http://www.bakersfield.com/News-sections/take-our-river-back/2008/09/10/lois-henry-river-in-the-city-there-s-still-hope.html
Don’t give up on the Kern River!
We still have a shot at getting real river water back in that dry, brown gulch running through town.
But you — yes, you — have to pay attention and stay involved.
The State Water Resources Control Board is still deciding if it will hold a hearing on whether river water forfeited by a local irrigation district last year may be claimed by the city of Bakersfield, which has vowed to run it down the natural channel.
I know, I know — glaciers have formed and melted while this board ponders a hearing. Makes you wonder if we get a hearing, how long it will take to get an actual ruling. Don’t ask.
I’m being told there may be a decision soon, so this is where you come in. Notes, e-mails, postcards, smoke signals — send them.
Even if you’ve written before — if you really want that river — write again, call, stand on the Padre and holler until Sacramento hears you. Our voices count, but we have to amp up the volume.
Because despite what local ag water districts have said — that the Kern is all tied up and there’s not a drop to spare — there is something known as the public trust doctrine that figures heavily into the mix. That doctrine holds that rivers belong to all the people and, coincidentally, the board has a duty to protect that right.
But the public has to demand its share.
Meanwhile, the city is still hammering away. Last month, it filed a 35-page brief with the board explaining its view of Kern River water rights, who owns ’em, who doesn’t and why Bakersfield should get any “loose” river water.
Basically, the city’s argument is that a court found that the Kern Delta Water District forfeited a portion of its river water for lack of use. Even if someone else was using that water, the city argued, that doesn’t mean they have a “right” to it.
Bakersfield is asking the board to A) determine if surplus water is available, and B) protect the public interest in that water by allocating the rights to Bakersfield, which will run it down the river channel. It would restore and enhance the natural environment, provide recreation and increase our groundwater supply.
Some have questioned whether Bakersfield would use the water for development.
Bakersfield’s Water Resources Manager Florn Core told me the city will run that water down the river. Period. It will increase our groundwater and that water could later be used for development.
“The primary focus for that water is the environment, ” Core said.
I’ve also been told the forfeited water is only available in the winter months so it wouldn’t provide for recreation. As with all things water, that’s true and not so true.
The city can, Core told me, pull that water out of Isabella Lake during spring and summer as long as it works out agreements with the power plants up river.
I am in absolute, total support of the city.
It’s important to recognize, though, that it has heavy opposition — four local ag water districts and the city of Shafter — which are arguing against the board holding a hearing at all, saying there’s no water to be had. Move along, nothing to see here!
That’s pretty interesting, considering each one of those entities initially filed petitions asking that the board give the unappropriated water to them.
Then the city and the public got involved and suddenly, whoops! No water here! Never!
If there isn’t any water because the river is oversubscribed, why not have the board make that ruling?
Makes me wonder if some district(s) have been using that forfeited Kern Delta water all along without rights or even paying for it, and now that the door has cracked open on that cozy little deal, they’re rushing to push it shut again.
As for needing Kern River water to grow crops and maintain our ag industry, well, again, yes and no.
Some Kern water goes to ag, some to drinking water and some is being used like a cash machine by the very ag districts that would have us believe we’ll never grow another carrot if Bakersfield succeeds in running water down the river channel.
Buena Vista Water Storage District, one of the entities that applied for the water and is now fighting to keep the state from hearing this issue, has rights to Kern River water in “high flow” years. It also gets water from the State Water Project.
Two years ago, the district began selling 11,000 acre-feet of water a year to Castaic Lake Water Agency for $500 an acre-foot.
Dan Bartel, general manager of Buena Vista, told me the district typically moves its state water to Castaic so the higher quality Kern River water isn’t leaving our water basin.
He acknowledged that with the unreliability of the State Water Project and continuing drought, there could come a time when he would have to pump stored Kern River water to meet his obligation to Castaic. But he wasn’t too worried about that possibility.
I am.
I don’t like the idea of any Kern River water leaving our county. That’s our main native source of water, and we should fight to keep it here.
The city’s policy is that none of its river water will ever leave the county.
Hey! One more reason the state board should grant Bakersfield rights to that forfeited water.
Be sure and remind them when you write.
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com /home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry @bakersfield.com.