By Lawrence O’Leary lawrence@mottech.com
On July 22, 2019 the Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District called their monthly meeting to order at 8:29 AM at their office on Allen Road in Bakersfield. The service area for the district is nearly 48,000 acres. Board President Roy Pierucci kept the agenda items on pace while allowing Staff to explain their findings on their related subjects. It was a 3 hour meeting before Board and Staff retired to Closed Session.
The Water Manager celebrated his 44th birthday today. He joined the agency when he as 17 or 18 as he remembers. Consent items were covered and retired in minutes. Interspersed in the meeting were mentions of SGMA and the impending GSA, so groundwater, water quality and ET expert / consultant name Mr. Tom Harter was frequently heard. More on SGMA later.The birthday 44 year-old shared shallow wells water elevation are up (well most are) and overall wells in the district are up about 28 feet on average.
The District will do a couple of projects with Griffith Construction including free delivery of chopped asphalt waste from a major roadway project for placement on levy roads. RRBWSD General Manager Eric Averett took over to share several water strategies on topics of deliveries, storage, trading, planning and expectations.
Back to SGMA. White Areas, Native Water, Precipitation and Delivered Water, etc. where all addressed. Rosedale-Rio Bravo WSD is confident their GSP is a fluff-free and to the point document and today it was presented the Draft in the same way, no analysis by paralysis. Similar to the agencies in the area, the RDBWSD Board Approved Draft must be submitted July 23rd to KGA (Kern Groundwater Agency). The glide-path was constructed with the understanding that the agency is in deficit of nearly 48,000 AF/YR. Sounds good and well, but remember CV Salts is a monster found in our soils and continues to get delivered via our irrigation water.
So, beginning this week KGA will review GSP’s and is getting prepared to put this up for public comment beginning August 30. Staff acknowledges that other methods to conquer the annual deficit could have been utilized. However, with on-going projects the district has and is investing in, they are confident their GSP goals will be met.
There was a single public comment sharing an agriculture water management company has moved their corporate headquarters to Bakersfield, adding the regions strong housing market.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2019 by Don A. Wright
Rosedale Rio Bravo Water Storage District was formed in 1959 by landowners for the purpose of construction and operation of a groundwater recharge project. Historically, surface water from the Kern River overflowed into the Goose Lake Slough channel, which traverses Rosedale, on average of once every three years. Rosedale encompasses approximately 44,000 acres of lands, of which approximately 27,500 are in irrigated agriculture, with an additional 7,500 acres developed in residential, commercial and industrial. Nearly all of Rosedale’s water supplies are recharged into the groundwater aquifer. RRBWSD participates in the State Water Project through the Kern County Water Agency for almost 35,000 a/f annually. However, due to environmental regulations the actual average amount is 60 percent deliveries.
Board: Division 1—Barry Watts, Division 2—Mitch Millwee, Treasurer Division 3—Gary Unruh, Secretary, Division 4—Jason Selvidge, Vice-President, Division 5—Roy Pierucci, President.
Staff: General Manager Eric Averett, Assistant Manager Dan Bartel, Engineer Zach Smith, Office Manager Lori Honea & Attorney Dan Raytis.
DWR Listing: Basin San Joaquin Valley, Sub Basin Kern County 5-022.14
