http://www.bakersfield.com/special-sections/take-our-river-back/2008/02/17/lois-henry-16-year-old-takes-up-fight-for-kern-river.html
Remember this name: Conor O’Sullivan.
He’s a 16-year-old Stockdale High junior right now, but I have no doubt we’ll be hearing from him in the future.
I recently met him after he told me he’s taken on the Kern River as a pet cause, and he’s determined to have an effect.
After reading my column outlining how there may be a chance to get water in the river, Conor did more than just send his comments to the State Water Resources Control Board (which you, also, can do — more on that later).
He printed 180 postcards with a picture of a beautiful, full Kern River on the front, addressed them to the state board and added a list of reasons why the board should allow water back in the now dry riverbed.
He’s been taking the stamped postcards to the Park at River Walk on Stockdale Highway after school and on weekends asking people to sign.
So far, he’s gathered 50 signatures and already sent that batch of cards up to Sacramento.
His goal is to get the rest of the cards signed and, if he can get some donations, print up even more.
The cards cost about 50 cents each including postage, so he’s already made a substantial investment.
“I just thought it might finally be possible, ” he said of the prospect of an actual river.
I wrote last month about how a lawsuit between two local water districts resulted in one of the districts forfeiting some of its rights to Kern River water. The city of Bakersfield petitioned the state to decide there is water available and then give it to the city, which it promised to run down the riverbed.
Imagine! A river in our riverbed!
Several powerful, local water districts, however, have also asked for the water. They want it for irrigation, to bank or possibly for municipal use.
My take is that ag has enough Kern River water.
It’s time for the public to reclaim at least some of the river and bring life back to the brown beach cutting through the center of town.
A number of people agreed with me.
Actually, 185 people, who sent comments to the board pleading to have our river back. (Really, there were 187 comments, but two were against.)
Conor wants to keep up that momentum and multiply it.
I was told the public comment period ended Jan. 31. But when I contacted the state about Conor’s mission, they told me Jan. 31 wasn’t a “hard” deadline and that public comments are still being accepted.
Great! Because Conor is one determined kid.
Not only that, the water districts are not giving up.
They got together and sent the state a 16-page letter using just about every case except Brown v. Board of Education to bolster their side, which is to keep an iron grip on the status quo. They argue:
A) The board shouldn’t hold a hearing on the river and should ignore all applications for the water, including theirs.
B) If the board does hold a hearing, it can’t find there is any available water because the river is already oversubscribed.
C) If they do find there’s water available, they can’t consider environmental benefits as a factor in deciding who should get it because the environment wasn’t considered back in 1964 when the board decided the river was fully divvied up.
D) If they do decide there’s water available and do award it to one of the applicants, those rights would be junior to all other rights on the river, meaning the new entity would only get water after everyone ahead of it got their full allotment.
The letter is signed by some of the most powerful water agencies in Kern County (and the state) — the Kern County Water Agency, Kern Water Bank Authority, North Kern Water Storage District, Buena Vista Water Storage District and the city of Shafter.
I wonder if David felt this puny in front of his Goliath?
The water districts, though, never mention something called the public trust doctrine, which holds that rivers belong to all the people. I think it is worth mentioning, as well as the fact that the state board has a duty to protect that right.
It’s up to us, the public, to assert that right.
Conor is doing his part. And despite the obstacles, he remains undaunted.
He’ll be at the Park at River Walk again today from 2 to 4 p.m. gathering signatures.
“I taught my dog how to swim in the river, ” he said. Besides, his dad recently won an inflatable boat in a raffle.
Here’s hoping Conor and his dog will someday spend their lazy summer afternoons floating down the lower Kern, watching the banks slide silently by.
Lois Henry’s column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com /home/Blog/noholdsbarred, e-mail her at lhenry@bakersfield.com or call her at 395-7373.