NEWS

An unfinished section of the new Friant-Kern Canal suffered a “severe breach” at Deer Creek in Tulare County Friday night as the normally dry creek swelled with rain and snowmelt and overran its banks into the construction zone. “This was worse than the one before,” said Johnny Amaral, Chief Operating Officer of the Friant Water…
by Rose Horowitch, SJV Water reporting intern
The Friant-Kern Canal fix is underway and on schedule to be completed before Sept. 1, 2024, according to an update at a recent Friant Water Authority (FWA) Board of Directors meeting. “They’re on track, they’re on schedule,” Stantec Engineering’s Janet Atkinson told the board at its Dec. 9 meeting. ‘We don’t see anything right now…
The state gave its first shot of cash – $29.8 million – toward fixing the sagging Friant-Kern Canal on Thursday. Another $7.4 million could be added to the pot once the Friant Water Authority, which operates the canal, secures federal funding it is seeking. That would bring this year’s full contribution from the state Department…
  A groundbreaking ceremony was held on the banks of the Friant-Kern Canal on Tuesday, to celebrate the start of construction to repair a portion of the sinking canal. Leadership from the Bureau of Reclamation, California’s Department of Water Resources and the Friant Water Authority spoke at the event.  For decades, farmers in California’s San…
by Theo Whitcomb, High Country News
This piece is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), California Health Report, Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, Circle of Blue, Colorado Public Radio, Columbia Insight, The Counter, High Country News, New Mexico In Depth and SJV Water. The project was made possible by a grant from the Water Foundation…
by Lois Henry
The state Department of Water Resources opened the spigot Tuesday on the first $100 million, of $200 million, budgeted over the next two fiscal years to fix several key canals that have sunk because of groundwater pumping. Subsidence has reduced carrying capacity in the canals from 15% up to 60% in the Friant-Kern Canal, which…
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