BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — “Lack of water in the river starves such factors in fish and groundwater replenishment," said Stephen Montgomery, a member of the Sierra Club Kern chapter. Montgomery is among the group of advocates fighting to preserve water for the lower Kern River and it’s ecosystems.
- Last Friday, an Appellate court issued a stay on the injunction issued last year requiring the City to keep flows high enough to support fish.
- Due to the Appellate court’s ruling last Friday, Judge Gregory Pulskamp decided to stay arguments relating to the motion Thursday until August 1.
“Lack of water in the river starves such factors in fish and groundwater replenishment," said Stephen Montgomery, a member of the Sierra Club Kern chapter.
Montgomery is among the group of advocates fighting to preserve water for the lower Kern River and it’s ecosystems.
“I think one of the City’s big problems in this lawsuit is they’re stuck in a 1950s perspective, they think of the river or something in the river that they can own," said Adam Keats, the attorney representing this group of advocates in a lawsuit against the City of Bakersfield.
Keats said this issue spans back decades, with water diversion continually causing a dry riverbed.
“We had evidence of dead fish, evidence of stagnant pools, evidence of dry riverbed," he said.
Last Friday, an Appellate court issued a stay on the injunction issued last year requiring the City to keep flows high enough to support fish.
Keats and attorneys for the City came together Thursday morning to discuss the impact this stay has on current motions, including a demurrer from the City.
“Our demurer argues that if the City is a defendant that all the diverters on the river, all the interests and water district with water rights on the river should be on the case also," said the City's attorney Colin Pearce.
While the City owns some of the river’s water rights, it also disburses water allocated to local ag districts. Though the lawsuit is solely against the City — ag districts considered parties of interests filed an appeal against the injunction.
"All the entities all the water districts that have enjoyed the water from the Kern River over the years really should be in case and really with skin in the game," Pearce said.
Advocates like Montgomery and Keats argue though that the City operates the weirs allocating water to the districts and thus has the obligation under the public trust doctrine, which they say puts the public’s interest in a flowing river above any district
“Too many just consider Bakersfield to be their ATM. They don’t simply look at it as a place where we live and where we need to have a sound quality of life," said Montgomery.
Due to the Appellate court’s ruling last Friday, Judge Gregory Pulskamp decided to stay arguments relating to the motion Thursday until August 1.
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