Kern River Archives - Page 4 of 15

Kern County agencies seek nearly $50 million to repair damage and dig out from last winter’s storms

November 6, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Kern County agencies are still digging out, literally in some cases, from last winter’s storms as they seek federal funding and hope for enough time to fix damage before another wet winter. County agencies submitted requests for reimbursements totalling nearly $50 million for costs to repair damage from the 2023 storms and floods, according to…

Rivers • Uncategorized

Judge orders Bakersfield to keep water in the Kern River

October 30, 2023

• by Lois Henry

In what one attorney called a “moment of truth” for the City of Bakersfield, a judge ordered the city to keep enough water in the normally dry Kern River to protect fish populations. The 21-page preliminary injunction was issued by Kern County Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp Monday afternoon. Colin Pearce, who represents the city…

Uncategorized

Kern River interests allowed to squeeze a little extra water into Lake Isabella this winter

October 18, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Kern River irrigators will be able to store more water than usual in Lake Isabella this winter, but not as much as they’d like. Typically, the “carry over” amount is 170,000 acre feet to allow enough room in the lake to handle a heavy winter. Isabella can hold 568,000 acre feet at full capacity. Agricultural…

Rivers • Uncategorized

Kern River legal wrangling raises questions about how – or whether – the river can serve the needs of people, fish and ag

October 13, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Kern County Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp came back several times during an Oct. 13 hearing to what he saw as a “major issue” in the dispute over keeping water in the Kern River – its plumbing. The plaintiffs, a group of entities headed by Bring Back the Kern, have argued that water could flow…

Rivers • Uncategorized

Court to consider cutting water diversions out of Kern River

October 3, 2023

• by Lois Henry

A preliminary injunction that could cut water being taken out of the Kern River if those diversions are harmful to fish will be taken up Friday, October 13 in a Kern County courtroom. The request for the injunction was filed in August by a group of entities suing the City of Bakersfield for what it…

Personalities • Uncategorized

Bakersfield hires former assistant director of Water Resources Department to lead the department

September 28, 2023

• by SJV Water

BAKERSFIELD CITY PRESS RELEASE Following a nationwide recruitment effort, the City of Bakersfield is pleased to announce that Kristina Budak has been hired to lead the City’s Water Resources Department, effective Oct. 2, 2023. Budak’s hiring marks a return to the City of Bakersfield after spending nearly two years serving as the Engineering and Groundwater Services…

Rivers • Uncategorized

Kern River: “Best kept secret” demystified through technology

September 22, 2023

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water

There’s a new way to explore the Kern River and it can all be done from the comfort of your own home. The nonprofit Kern River Parkway Foundation has sponsored a visual mapping of the Kern River. Volunteers set out along the river on the parkway’s bike path and down some of the river in…

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Army Corps was unprepared for amount of seepage from Isabella Dam that is now swamping residents

September 18, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Landowners and residents who live in front of the Auxiliary Dam at Lake Isabella are being swamped by “seepage” coming through the earthen dam that is ruining septic systems, causing sinkholes, clogging the area with weeds and breeding swarms of mosquitoes. They’ve tried working with the Army Corps of Engineers, which recently rebuilt the Auxiliary…

Rivers • Uncategorized

Ancestral lands back in the hands of Kern River Valley tribe that had lived there for thousands of years

September 7, 2023

• by Lois Henry

A Kern River Valley Native American tribe that has lived along the branches of the north and south forks of the Kern River for millennia, has ownership of a piece of its ancient homeland for the first time since it was grabbed up by settlers back in the 1800s. The Tübatulabal Tribe got the deed…

Floods

Poso: Kern County’s recurring problem creek in search of a solution

August 24, 2023

• by Lois Henry

It’s no mystery why the tiny community of Pond was flooded out this last spring. All you had to do was drive four miles south to see the massive pile of debris at the Highway 43 bridge to know all that water churning through the normally dry Poso Creek was going to bust out and…

NEWS

Kern County agencies seek nearly $50 million to repair damage and dig out from last winter’s storms

Judge orders Bakersfield to keep water in the Kern River

Kern River interests allowed to squeeze a little extra water into Lake Isabella this winter

Kern River legal wrangling raises questions about how – or whether – the river can serve the needs of people, fish and ag

Court to consider cutting water diversions out of Kern River

Bakersfield hires former assistant director of Water Resources Department to lead the department

Kern River: “Best kept secret” demystified through technology

Army Corps was unprepared for amount of seepage from Isabella Dam that is now swamping residents

Ancestral lands back in the hands of Kern River Valley tribe that had lived there for thousands of years

Poso: Kern County’s recurring problem creek in search of a solution

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