The melting snow pack should soon start heading towards the Valley.The changeover happens as April arrives, and that has the Kern River Watermaster keeping a close watch on water flows. Dana Munn says Lake Isabella has plenty of available capacity to handle the melting snow, but he doesn’t want so much water to go into the Kern River that it would undermine Highway 178. Recharge facilities on the Valley floor are near capacity for what they can take in although the water tables are far from back to normal. The only concern over the next couple months is if there was a major rainstorm in the mountains, but a heat wave would not add more water than what the system is ready to handle.

Sean Michael Lisle