NEWS

The constant, rumbling, teeth-gritting traffic on Highway 99 might actually be good for something.  Researchers at Caltech have figured out a way to use vibrations from passing cars to see how much water sits directly beneath the ground’s surface.  In a new paper, researchers used seismic waves from traffic noise coupled with unused fiber optic…
Farmers and water managers in the Kaweah subbasin are charging headlong into recharge as a key strategy to both keep the state’s hands off its pumping and position growers to better withstand drought years. Fifteen recharge projects have been completed, are in progress or are in the design phase in the East Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability…
Farmland valuations continued their downward trajectory in Kern County, in some cases dropping  a whopping 47.6% over the first six months of 2024, according to the second quarter Kern County Ag Land Values report put out by brokerage firm Alliance Ag Services LLC. Some farmland has dropped back to, or even below, 2005 prices. “I…
by Sonia Lemus, freelance for SJV Water
Meeting: North Kern Water Storage District board of directors. Date: July 16, 2024 Agenda and board packet: CLICK HERE General Manager Dave Hampton said fencing costs jumped from an average $2,300 a month to $10,457 in July as the district fenced off some of its groundwater wells and has had to repair damage to fencing…
A somewhat new groundwater authority held its first meeting Monday with a mandate to represent Kern County lands not covered by existing water districts. The so-called “non-districted lands” within the Kern subbasin (the San Joaquin Valley portion of Kern) had sort of been previously represented by the Kern Groundwater Authority KGA. But the KGA has…
CONTENT USE: Republication, or broadcast, of SJV Water content is allowed with use of the reporter’s byline and publication name, SJV Water, and the following tagline: SJV Water is an independent, nonprofit news site covering water in the San Joaquin Valley, www.sjvwater.org. Reach us at sjvwater@sjvwater.or                  …
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