california Archives - Page 5 of 31

Kings County growers nix local groundwater fees as they face state actions aimed at curbing excessive pumping

April 25, 2024

• by Lisa McEwen, SJV Water

Hundreds of landowners in the Tulare Lake groundwater subbasin overwhelmingly rejected proposed pumping fees this week that would have added thousands of dollars on top of fees they’re expected to start paying the state in coming months. The fee showdown at the Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency meeting April 23 came just a week after…

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A Tulare County groundwater agency on the hot seat for helping sink the Friant-Kern Canal holds private tours for state regulators

April 8, 2024

• by Lisa McEwen, SJV Water

As the date of reckoning for excessive groundwater pumping in Tulare County grows closer, lobbying by water managers and growers has ramped up. The Friant Water Authority, desperate to protect its newly rebuilt – yet still sinking – Friant-Kern Canal, has beseeched the Water Resources Control Board to get involved. Specifically, it has asked board…

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Kern River bike path northern extension – 12 years in the making – finally gets under way

April 5, 2024

• by Lois Henry

After 12 years of planning, gathering funding then completing and re-doing – and re-doing again – environmental studies, the City of Bakersfield has finally gone out to bid for the northern extension of the Kern River Parkway Trail. “I’m very excited, it’s been a long time coming,” Councilman Bob Smith said of the 6-mile long…

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New Kern County groundwater bank gets underway with another shot of public funding

April 3, 2024

• by Lois Henry

The $171 million Kern Fan Groundwater Storage project – with a unique “eco-twist” – received another chunk of public funding just as the first section of the 1,300-acre project had a formal christening on Wednesday. Officials with Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District, Irvine Ranch Water District and the Bureau of Reclamation gathered at the project…

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Farmers in Tulare County to test groundwater market they hope could help keep them in business and replenish the aquifer

February 2, 2024

• by Lisa McEwen, SJV Water

How will selling groundwater help keep more groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley’s already critically overtapped aquifers? Water managers in the Kaweah subbasin in northwestern Tulare County hope to find out by having farmers tinker with a pilot groundwater market program. Kaweah farmers will be joining growers from subbasins up and down the San Joaquin…

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After 50 years in Kings County water, Don Mills retires – mostly

December 22, 2023

• by Lisa McEwen, SJV Water

When Don Mills graduated from Cal Poly in 1973, he moved back to the family farm in Kings County, intent on helping his father and uncle run the operation. But fate stepped in and Mills, a crop science major, was swept into the water business. Unbeknownst to him, the property he had purchased near Hanford…

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Army Corps approves cuts to Isabella Dam releases as groups look for ways to protect Kern River fish flows and legal maneuvers expand

December 19, 2023

• by Lois Henry

The Army Corps of Engineers approved a request by operators of the power plant at the base of the dam to drastically cut water releases between Dec. 18 and Jan. 7 for a planned repair project to the plant. Under the approval, releases would drop from between 500 and 700 cubic feet per second down…

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Fluctuating Kaweah River flows yield giant catches over Thanksgiving weekend

December 4, 2023

• by Lisa McEwen, SJV Water

The Kaweah River was reduced to a trickle out of Terminus Dam in late November, stranding catfish, carp and crawdads in shallow pools and giving young anglers a rare look at the critters that travel through the channel. Residents who live along the riverbank in eastern Tulare County could see — and smell — the…

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Republican lawmaker seeks to undo Central Valley Project environmental protections

November 17, 2023

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

More than 30 years ago, a piece of federal legislation dropped like a bomb on California’s Central Valley farmers. Reverberations from that legislation continue through today. Just last month, a San Joaquin Valley congressman added language to an appropriations bill that would unwind a key portion of the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA)….

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Paperwork delays blamed for flooding from overgrown rivers. Will the process work better this winter?

November 6, 2023

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

Entire towns flooded last winter because of permit delays, according to lawmakers and others. Debris from overgrown creeks and waterways up and down the state hadn’t been cleaned out in years for lack of proper permits. When water barreled down those channels, debris piled up, pushing water over levees and into hundreds of homes and…

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Kings County growers nix local groundwater fees as they face state actions aimed at curbing excessive pumping

A Tulare County groundwater agency on the hot seat for helping sink the Friant-Kern Canal holds private tours for state regulators

Kern River bike path northern extension – 12 years in the making – finally gets under way

New Kern County groundwater bank gets underway with another shot of public funding

Farmers in Tulare County to test groundwater market they hope could help keep them in business and replenish the aquifer

After 50 years in Kings County water, Don Mills retires – mostly

Army Corps approves cuts to Isabella Dam releases as groups look for ways to protect Kern River fish flows and legal maneuvers expand

Fluctuating Kaweah River flows yield giant catches over Thanksgiving weekend

Republican lawmaker seeks to undo Central Valley Project environmental protections

Paperwork delays blamed for flooding from overgrown rivers. Will the process work better this winter?

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