Sources of Water
The Kern River
Approximately 165 miles long, the Kern River is the most southern of the rivers in the San Joaquin Valley. The head waters of the Kern are located near the base of Mount Whitney and the river’s main fork joins its major tributary, the South Fork, near Isabella Reservoir. From Isabella Reservoir to just before Bakersfield, the river drops over 2,000 feet in elevation through the Kern River Canyon. It is the only major river in the Sierra Nevada mountain range that drains in a southerly direction.
The State Water Project (SWP)
Beginning with the construction of Oroville Dam in 1957, the California State Water Project is a water storage and delivery system of reservoirs, aqueducts, power plants and pumping plants. Designed to provide water for 29 urban and agricultural water suppliers in Northern California, San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast, and Southern California, the SWP allocates 70 percent of its supply for urban use and 30 percent for agriculture.
The Central Valley Project (CVP)
Originating in 1933, the CVP was built in order to provide irrigation and municipal water to the Central Valley regions. Operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the project stores water in Northern California reservoirs and transports it to the Central Valley through a series of pumping facilities and canals. In Kern County, the Friant-Kern Canal is a branch of the CVP and originates at Millerton Lake.
Water Banking
When it comes to water banking, nobody does it better than Kern County. Because of it’s unique geographical and geological make-up, Kern County has the ability to store water in the underground during wet years, for use during dry years. (Think of a bathtub full of sand where water can percolate and stay put until it is withdrawn.)
According to the Kern County Water Agency, the Kern County portion of the San Joaquin Valley's groundwater basin has about 10 million acre-feet of total available storage capacity. Between 1977 and 2005, Kern County invested more than $300 million to build its groundwater banking infrastructure. The banks can store 5.7 million acre feet (af) of water to recharge or store water during wet years, and through pumping, extract water for use during dry years. Since 1978, more than 3.4 million af of water has been recovered for use.
