Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about 151 sq mi (390 km2) near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region.
The San Joaquin River is the longest river of Central California. The 366-mile (589 km) long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through the rich agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. An important source of irrigation water as well as a wildlife corridor, the San Joaquin is among the most heavily dammed and diverted of California's rivers.
The Kern River, previously Río de San Felipe, later La Porciúncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately 165 miles (270 km) long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for whitewater rafting and kayaking. It is the southernmost major river system in the Sierra Nevada, and is the only major river in the Sierra that drains in a southerly direction.
Friant Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the San Joaquin River in central California in the United States, on the boundary of Fresno and Madera Counties. It was built between 1937 and 1942 as part of a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) water project to provide irrigation water to the southern San Joaquin Valley. The dam impounds Millerton Lake, a 4,900-acre (2,000 ha) reservoir about 15 miles (24 km) north of Fresno.
State Route 204 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that connects SR 58 and SR 99 in the Bakersfield area. Passing through downtown Bakersfield, SR 204 also connects Bakersfield's three major freeways together. Only the northern 1.4 miles (2.3 km) has been built to freeway standards; the rest is a six-lane arterial road.
State Route 178 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that exists in two constructed segments. The gap in between segments is connected by various local roads and State Route 190 through Death Valley National Park. The western segment runs from State Route 99 in Bakersfield and over the Walker Pass in the Sierra Nevada to the turnoff for the Trona Pinnacles National Natural Landmark. The eastern segment runs from the southeasterly part of Death Valley to Nevada State Route 372 at the Nevada state line.
The Friant-Kern Canal is a 152 mi (245 km) aqueduct managed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation in Central California to convey water to augment irrigation capacity in Fresno, Tulare, and Kern counties. A part of the Central Valley Project, canal construction began in 1949 and was completed in 1951 at a cost of $60.8 million.
The Fruitvale Oil Field is a large oil and gas field in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, within and just northwest of the city of Bakersfield, along and north of the Kern River. It is one of the few oil fields in the California Central Valley which is mostly surrounded by a heavily populated area. Discovered in 1928, and with a cumulative total recovery of more than 124 million barrels (19,700,000 m3) of oil at the end of 2006, it is 41st in size among California oil fields, and according to the California Department of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) its total reserve amounts to a little less than ten percent of its original oil.
Kern County’s transportation system was quoted as the “unseen industry.” Located at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, the county is at a prime location to ship goods west to the central coast, south to ports in Los Angeles, and east to corridors that connect to the rest of the country. It is also on major corridors that link to all northern points.
The Bakersfield Department of Water Resources is a municipal utility in Bakersfield, California. Primarily it manages the city's water rights to the Kern River. Water is sent to water retailers that the city has contracts with, and recharge basins to seep into the groundwater table. The department also manages water distributions to most of Southwest Bakersfield and a small part of Northwest Bakersfield.
Kern Island Canal is an irrigation canal in Kern County, California. It primarily irrigates farmland located on the Kern Lakebed, south of Bakersfield. It originates from a common diversion at Manor Street in Bakersfield, which also supplies the Carrier Canal and Eastside Canal. The common diversion originates from the Kern River about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Gordon's Ferry.
Carrier Canal is an irrigation canal in Kern County, California. It originates from a common diversion at Manor Street in Bakersfield, which also supplies the Kern Island Canal and Eastside Canal. The common diversion originates from the Kern River about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Gordon's Ferry. There are additional diversions from the Kern River at Golden State Highway and Coffee Road. The canal terminates at the Kern River, near Enos Lane west of Bakersfield. For its entire length, it runs roughly parallel to the Kern River.
Beardsley Canal is an irrigation canal in Kern County, California. It originates at the Kern River, east of Gordon's Ferry and just west of the First Point of Measurement. It is the first diversion from the river in the San Joaquin Valley for agriculture irrigation. It terminates at reservoirs located in Famoso, just east of SR 99.
Eastside Canal is an irrigation canal in Kern County, California. It originates from a common diversion at Manor Street in Bakersfield, which also serves the Carrier Canal and Kern Island Canal. The common diversion originates from the Kern River, about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Gordon's Ferry. The canal terminates south of Bear Mountain Boulevard, just west of Arvin.
Stine Canal is an irrigation canal in Kern County, California. It originates from the Carrier Canal adjacent to SR 99. It terminates at a reservoir on Bear Mountain Boulevard, just east of Gosford Road.
Buena Vista Canal is an irrigation canal in Kern County, California. It originates from the Carrier Canal at Coffee Road. The canal terminates at Lake Webb and the Kern River.
Pioneer Canal is an irrigation canal in Kern County, California, United States. It originates from the Kern River just east of the Stockdale Highway bridge. It terminates at reservoirs just east of Interstate 5.
Buena Vista Slough was the joint outlet of an overflowing Buena Vista Lake and a distributary of the Kern River into Tulare Lake. It is now diverted into a system of canals by the Outlet Canal of the Central Valley Project.
The West Bakersfield Interchange is a freeway interchange in Bakersfield, California, west of downtown. It connects State Route 99 with SR 58. These routes represent the heart of the Bakersfield freeway network. They connect the city with commercial centers in the San Joaquin Valley, ports in Los Angeles, and major Interstate freeways serving southern and eastern America.
Lux v. Haggin, 69 Cal. 255; 10 P. 674; (1886), is a historic case in the conflict between riparian and appropriative water rights. Decided by a vote of four to three in the Supreme Court of California, the ruling held that appropriative rights were secondary to riparian rights.
