In Bakersfield, a lawsuit aims to turn a dry riverbed into a flowing river

Conservation teams are going to court docket to attempt to convey again a flowing river in Bakersfield, the place for years a lot water has been diverted in canals to produce farms that the Kern River is often diminished to a dry, sandy riverbed.

Six environmental teams sued town of Bakersfield, saying that persevering with to permit diversions of water upstream from town harms the atmosphere and the neighborhood.

“The river is simply in a state of whole collapse,” mentioned Kelly Damian, a spokesperson for the group Carry Again the Kern. “That’s readily obvious to anyone who goes and simply seems to be on the river. It’s dry. It’s useless. It’s derelict. It’s a blight on the neighborhood as an alternative of what it needs to be.”

Damian, a highschool trainer, typically runs on a motorcycle path beside the parched riverbed, the place she sees withered bushes which are useless or dying from the dearth of water.

“It’s very out of stability,” Damian mentioned. “We simply actually need to see water flowing by way of the river.”

Plaintiffs argue that permitting water diversions to dry up the river violates California’s public belief doctrine, the precept that sure pure assets should be preserved for the general public.

If activists prevail within the case, it might assist restore a flowing river in downtown Bakersfield and set a precedent for extra protections for rivers and streams in different elements of California which have been closely tapped and ravaged by years of drought and the consequences of local weather change.

“There are a complete lot of rivers in California which are diverted and dammed and are principally destroyed,” mentioned Adam Keats, a lawyer representing the teams. “If we are able to convey the Kern River again to life by way of the middle of town of Bakersfield, we are able to do that anyplace.”

The Kern River cascades from the Sierra Nevada and emerges from a steep-sided canyon. A long time in the past, the Kern flowed all over Bakersfield. However a lot water is diverted in canals to produce farmlands that the river now seldom reaches past the northeast aspect of town.

Downstream from diversion dams, the final of the river dries up and disappears.

As an alternative, the water flows in canals to farms that produce almonds, pistachios, grapes, oranges and different crops.

Final 12 months, activists with Carry Again the Kern and different teams sought to safe water for the river because the State Water Assets Management Board thought of a longstanding dispute over water rights. However a state-appointed listening to officer has declined to think about the general public belief doctrine at the moment.

The atmosphere teams at the moment are as an alternative focusing on town’s diversions from the river. They argue within the lawsuit, which they filed Nov. 30 in Kern County Superior Courtroom, that town has “created a public nuisance” by diverting water and drying up the river “with none evaluation of the impacts on public belief makes use of and assets.”

The environmental teams — which additionally embrace the Heart for Organic Range, Kern River Parkway Basis, Water Audit California, the Sierra Membership and Kern Audubon Society — are urging the court docket to order town to launch ample water to “keep away from irreparable hurt” and “present flows for fish passage and habitat.”

The teams need town to start out diverting water from a location farther downstream, on the opposite aspect of city, thereby permitting the river to circulate by way of the neighborhood.

“All they should do is divert the water down nearer to the valley flooring and never divert it up above town,” Keats mentioned. “That’s a really possible change that town can do.”

The lawsuit, whereas directed on the metropolis, additionally lists agricultural irrigation districts that obtain water as events with pursuits within the case, amongst them Kern Delta Water Storage District, North Kern Water Storage District and Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District.

The town operates its personal dams that divert water from the river, and has contracts to produce water to agricultural water districts.

Keats mentioned, nevertheless, that these contracts “don’t trump the general public belief doctrine” and that town is violating its obligations by permitting diversions that dewater the river.

Colin Pearce, a lawyer representing Bakersfield, mentioned town is not going to touch upon the case at the moment. Representatives of agricultural water districts both declined to talk about the case or didn’t reply to emails.

The lawsuit summarizes the historical past of taking water from the Kern River, which traditionally crammed two shallow lakes and huge wetlands within the southern San Joaquin Valley. It explains how an 1888 settlement between rich land barons Henry Miller and James Haggin divided shares to the river, and the way that settlement has been expanded and modified through the years.

Miguel Rodriguez wades by way of the Kern River on the Panorama Vista Protect, the place the Kern River ends and turns dry on this 2021 picture.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Occasions)

Over the previous century, as extra water was taken from the river for increasing farms, Buena Vista Lake and Kern Lake dried up and had been remodeled into farmland. To the north, Tulare Lake — which was as soon as the most important freshwater lake west of the Mississippi — additionally dried up within the Nineteen Thirties because the valley’s rivers had been closely used to serve agriculture.

Since 1976, town has owned a number of weirs alongside the Kern River and has been in control of administering water diversions. Some water is used within the metropolis, however a lot of it goes to produce agriculture.

“We are able to put a river again by way of Bakersfield, and we are able to nonetheless let these companies nonetheless develop crops and nonetheless generate profits,” Keats mentioned. “There’s no motive why it’s either-or.”

Different comparable court docket instances are underway elsewhere in California. Keats is engaged on two instances involving public belief points, one referring to the Merced River and the opposite to the Santa Clara River.

“I feel there’s one thing crucial about saying, as a neighborhood and as a society, that we’re not going to sacrifice our rivers that undergo our communities,” Keats mentioned.

Damian and different residents say having water flowing by way of Bakersfield would restore the river’s ecosystem and nourish a inexperienced hall within the coronary heart of town, enabling folks to repeatedly wade, kayak and picnic on the banks — as they did many years in the past.

Damian, who has lived in Bakersfield for 16 years, mentioned she feels deeply involved seeing the river fully dry, its desiccated ecosystem deteriorating.

“Folks on this city deserve a river,” Damian mentioned. “I feel there’s a sense of dignity that may be restored once we restore the river, as a result of after they dried that river up, they actually minimize the guts out of the city.”

She mentioned the agriculture business can proceed having water, however altering the purpose the place the water is taken would vastly enhance the river and life within the metropolis.

Damian mentioned utilizing up your entire river has created a “huge useless zone” and influenced how folks see Bakersfield.

“I feel we’ve been extracted from lengthy sufficient,” Damian mentioned. “And I feel it’s time to present again, and to do some restoration and to do some therapeutic on this place.”