Residents intent on getting at least some water flowing in the Kern River through Bakersfield brought their concerns – and some pointed questions – to board members of the Kern County Water Agency on Thursday.
“I don’t mean to be combative, but why is this board funding attorneys to keep water from going back into the river using public taxpayer dollars?” asked Chris Molina, with Bring Back the Kern, which is suing the City of Bakersfield over how it operates the Kern River.
Molina also submitted a Public Records Act request to the agency seeking invoices paid to Attorney Nick Jacobs with the Sacramento law firm Somach Simmons & Dunn. Jacobs represents the agency on the Kern River case.
“The river is dry and the community is questioning why that is more and more. We’re not in a drought,” Molina said. “My question to this board is, what are you doing to represent the people of your districts?”
Unlike agricultural water districts, which are funded and run by landowners within those districts, the Kern County Water Agency derives a large chunk of its funding through property taxes assessed to most of Kern County. Members of its board are elected by all voters within its five divisions, not just land holders.
About six other speakers also addressed the agency board about the river during the public comment portion of the its regular monthly meeting.
“The law is clear that the public interest comes before water rights, including those dating back to the 19th century,” said Stephen Montgomery, with the Sierra Club. “This agency is supposed to work in the public interest.”
The public, he said, has been very clear that it wants the river through town.
Montgomery also noted that the agency’s Kern River right only occurs when the river is running about 150% of normal – or very high flow. At that level, there’s typically enough water to fill all river rights and then some, as happened in 2023.
“There’s no reason why this agency, financed by public tax dollars, should not be working in the public interest to let the river flow through town,” Montgomery said. “Let’s remember who we’re working for and let the water flow.”
SJV Water asked the agency why it was involved in the Bring Back the Kern lawsuit but the agency, through a spokesperson, declined to answer saying it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Bring Back the Kern along with the Kern River Parkway foundation and several other groups sued the City of Bakersfield in November 2022 over how it operates the river.
The lawsuit seeks to have the city study its river operations under the Public Trust doctrine, which holds that all the state’s resources must be put to the highest beneficial use. That includes public access and sustaining a healthy environment.
That case is ongoing in Kern Court with the next hearing scheduled for November 14.
As that lawsuit was proceeding, 2023’s huge flows brought fish back to the Kern River through town. Bring Back the Kern then won an injunction mandating that the city keep enough water in the river to sustain those fish.
Though Bakersfield is the only defendant, the other river rights owners, including the Kern County Water Agency, Kern Delta Water District and the Buena Vista and Rosedale-Rio Bravo water storage districts, are all “real parties in interest” to the case. That means they aren’t subject to court rulings, but can weigh in on the case.
That group, including the Kern County Water Agency, appealed the injunction to the 5th District Court of Appeal, which put it on hold in May. A hearing has not been scheduled for that appeal.
Meanwhile, the city voluntarily ran its own water down the river through summer until its right petered out at the end of August and the river suddenly went dry leaving tens of thousands of rotting fish carcasses and shocking residents who’d grown used to a flowing river.
When residents asked Bakersfield City Council members about the dry river in early September, City Attorney Ginny Gennaro said to take their concerns to the ag water districts, which brought them to the Kern County Water Agency on Thursday.
“The people want a river,” Molina told agency board members. “We’re asking you to look into this further and maybe stop funding an attorney to fight a fight that doesn’t need to be fought. Our tax dollars could be used for better purposes.”
