{"id":313059,"date":"2026-05-13T03:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/313059\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T03:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:50:08","slug":"kern-county-supervisors-warn-golden-mussel-infestation-is-clogging-vital-water-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/313059\/","title":{"rendered":"Kern County supervisors warn golden mussel infestation is clogging vital water systems"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) Golden mussels are no longer a distant threat for Kern County, local officials warned Tuesday, as the invasive species spreads into water systems that communities, farms and industries depend on every day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is no longer a theoretical concern of something happening elsewhere. The infestation is here in systems that are communities farm and out industries rely on every single day,\u201d said Thomas Brown, the county\u2019s chief intergovernmental and legislative affairs officer, during a Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting focused on the growing problem.<\/p>\n<p>Brown said the mussels can \u201cattach to and clog infrastructure,\u201d which \u201ccan reduce water conveyance capacity, damage equipment and drive-up maintenance costs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kern County supervisors warn golden mussel infestation is clogging vital water systems (KBAK\/KBFX)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/d8117322-8d66-4354-bdee-7ca935848ee8-musselclose.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Kern County supervisors warn golden mussel infestation is clogging vital water systems (KBAK\/KBFX)<\/p>\n<p>The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says the mollusks\u2019 economic impacts can include costly repairs and maintenance, reduced water flow affecting food production, water delivery to homes and flood control.<\/p>\n<p>Officials said Kern County faces particular risks because of its reliance on water moved through major state and federal systems. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur residents and agricultural economy and our energy sector depend heavily on reliable water deliveries that flow through state and federal systems,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n<p>During public comment, Sam Blue, resource manager for the Arvin-Edison Water Storage District, warned of severe consequences if the infestation continues to spread.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kern County supervisors warn golden mussel infestation is clogging vital water systems (KBAK\/KBFX)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/d8117322-8d66-4354-bdee-7ca935848ee8-musselclose.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Kern County supervisors warn golden mussel infestation is clogging vital water systems (KBAK\/KBFX)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf left unchecked the infestation will effectively choke our water delivery systems, leading to a catastrophic equipment failure and leaving thousands of acres without the water they need to survive,\u201d Blue said.<\/p>\n<p>The Board of Supervisors ultimately approved a resolution to send a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, urging him to declare a statewide emergency over the spread of golden mussels. <\/p>\n<p>Officials said such a declaration could help unlock additional state and federal resources to combat the invasive species.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kern County supervisors warn golden mussel infestation is clogging vital water systems (KBAK\/KBFX)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/16faf643-92d9-47ce-8e94-20ac1d3afe49-musselcloser.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Kern County supervisors warn golden mussel infestation is clogging vital water systems (KBAK\/KBFX)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf he does that that it will go a long way in getting the federal government on board and having those resources start to flow into California,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) Golden mussels are no longer a distant threat for Kern County, local officials warned Tuesday,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-313059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}