Virtual Water Summit – May 25

The Water Association of Kern County’s annual Water Summit is virtual this year but will still pack a punch of who’s who in the water world.

The day kicks off with an update on water brought to the San Joaquin Valley via the federal Central Valley Project. The speaker will be Deputy Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton.

Next will be an update on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and where the process is at this point. The speaker will be Steven Springhorn, Acting Deputy Director Groundwater Management Department of Water Resources.

That will be followed by discussion of a very hot current issue, how the State Water Resources Control Board may be changing its view of water rights in light of climate change. The speakers will be Joaquin Esquivel, Chair of the state Water Board, and water law Attorney Valerie Kincaid.

The keynote speaker will be Mark Arax, award-winning journalist and author whose most recent book “The Dreamt Land” came out last year. He will talk about the history of water and water rights, and their roles in the Central Valley.

The event will be held May 25 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Tickets are $75 for WAKC members, $100 for non-members and may be purchased by CLICKING HERE.

 

Author

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.