Return Capacity Improvements for Regional Drought Resiliency
Award
Water Project
Description
NORTH KERN WATER STORAGE DISTRICT
Return Capacity Improvements Project for Regional Drought Resiliency
The North Kern Water Storage District (NKWSD) has successfully implemented a conjunctive use program for over six decades to stabilize and sustain groundwater levels. This program enables the District to recharge surface water during hydrologically wet periods and extract groundwater during dry years to supplement reduced surface supplies.
Additionally, water recharged for banking partners includes an in-basin leave behind component, contributing to improved regional groundwater levels and a positive net water balance for the District.
To enhance drought resilience, NKWSD completed the Return Capacity Improvements project for Regional Drought Resiliency Project (Project). The Project augmented groundwater recovery and conveyance infrastructure, facilitating the extraction and delivery of previously banked groundwater. Key elements of the Project included securing and administering two federal grant awards; detailed engineering and design; environmental permitting and compliance; drilling and equipping of high-capacity recovery wells; installation of interconnections, conveyance pipelines, and discharge structures; and full construction administration and oversight.
The Project is situated in the southern San Joaquin Valley, near Bakersfield, California. It involved drilling four deep recovery wells, each rated at 6 cubic feet per second (cfs), and connecting them—along with four pre-existing wells—to NKWSD’s conveyance system and the Friant-Kern Canal (FKC). This was achieved via the installation of approximately 12,900 linear feet of 18- to 36-inch C900 DR-25 PVC transmission pipeline.
The expanded recovery and conveyance capacity reduces operational constraints associated with returning water to banking partners while concurrently serving in-district demands. The Project is projected to yield an additional 17,000 acre-feet per year of recoverable water through increased recovery and return throughput. Enhancements to the return infrastructure also support regional water reliability by enabling greater import of water supplies.
Branch
