kern county Archives

Final state grants announced for groundwater agencies; four in the San Joaquin Valley

September 13, 2023

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

On Tuesday, the state announced $187 million in funding for its final round of groundwater agency funding for the time being. The money will fund 103 groundwater projects throughout the state including four in the San Joaquin Valley. The Oakdale Irrigation District in Stanislaus County will receive $14.3 million to expand a groundwater recharge facility…

Floods

Planning and luck kept Kern County’s flood-prone Lamont mostly dry this year

August 28, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Of all the places that unexpectedly flooded this past year, there was one that unexpectedly did not – Lamont. Typically, heavy rain years kick up water in the Caliente Creek and it comes rushing east out of the Tehachapi Mountains, turns south under Highway 58 into a wide wash and floods out Lamont. Years ago,…

Groundwater

San Joaquin Valley groundwater will need more than one epic water year to rebound in the long term

June 7, 2023

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

With all the flooding, runoff and more snowmelt still to come, everyone’s wondering: How’s the groundwater? Short answer: Better. Long answer: It’s going to take more than one good water year to reach sustainability. After decades of over pumping and two severe, multi-year droughts within five years of each other, San Joaquin Valley aquifers had…

Floods • Uncategorized

Kern County makes river flood maps available to the public

May 17, 2023

• by Lois Henry

The Kern River is rising fast and, so far, the public hasn’t been given very good information on the one question on everyone’s mind: Where’s it going to flood? Wednesday, the Kern County Office of Emergency Services put out detailed, locally built maps that attempt to answer that question under various flow scenarios. The upshot…

Floods

Officials identify local infrastructure at risk of flooding in Bakersfield

May 9, 2023

• by Lois Henry, SJV Water and John Cox, The Bakersfield Californian

Senior Kern County officials assessing flood risks to critical local infrastructure have identified Bakersfield Heart Hospital as potentially vulnerable to inundation in the weeks ahead, followed to a lesser degree by Mercy Southwest and the former Big West refinery on Rosedale Highway. In case either medical center does flood, a plan has been put in place…

Floods

Kern River water heads north through flood channel but won’t hit Tulare Lake – yet

April 27, 2023

• by Lois Henry

The heavily overgrown Kern River flood channel that heads north past Highway 46 and eventually meanders into the southern end of the Tulare Lake bed is filling with water. But it’s not “flood water” and it won’t make it into Tulare Lake, said Tim Ashlock, General Manager of Buena Vista Water Storage District. The district…

dams • Uncategorized

Isabella Dam safety project done just in time for record snowpack

April 4, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Speaker after speaker on Tuesday noted the years long construction project to increase safety on Isabella Dam was completed this past October – just in time. With a snowpack at 422% of normal, the reservoir is expected to hit its full capacity of 568,000 acre feet, and then some. Water content in Kern River watershed…

dams • Floods • Uncategorized

Lake Isabella may be the next to “fill and spill” as it is continues filling rapidly

March 16, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Lake Isabella could be the next Central Valley reservoir to “fill and spill” as it is rising rapidly, with an estimated two million acre feet of water hunkered down in a record high snowpack and more storms coming. The Kaweah and Success reservoirs in Tulare County have already reached that point, Success releasing water from…

Drinking Water

Lamont’s water future secured with $25.4 million grant from state drinking water fund

February 13, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Most Lamont residents likely had no idea that a mini hoopla held in the middle of town Monday morning next to a newly constructed well was actually a celebration of their children’s and their grandchildren’s futures. “This is generational,” said Lamont Public Utilities District General Manager Scott Taylor. “It allows us to provide clean and…

Rivers

VIDEO: Kern River Parkway wells

January 4, 2023

• by Lois Henry

In 2000, the Kern County Water Agency got $23 million in funding from Proposition 13 for a number of water projects, including to restore a minimum flow in the Kern River through Bakersfield using six wells. The agency built the wells. But has never used them to restore the river….

NEWS

Final state grants announced for groundwater agencies; four in the San Joaquin Valley

Planning and luck kept Kern County’s flood-prone Lamont mostly dry this year

San Joaquin Valley groundwater will need more than one epic water year to rebound in the long term

Kern County makes river flood maps available to the public

Officials identify local infrastructure at risk of flooding in Bakersfield

Kern River water heads north through flood channel but won’t hit Tulare Lake – yet

Isabella Dam safety project done just in time for record snowpack

Lake Isabella may be the next to “fill and spill” as it is continues filling rapidly

Lamont’s water future secured with $25.4 million grant from state drinking water fund

VIDEO: Kern River Parkway wells

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