Not Enough Water or Too Much Water

Unless you just arrived to this country, you probably know that California has been battling a severe drought for half a decade. Even last year's much anticipated El Niño couldn't help us out. The Pineapple Express, combined with some atmospheric rivers, has finally brought enough water to California to remove nearly all of the drought designations from most of the state. 

For those who aren't familiar with California's weather patterns, the winter rain and snow are what hydrate us through our rainless spring, summer, and fall. The California State Water Project redistributes the water from the wet, northern part of the state to the much drier south via a system of reservoirs, aqueducts, and canals.

When it doesn't rain in the north, or anywhere for that matter, the water stored in our reservoirs gets used up with nothing to replace it. This year, the winter rain and soon to be melting snow are causing many of our reservoirs to overflow, which is mostly a good thing.

This month on the left, last year at this time on the right.

Having lots of water is great, except when it's not. You might have seen or heard about the issues plaguing the Oroville Dam, the nation's tallest. It's a mess up there. Here in Kern County, we have dam troubles of our own. A an earthenware dam was built across the Kern River in 1953, creating the Isabella Reservoir. 

In 2006, cracks were found in the dam which means that it can only safely hold approximately 60% of it's intended capacity. For many years this hasn't been too much of a problem because it never rained. This year, it's starting to be an issue.

As of right now, 4,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) of water are being released from the reservoir. The ranch where my boys live is on the Kern River. Here's what that volume of water looks like from the pastures.

This is my riding trail.

The "dry" pasture next to Speedy.

I am standing on Speedy's fence.

The house across the river from Speedy's pasture.

All of the homes built along the Kern River are required to be positioned above the 100 year flood mark. While the river is close, something catastrophic would have to happen to flood any of the houses, including my ranch owner's home. They're safe.

While it's frustrating to see so much water being let out of visual storage, the good news is that this water will be allowed to flow out to the Kern River's alluvial fan where it will seep back into the ground to be "banked" as ground water.

Sometimes, when it rains, it pours. Literally.