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Feds Get Involved in Fixing Friant-Kern Canal

Dan Water

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Friant-Kern Canal Agriculture Landscape

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is looking for input from the public related to plans to repair a 33-mile stretch of the Friant-Kern Canal.  The waterway has lost approximately 60 percent of its overall carrying capacity. The Friant-Kern Canal Subsidence and Capacity Correction Project would restore capacity in the canal to the original 4,000 cubic-feet-per-second flow that was initially intended.

Friant-Kern Canal east of Visalia near Badger and Rocky Hill
By VISALIA2010 at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, Link

An environmental study will be required to determine the impact of the proposed action before any repairs can begin. While the study from the Bureau of Reclamation puts forth a plan for reviving the canal, there will still be an issue of funding any infrastructure improvements. There have been multiple attempts to garner funding for repairing the waterway, including 2018’s Proposition 3, which was voted down; and Senate Bill 559 which ultimately died in the Assembly a few months ago.

Listen to the report below.

Feds Get Involved in Fixing Friant-Kern Canal
About the Author

Brian German

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Ag News Director, AgNet West