KDWD Newsletter February 23, 2021

Kern River Status Update

DWR updated their first Bulletin 120 (B-120) forecast for the 2021 April through July runoff of the Kern River. The updated forecast for this year is 38% of average. This forecast is based on observed conditions through the morning of February 16 and assumes normal precipitation after that date. Every day that there isn’t precipitation will cause the forecast to go down.

Once again the North West Kern Resource Conservation District is offering irrigation system evaluations through it’s Mobil Lab. The Mobil Lab technicians will check the operation of your filters, and emitters and sprinklers at a low cost to water users. For more information you can call the Irrigation Mobile Lab at (661) 281-2746 and ask for Brian Hockett. Further information can be found 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 other two-year periods in which the first year was below average for the Kern River. The flows for this year are estimates only and subject to revision.

The District office remodel project is expected to be completed in March of 2021. For progress pictures of the project please refer to our website here. There is no public access to the main District office building and parking lot during construction. Customers may use Ramos Avenue for public parking and to visit the temporary office during this time. Our water delivery capabilities will not be diminished due to the project. We ask that in-person visits be kept to a minimum and encourage our customers to do as much business as possible over the phone. If customers must come to the District Office, they are asked to wear a mask.

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 March 4
To be determined
Kern River Watershed Coalition Authority
First Thursday of the month at 1:00 PM
The next meeting will be on March 4
To be determined
Kern Groundwater Authority
Fourth Wednesday of the month at 8:00 AM
Next Meeting: February 24
Via GoToMeeting
See Meeting Agenda for log in info