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NEWS

State money for canal fixes set to start flowing

• by Lois Henry
The state Department of Water Resources opened the spigot Tuesday on the first $100 million, of $200 million, budgeted over the next two fiscal years to fix several key canals that have sunk because of groundwater pumping. Subsidence has reduced carrying capacity in the canals from 15% up to 60% in the Friant-Kern Canal, which…
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New Kern River coalition; Grassroots or astroturf?

• by Lois Henry
The main water district involved in several legal battles for Kern River water has launched a new coalition/messaging campaign it is calling Sustainable Kern River. Its website says the organization is a coalition and lists several members, but its creation and funding comes from North Kern Water Storage District, according to North Kern’s General Manager…
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March for the Kern River

• by Lois Henry
About 30 hardy souls marched the length of the dry Kern River bed — nine miles — from near Manor Street in east Bakersfield all the way to Stockdale Highway Saturday morning to protest the lack of water in the river. At the start of the hike, the group filled bottles and jugs with water…
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New Kern River Watermaster in the wings

• by Lois Henry
It appears a new Kern River Watermaster will be chosen to replace Dana Munn, whose contract winds up at the end of this year. If he’s officially approved by all the voting members of the “river interests,” Mark Mulkay will likely become the fourth ever Kern River Watermaster. He said he’s discussed it with all…
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River march

• by Lois Henry
A march to bring awareness to the Kern River will take place November 13 in the dry river bed through Bakersfield. Local nonprofit Bring Back the Kern is organizing the protest march ahead of a hearing on the Kern River by the state Water Resources Control Board. That hearing will be held online Dec. 9….
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Sierra Nevada snow flights are booking fast

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
Demand for snow runoff forecasting is surging in the San Joaquin Valley, particularly after the past bone-dry year. Snow monitoring flights are already being tentatively scheduled by valley water districts ahead of winter. “Everybody’s anxious for the water year,” said Michael Anderson, state climatologist for California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR). “What is it going…
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San Joaquin salmon coaxed through the long, hot summer

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting trainee
Spring-run Chinook Salmon are starting to spawn in the San Joaquin River after a brutally dry, hot summer. But the success of the juvenile fish is uncertain as the drought and high temperatures continue. Spring-run salmon, which return to the river from the ocean as adults in spring months, have been absent from the San…
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Water in the Kern River an inspiration for local artists

• by Lois Henry
Painters, poets and musicians converged on the state Water Resources Control Board Tuesday as part of an unrelenting campaign to get water in the Kern River through Bakersfield. Bring Back the Kern, a local grassroots group, has facilitated public comments from a wide variety of individuals and groups, including brewers and, now, artists, at the…
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Salmon program takes giant leap thanks to land donation

• by Jesse Vad, SJV Water reporting intern
One farmer has single handedly ramped up the pace of a program trying to save native salmon in the San Joaquin River by donating a key sliver of land to the federal government. Connley Clayton donated about eight acres of his Madera County riverfront land to the government’s San Joaquin River Restoration Program. The land…
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