LOIS HENRY: Speak up for your river
| Saturday, Mar 05 2011 10:00 PM
Two pots of water
As if understanding water isn't complicated enough, here's another wrinkle that will come up Thursday.
Yes, it's all Kern River water. But it's different water, sort of.
Here's the background.
The first pot of water is known as "forfeited" water.
It was forfeited by Kern Delta Water District after a protracted legal battle with North Kern Water Storage District. The State Water Resources Board is still deciding who should get that water.
The City of Bakersfield applied for it as have the Kern Water Bank, Kern County Water Agency, Buena Vista Water Storage District and North Kern along with the City of Shafter. (These are those powerful forces mentioned in my column.)
Only Bakersfield has promised to run it down the river.
The second source is known as "basic contract" water.
When Bakersfield bought its rights to the Kern River back in the '70s, it entered into long term contracts to sell some of that water to local ag districts, including North Kern, in order to pay off the bonds.
Those "basic" contracts are up at the end of 2011 and the city has proposed running that water in the river, except in very dry years if it is needed to serve City residents.
So, forfeited water and basic contract water.
Simple, yes?
-- Lois Henry
As if understanding water isn't complicated enough, here's another wrinkle that will come up Thursday.
Yes, it's all Kern River water. But it's different water, sort of.
Here's the background.
The first pot of water is known as "forfeited" water.
It was forfeited by Kern Delta Water District after a protracted legal battle with North Kern Water Storage District. The State Water Resources Board is still deciding who should get that water.
The City of Bakersfield applied for it, as have the Kern Water Bank, Kern County Water Agency, Buena Vista Water Storage District and North Kern along with the City of Shafter. (These are those powerful forces mentioned in my column.) Only Bakersfield has promised to run it down the river.
The second source is known as "basic contract" water.
When Bakersfield bought its rights to the Kern River back in the '70s, it entered into long-term contracts to sell some of that water to local ag districts, including North Kern, in order to pay off the bonds.
Those "basic" contracts are up at the end of 2011 and the city has proposed running that water in the river, except in very dry years if it is needed to serve City residents.
So, forfeited water and basic contract water.
Simple, yes?
-- Lois Henry
Tell them you want a river!
If you can't make the scoping meeting March 10 at 5:30 p.m. (in Council Chambers, 1501 Truxtun Ave.), you have until the end of business March 21 to send in your comments to:
Jennie Eng, Principal Planner
City of Bakersfield
Planning Department
1715 Chester Ave
Bakersfield CA 93301
661-326-3043
TWO POTS OF WATER
Images
A bike ride along the Kern River is much more inviting when water is flowing.
People fish the small ponds on the Kern River below the Bellevue Weir in Bakersfield as the water begins to recede.
The Bellevue Weir holds the water back and slows the current of the Kern River as it flows through Bakersfield and Bike Path Bridge allows people to cross the river near the Park At River walk.
Cyclists on the bike path near Truxtun Lake have a view of the water flowing on the Kern River.
A duck trolls the gentle current of the Kern River below the Bellevue Weir.
Even during winter the Kern River draws people like this group at Yokuts Park.
As the water from the Kern River recedes as it flows through Bakersfield a remnant of life the river nourishes is left behind.
With a population of over 300,000 Bakersfield has areas near the Kern River that sustain vegetation and wildlife that are not often found near population centers.
Driftwood and vegetation gets caught up on the Bellevue Weir in the Kern River near the Park at Riverwalk as it flows through Bakersfield. The sound of cascading water can be heard as one walks over the Bike Path Bridge over the weir.
Water is diverted at the Beardsley Weir on the Kern River to the Beardsley Canal, foreground.
The Kern River needs you again.
Specifically, it needs your rear end planted in a seat at the City Council chambers Thursday night.
This is one of those historic moments you won't want to miss.
Seriously, when your grandkids are playing in a lush, vibrant river 20 years from now, you will want to be able to tell them how you helped bring it back to life.
There are a number of steps to get from here to there. A first, and huge, step will be Thursday night when the city will discuss what to study in an environmental impact review needed to support its efforts to put water back in the Kern River bed on a regular basis.
Thursday night's meeting is the first step in that review process.
I know an environmental impact review sounds technical.
But don't worry. What's important is for the politicians and especially the powerful forces opposing water in the river to see how much we, the citizens, want our river back.
You can stand up and say anything you like toward that end. (Remember to keep it short and state your name.)
Tell 'em, "Bravo! Keep it up!"
Don't trust the city? OK, "I want water in the river and I'll be watching you!"
Want a river but also want to support local agriculture? Tell them, "Find a way to do both!"
But you must say something.
Last year, when the State Water Resources Control Board was mulling whether there was unappropriated water in the river, which is what got this ball rolling, more than 4,000 of you sent petitions and e-mails to Sacramento saying how much you wanted your river back.
That meant something. They listened. They need to hear you again.
If you can't be there in person, I urge you to send your comments to the city by March 21.
It may seem like a simple thing to put Kern River water back where it once ran naturally. Dip beneath the surface, though, and this river is anything but simple.
It is siphoned, exchanged, diverted, recharged, pumped, used and reused on its amazingly regimented path.
Following is a sort of "river primer" to help you better understand what will be discussed Thursday night (5:30 p.m., 1501 Truxtun Ave. BE THERE!)
Several entities hold rights to certain amounts of river water at different times of the year. The main owners are Bakersfield (that means us!), Kern Delta Water District and Buena Vista Water Storage District.
North Kern Water Storage District has rights to use some river water, but doesn't own it. To divvy up all those rights, the river is first measured, which happens at the appropriately named First Point of Measurement, just west of Hart Park.
Before Isabella Dam, this was a vitally important spot. The dam allows a more controlled outflow so water can be "ordered up" by different rights holders when it's needed. But First Point, a concrete frame set into the river, is still checked daily.
Then the city, which owns a major portion of the actual river channel west of Manor Street and has an interest in all the weirs, parses out the water.
The first big diversion is into the Beardsley Canal. It hooks into the river near the curve where China Grade Loop becomes Round Mountain Road. That water is taken through Oildale and north along Highway 99 to North Kern.
A slightly smaller Kern River continues on to what's known as Rocky Point Weir. That weir shunts a big chunk of river water into the Carrier Canal, which takes it west along the length of the river. A series of smaller canals siphon water off the Carrier to feed farmers south of town in the Kern Delta district.
We city dwellers enjoy that water along the way as it runs through the Mill Creek project in Central Park at 18th and R streets.
The next big diversion -- in dry years this is basically the end of the Kern River through town -- is at the Calloway Weir just east of Golden State Avenue.
It moves water into the Calloway Canal, which takes it to the Kern County Water Agency's water treatment plant, then up to North Kern.
Next stop: a confluence of five major canals at Coffee Road and Truxtun Avenue.
This is where the federally owned Friant-Kern Canal meets up with the Arvin-Edison Canal and where the Carrier ends and the Kern River Canal begins. The Cross Valley Canal, which moves water back and forth from the California Aqueduct, also sweeps through this spot.
The next two big junctures are the Bellevue Weir adjacent to the Park at River Walk and the McClung Weir, a few miles west of the Stockdale Bridge. Those weirs move water into different canals or spreading basins.
At each stop, the natural river is further depleted.
Even now, a lush water year, the Kern is a just a trickle after the McClung Weir.
Very important to all this plumbing are "turnouts" connecting the Cross Valley Canal to the river.
The turnouts are used like spigots pouring water into the river channel on demand for various districts.
That's why you sometimes see "a river" in one spot. But upstream and downstream it's dry.
Several years ago, a half-dozen or so wells were added to the mix between the river and the Cross Valley Canal. It was hoped they could be used to pump water into the river at least on holiday weekends during summer.
They have never run for lack of money to pay the power bill.
But they could be used to enhance water movement.
I know it's a bit complicated, but I hope what you get from this is an understanding of how intricate the system is and how easily the river can be turned off and on.
That in mind, I say it's long past time to open up the tap and let the river flow.
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at www.bakersfield.com, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com
