“Engineers with Isabella Partners, which operates the power plant at the base of Isabella Dam, believe they’ve found a way to make repairs to the plant without drying up the lower Kern River for weeks on end. If successful, water levels will drop from where they are now, but the river won’t go totally dry. …
Author Archives: SJV Water
Army Corps approves cuts to Isabella Dam releases as groups look for ways to protect Kern River fish flows and legal maneuvers expand
“The Army Corps of Engineers approved a request by operators of the power plant at the base of the dam to drastically cut water releases between Dec. 18 and Jan. 7 for a planned repair project to the plant. Under the approval, releases would drop from between 500 and 700 cubic feet per second down to …
Isabella Dam power plant repairs could cut Kern River flows causing a “massive fish kill”
“Anticipated repairs to the power plant at the base of Isabella Dam could cause a “massive fish kill” along the length of the Kern River as flows would have to be cut to almost nothing for weeks. Isabella Partners, which operates that power plant, submitted a request to the Army Corps of Engineers to cut …
Kern River battles continue as ag districts accuse Bakersfield of pulling off a historic “water heist”
Agricultural water districts are striking back at what they say is an historic water heist by the City of Bakersfield.
Judge orders Bakersfield to keep water in the Kern River
In what one attorney called a “moment of truth” for the City of Bakersfield, a judge ordered the city to keep enough water in the normally dry Kern River to protect fish populations.
Kern River legal wrangling raises questions about how – or whether – the river can serve the needs of people, fish and ag
“Kern County Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp came back several times during an Oct. 13 hearing to what he saw as a “major issue” in the dispute over keeping water in the Kern River – its plumbing.”
State and federal agencies want fish ladder restored on Merced River
Two powerful state and federal agencies have stuck their toes, so to speak, into an ongoing lawsuit against Merced Irrigation District demanding the district reopen a long defunct fish ladder. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and National Marine Fisheries Service both sent letters to Merced Irrigation District after Water Audit California sued the …
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Merced Irrigation District sued over defunct fish ladder
Water Audit California has filed suit against the Merced Irrigation District demanding repair and maintained of a neglected fish ladder at Crocker-Huffman Dam.
Bakersfield has been derelict toward the public on the Kern River, group alleges
Water Audit California sent a letter to the Bakersfield Water Resources Department demanding the city conduct a study of how its diversions from the river are impacting the public trust and determine ways to avoid those impacts.