![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kern-river-charm-damian-seated-1-1024x687.jpg\")
Kelly Damian with Bring Back the Kern, is seated next to recent Stockdale High School graduates, Mia Yeazel and Gianna Maskarino at the Bakersfield Water Board Wednesday June 17, 2026. Lois Henry \/ SJV Water<\/p>\nA small \u201ccharm offensive\u201d organized by a group suing the City of Bakersfield over the Kern River was rewarded Wednesday with news that current flows through town will continue through the end of July.<\/p>\n
The city had estimated it would only have water for flows through the July 4th holiday, but Bakersfield Water Department Hydrographer Miguel Chavez reported that he anticipates being able to squeeze a few more weeks out of this year\u2019s snow pack.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, it was a pretty successful water year,\u201d Chavez said at Bakersfield\u2019s Water Board meeting.<\/p>\n
Chavez\u2019 report came after two recent Stockdale High School graduates asked the board, run by City Council members Bob Smith and Andrea Gonzalez, to continue working toward a solution to get water in the river more often.<\/p>\n
\u201cA flowing river reminds us that we\u2019re all connected,\u201d said Gianna Maskarino. \u201cWhen the river is dry, it sends a message that this important part of our city isn\u2019t being valued.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mia Yeazel agreed. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Kern River makes Bakersfield unique,\u201d she said, noting it runs through the entire city east to west. <\/p>\n
The young people were accompanied at the meeting by Kelly Damian, spokesperson for Bring Back the Kern, a public interest group that, along with Water Audit California, sued Bakersfield in 2022 over how the city operates the river, leaving dry through town most of the time.<\/p>\n
Kelly Damian with Bring Back the Kern, is seated next to recent Stockdale High School graduates, Mia Yeazel and Gianna Maskarino at the Bakersfield Water Board Wednesday June 17, 2026. Lois Henry \/ SJV Water<\/p>\n
Gonzalez thanked the young women for speaking out, adding that he and \u201c\u2026many folks in leadership have the same heart and goal as you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The City Council has tried to get water in the river in various ways over the years, Smith said, noting that he\u2019s on the bike path daily and has seen the difference sustained flows have made.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour statement that it looks like we don\u2019t value that asset, is exactly right. When it\u2019s dry, it\u2019s dead and dusty and when there\u2019s water it\u2019s alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Damian thanked the Water Department for getting water into the river starting in May and keeping it flowing through some of our hottest months.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been incredible to see how much things come back to life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
There are more herons, egrets, tadpoles and fish. Even a spade-footed toad, \u201cWhich is very exciting for nature nerds.\u201d<\/p>\n
More importantly, she said, families have ventured into the river, getting their kids out of the house and into nature.<\/p>\n
The current flows may be temporary, but she said it has given the community a glimpse of what the future could look like on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can imagine a thriving, greenbelt and see how those free and open spaces are good for people\u2019s physical and mental health\u201d<\/p>\n
She echoed Yeazel\u2019s and Maskarino\u2019s request that city leaders to work with other river interests to come up with a cooperative agreement to make that dream a reality. <\/p>\n
She also invited them \u2014 and the public \u2013 to River Walk Park June 27 to help with a trash clean up<\/a> organized by Bring Back the Kern.<\/p>\n The lawsuit against the city is set to be heard sometime in February 2027. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/kern-river-charm-1-1024x779.jpg\")
Mia Yeazel, left, and Gianna Maskarino tell the Bakersfield City Water Board Wednesday, June, 17, 2026, how important a flowing Kern River is to the community. Lois Henry \/ SJV Water<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A small \u201ccharm offensive\u201d organized by a group suing the City of Bakersfield over the Kern River was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-364780","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\/364780","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=364780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}