VIDEO: Where does the water go? How the Kern River is divvied up

By Lois Henry

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The Law of the River

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August 11, 2022

This is the first in a series of videos looking how the Kern River is divvied up. SCREEN GRAB

Where does the water go?

The Kern River’s abrupt stop, practically mid-channel, can be jarring.

The full river suddenly goes dry just outside Bakersfield leaving a dusty channel snaking through the heart of town.

Why? Where does all that water go? Who owns it? How does it all work?

Our video project, “Law of the River,” answers those questions and more as we look at the river’s history, how it operates, who owns the water and what the future may hold.

This is the first in a series of videos that will look at each stop along the way for Kern River flows.

Author

Lois Henry

CEO and editor Lois Henry has spent 30 years covering the San Joaquin Valley.

She was raised on a ranch east of Fresno and attended Fresno State where she majored in Journalism.

In Bakersfield she covered a variety of beats including the military, social services, the oil industry, city and county government and did a stint in Sacramento at The Californian’s capitol bureau.

Henry spent 10 years as a manager and was the lead editor for the paper’s many award-winning projects.

In 2007, she began a twice weekly, investigative column and was able to focus on one of her passions – water.

Valley residents innately understand the importance of water. Henry has helped develop that understanding by untangling the complicated knots of rights, lawsuits, contracts and deals by which water is moved and consumed.

She plans to continue that mission through SJV Water.

Henry lives with her husband, one dog and two very spoiled cats in Bakersfield.

VIDEO: Where does the water go? How the Kern River is divvied up

Author

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