Expiration dates looming for TCP lawsuits
The clock is ticking for some water systems and well owners to file a claim if they’re considering suing Dow Chemical and Shell Oil companies for possibly tainting groundwater with a chemical known as 1,2,3-TCP. You need to login to view the rest of the content. Please Login. Not a Member? Join Us
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Historic move: Fresno River rights to be decided
If all you’ve ever seen of the Fresno River is through Madera as you drive over it on Highway 99, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s just a weed-infested, shopping cart collector rather than a real river. But there’s a lot to this unobtrusive waterway, which just made history as the first river in 40…
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Friant-Kern Canal fix approved over concerns the plan isn’t fully baked
The Friant Water Authority on Thursday approved the final environmental review for a massive project to fix a 33-mile segment of the Friant-Kern Canal despite continued questions about funding and other concerns expressed by some Friant contractors. One water manager compared the plan to several bungled construction projects, including California’s High Speed Rail and a…
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Locals speak up for the Kern River at the State Water Board
Love was overflowing for the Kern River Tuesday at the State Water Resources Control Board’s monthly meeting. A slew of Bakersfield locals told board members how much an actual, wet river means for residents. Speakers asked board members to make the Kern a priority and finally allocate unappropriated water on the river that has been…
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Unpaid water bills a “pending disaster” the state is trying to head off
If the state has any hope of heading off a looming “tidal wave” of residential water shut offs and bankrupt water systems it has to get a picture of current impacts, advocates urged. Right now, the state doesn’t even have a blurry sketch. Which is why the State Water Resources Control Board directed staff on…
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Crews to get water flowing from area ravaged by Creek Fire
Southern California Edison crews will be able to restart some releases from lakes in the San Joaquin River watershed after the Creek Fire overran much of the area through September. Edison spokesman Reggie Kumar said portions of the Big Creek facility went back online Sept. 29 but restoration has been hampered partly because of extremely…
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“Madness and arrogance” blamed for one lawsuit against desert groundwater agency
Two lawsuits accusing the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority of ramming through a plan that ignores water rights and, according to one plaintiff, is intended to “destroy agriculture” were filed this week. At issue is a controversial $2,000-per-acre-foot fee approved by the authority last month that would be charged to certain groundwater users over a…
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Happy 50th “Kern Riversary!” 1970 vote brought river into public hands
Fifty years ago this week, the Bakersfield City Council committed an audaciously historic act. On Monday evening Sept. 28, 1970, council members decided to sue Tenneco West for a slice of the Kern River. “The shock was great to many, but from that day forward we had their attention and cooperation,” states the “Kern River…
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Dominoes from the massive Creek Fire teetering over San Joaquin Valley farmers
When the Creek Fire erupted on Sept. 4 and chewed through the forest toward Southern California Edison’s Big Creek power system, little did anyone know how that might affect grape growers in Delano nearly a month later. But the historic fire has put water managers along the eastern flank of the San Joaquin Valley, who…
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