Public Responses

Kern River Water

Feb 07, 2010

Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over. Mark Twain is credited with those words. But there are some doubts about that. There are no doubts about the fighting going on in Bakersfield over flowing water down the Kern River. (Bet you thought all the water wars were raging in the Delta.) Decades of water deals have diverted river water (as it passes through metropolitan Bakersfield) into canals and then out to agricultural fields, among other places. With a tug-of-war now going on between the city and water districts over some stray water rights, community activists, including the town�s newspaper, The Bakersfield Californian, want those rights used to restore the river�s flow through the city. They are sick of looking at a dry river bed. With a water war raging in the Delta and the feds restricting supplies to farmers, this Bakersfield battle is adding a new dimension to California�s water wars.