The Kern River isn’t the only river in California to be dried up by water diversions. Others have been dried up, but in many instances stakeholders on other rivers have found ways to restore flowing water to dry up rivers with long term win-win solutions. To demonstrate paths forward for these possible agreements, Bring Back the Kern is hosting a series of online panel discussions to allow our community to learn about success stories in getting water back into dead and dried up rivers.

The first session of the River Roundtable series will be focused on Putah Creek, a river about half the size of the Kern River in annual flows. Putah Creek flows eastward out of the coastal range through Solano and Yolo Counties and into the Sacramento River. In the late 80s, the combination of drought and excessive water diversions from the river dried up over 20 miles of riverbed. Over the next decade, stakeholders crafted the mutually beneficial Putah Creek Accord to protect agricultural and municipal water rights while also establishing minimum flows for the river, ensuring that even in drought years, the waterway will never dry up again.

Those in our community who remain skeptical that the Kern can ever be restored to perennial flows, look no further than Putah Creek. For those who are scared of changing the status quo on the Kern River to finally respect the needs of the river, Putah Creek demonstrates that agricultural and environmental interests can create an outcome celebrated by all.