Monday July 10, 2023
Bakersfield.com —
This hasn’t just been a historic year for Kern County water delivery. The year 2023 has also been extraordinary for recharging aquifers that store local supplies for dry years ahead.
Water managers say years of investment in expanding local recharge capacity is paying off — and so are recent public-private partnerships that have turned former orchards and ag fields into large, temporary basins that allow surface water to infiltrate underground pools.
The rising surplus has helped the area recover from years of worsening drought, but it does little to ease concerns about impacts from upcoming groundwater pumping restrictions, and local authorities caution against easing up on conservation.
Still, predictions that this will be a record year for California underground water storage improve the county’s position for prospering into the future.
“We’re doing it,” said Dan Bartel, engineer-manager at the Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District, which this year expects to put away five years’ worth of water for 8,000 residential customers and farmers representing 28,000 acres of farmland.