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NEWS

Residents in small Tulare County towns take brunt of historic flooding

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water
Tulare County’s two main reservoirs both “filled and spilled” after the latest series of atmospheric rivers slammed into California starting March 10. The storms dumped rain on the San Joaquin Valley floor and melted at least some of the historic snowpack in upper elevations, swelling rivers and streams that flooded out residents of numerous communities. …
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Water lingo 101

• by Lois Henry
There’s a lot cfs talk being thrown around as rivers and creeks swell with recent storms. It occurred to me that maybe not everyone knows that CFS means. I didn’t when I first started covering water. Even if you know it means “cubic feet per second,” how does that help you understand what’s happening in…
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Kern River outflow from Lake Isabella is ramping up but, no, it is not a “flood release”

• by Lois Henry
Outflow from Lake Isabella into the Kern River increased on Tuesday but only because downriver users requested the water, according to Kern River Watermaster Mark Mulkay. Outflow went from about 500 cubic feet per second (cfs) Monday to 1,013 cfs by 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hourly reservoir reports…
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Regs relaxed for storing flood water

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water
Governor Gavin Newsom is hoping to see the deluge from the ongoing storms socked away for dry times by making it easier to recharge underground aquifers.  The governor issued an executive order Friday suspending some regulatory requirements to divert flood water for groundwater recharge. The hope is to recharge as much water as possible since…
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Kern River watershed “Lookin’ good!”

• by SJV Water
Water watcher Scott Williams, who issues a Kern River Snow and Water Report every month, was practically giddy in his March 1 email stating: “Lookin’ good!” for this month’s report. The report compiles water and snow statistics from a variety of public sources. The upshot is the Kern River is forecast at 190% of average….
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State laws hamper flood flow storage but one San Joaquin Valley water district cut through the red tape. Can others follow?

• by Lois Henry
It seems like such a no brainer: Grab the floodwater inundating California right now and shove it into our dried up aquifers for later use. But water plus California never equals simple. Yes, farmers and water districts can, legally, grab water from the state’s overflowing rivers, park it on their land and it will recharge…
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VIDEO: The “intertie” marks the end of the line for the Kern River but it still has an important role in the law of the river

• by Lois Henry
This is the fourth video in our series explaining how the Kern River operates, who owns it and where its waters go. In this video, we look at the “intertie,” which marks the end of the river as it meets the California Aqueduct west of Bakersfield. This highly unassuming looking piece of infrastructure was built…
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Lawsuit claims Kern County Water Agency shorted a key local canal’s volume

• by Lois Henry
The Cross Valley Canal is a key cog in the southern San Joaquin Valley’s water machinery. It moves water east and west between the California Aqueduct along Kern County’s western edge to the Kern County Water Agency’s facilities near Manor Street in Bakersfield. Along the way, it also connects with the federally owned Friant-Kern Canal,…
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