The Kern Water Bank Authority held its Tuesday, November 9, 2021 board of directors meeting at its Bakersfield headquarters and at various online locations using Zoom. The meeting usually begins on the dot with Chairman Bill Phillimore calling the shots but for some reason I wasn’t allowed in until 3:05pm. Now, here’s a fact – the KWB meetings do not bog down. These boys don’t pee like puppies went it comes to meetings. So for whatever reason I missed the roll call and the resolution allowing them to conduct business online. It could have been worse. There have been KWB meetings that ran less than a half hour.
The Meeting
The lovely and talented Controller Danelle Lopez gave the financial reports and things went well with the board approving the accounts receivable, payable and the
treasurer’s report. There were some budget overs such as legal fees (you know who you are ST) and the annual report had to be printed off site because the copy machine was acting up. Just before Lopez presented the payables Phillimore correctly divined the PG&E power bill would be the highest. One month of KWB’s electricity bill would be enough for you and me to split and live pretty good for the rest of the year.
There was an audit or rather there will be and John Ocana, who’s title I forget but he’s become a vital and trusted member of the team, explained some of the finer points of what will happen in the next audit. It dealt with accounting procedures and there was a bit of jargon and concept that is too involved to try to present in this report. In other words I didn’t really understand what he was talking about. It did have something involving a covenant requiring a 1.1/1 assets to liability ratio with one of the lenders KWB deals with. He said there’s an almost nil chance of that ratio getting out of balance.
Ocana and Superintendent Nick Torres updated the board on the capital projects underway. That includes recharge projects, maintenance and well rehab. Torres said the new recharge basins are just about finished and within budget. General Manager Jon
Parker said there will be a meeting with the City of Bakersfield and the Kern County Water Agency about developments at the Pioneer Project banking facility. KCWA Engineer Martin Varga is about to retire and that is coming up quick. Parker said he’s had a talk and Varga should be finished with the necessary work to get this project up and running. I believe it. Varga is one of the most decent men I’ve met in the water world. His wife Jeanne is also the KCWA public information officer and she’s great too. So good for them. The project is a shortcut to the KWB through some property managed by KCWA and will greatly reduce the pressure on canal capacity for conveying Kern River water to the bank’s recharge ponds. Ocana, Torres and Parker must have done a great job as there were no questions.
Reports
Parker said the bank should recover more than 200,000 a/f of water by the end of the year. The bank is prepared to run through the end of 2022. There is still more than 2 million a/f available if I understood.
Parker reported the Kern Fan Monitoring Committee won’t meet again until next year. He expects cumulative data reports.
The Kern Groundwater JPA is trying to get the plans finished either before or after Christmas. There is a timing situation. Once things get started there is a deadline. A subbasin wide native yield study has morphed into a $2 million study. The data management system is being rolled out and it might be a good addition to KWB’s information, that waits to be seen.
Flying High to See Low
Parker announced the flying magnetic helicopter is heading to the Kern Subbasin and it might be a good tool for the water bank property as well. This is the towed array imaging system that can give you a look at what’s below the surface. With that the meeting went into closed session at 3:45pm. Kind of long for a KWB meeting but sometimes you have to get in the mud.
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KERN WATER BANK AUTHORITY
1620 Mill Rock Way, Bakersfield, CA 93311 Office: 661/398-4900 www.kwb.org
Staff: Jon Parker-General Manager, Danelle Lopez-Accountant, Steve Torigiani-Attorney, Nick Torres-Superintendent & John Ocana – Special Projects.
Board: William Phillimore-Chair Westside Mutual Water Company, Sheridan Nicholas-Vice Chair Wheeler Ridge Maricopa Water Storage District, Steve Jackson-Treasurer Dudley Ridge Water District, Dennis Atkinson Tejon Castac Water District, David Beard KCWA Improvement District 4, Jason Gianquinto Semitropic Water Storage District & Kim Brown Westside Mutual Water Company
Located on a large, undeveloped section of the Kern River’s sandy alluvial fan, the Kern Water Bank covers nearly 30 square miles over California’s southern San Joaquin Valley. Ideally situated, both for its unique geology and its proximity to water supply and delivery systems, the Kern Water Bank plays a dual role in California’s economically vital agricultural heartland.
