KDWD Newsletter April 20, 2021

Kern River Status Update

The District has issued it’s proration allocations for the summer of 2021. A copy of the proration letters that will be going out can be found on our website here.

Last week the Department of Water Resources issued their April 1 Bulletin 120 (B-120) forecast for the April through July runoff of the Kern River. This forecast came in at 21% of average, confirming that this will be a critically dry year.

The District office remodel project is now complete and staff has moved into the building.  However, due to COVID – 19 precautions, we ask that you limit in person visits to the office for the short-term. If you do visit the office masks are currently required. For progress pictures of the project please refer to our website here.

To help visualize the current state of the River, the District is providing this graph that compares flow rates for the two-year periods of 2019-2020, the current period of 2020-2021, as well as the 2012-2013 years that are similar to DWR’s current B-120 forecast. The flows for this year are estimates only and subject to revision.
Below is a list of upcoming meetings that may interest our growers. The information presented at these meetings may directly affect agricultural practices and costs.

Upcoming Meetings:

Kern River Groundwater Sustainability Agency
First Thursday of the month at 10:00 AM
The next meeting will be on May 6
To Be Determined
Kern River Watershed Coalition Authority
First Thursday of the month at 1:00 PM
The next meeting will be on May 6
To Be Determined
Kern Groundwater Authority
Fourth Wednesday of the month at 8:00 AM
Next Meeting: April 26
To Be Determined