bee. Republishing is encouraged 48 hours after initial posting.   A lot has happened over the past five years, but not much has changed in the tiny farmworker town of Okieville. Wells went dry enmasse in Tulare County, including in Okieville, during the last…
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Public is in the ring in fight over Kern River

• by Lois Henry
It was clear during the first hearing on the Kern River Tuesday that the public has a seat at the table as never before. Tuesday’s hearing was mostly procedural — setting out which issues would be sorted first and how. Permeating the discussion at nearly every turn, however, was the public trust doctrine, which gives…
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Proposed groundwater bank sparks legal challenge

• by Lois Henry
A battle of groundwater banks is underway in Kern County with accusations that one is poised to mine the local aquifer and sell water outside the area. The two main combatants are the massive Kern Water Bank, which covers 32-square miles straddling Interstate 5 west of Bakersfield, and the Buena Vista Water Storage District, which…
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The face of California’s water world is changing

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
In California’s water world, long dominated almost exclusively by men, women are blazing a path — sometimes straight to the top.  “I think water is changing,” said Karla Nemeth, director of California’s Department of Water Resources. “There’s more and more of an understanding that as a society and even politically, we’re not going to get…
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Local group files papers in fight over Kern River

• by Lois Henry
A new player has entered the legal fray over the Kern River — the public. Actually, it’s a consortium of Bakersfield and other nonprofit, public interest groups that hope to sway the state Water Resources Control Board to, ultimately, re-water the mostly dry Kern River through town. The Flowing Kern Coalition made its debut Tuesday…
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Tulare County officials say state red tape made water crisis, suffering worse for Teviston

• by Jesse Vad and Lois Henry
This story was reported and written by Jesse Vad, SJV Water intern and Lois Henry, SJV Water CEO. It was produced with funding and support from Fresnoland, for the Fresno Bee. Republishing is allowed 48 hours after initial posting.  The state’s response to the water crisis that gripped tiny Teviston, California earlier this summer should…
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Thousands of water rights holders could be cut off from rivers

• by Lois Henry
California water regulators are preparing to do what they’ve been warning about for months – cut the spigot to thousands of water rights holders. The state Water Resources Control Board will consider an emergency order at its August 3 meeting that would bar farmers, cities and others from continuing to tap into rivers that feed…
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Another valley town on the brink of going dry

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
The small, rural community of Tooleville is on the brink of going dry after one of its two wells went down Friday morning. It’s the second community in Tulare County to suffer water problems in the last two months as California struggles through the grip of a devastating drought. The only well in the town…
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