Outrage as California river suddenly vanishes after controversial court ruling... leaving thousands of fish dead

More than 3,000 food person been recovered dried up and dormant on a five-mile agelong of a California stream aft waterflow was abruptly chopped off. 

CSUB Biology Professor, Rae McNeish, and her students person counted a shocking 3,033 dormant fishes implicit a people of 7 days - a feat that sparked an probe from the Fish and Wildlife Department, according to KGET. 

The once-flowing Kern River successful Bakersfield - located 100 miles northeast of Santa Barbara - has tally adust aft the city's h2o allotment was utilized up successful August and the precious liquid is present going to h2o districts, which divert it to canals, the section outlet reported. 

 Bonnie Compton, who lives successful a structure with her hubby on the river, told the Los Angeles Times. 

'They’re sidesplitting the fish. They’re sidesplitting our wildlife. Everything’s dying.' 

Fish and Wildlife Services are present investigating to spot if Bakersfield has has breached the law, arsenic nether Game Code 5937, the metropolis is required to supply capable h2o for the food to past successful the river, CSUB Professor Antje Lauer told KGET. 

'We privation our stream back,' Environmental Advocate, Kelly Damian, told The Times. 'It is not an casual task. We are up against a lot. We’re up against climate change, a immense web of canals. We’re up against a highly financed industry, but truly the astir hard happening that we are up against is an aged mode of thinking.' 

City Attorney Ginny Gennaro is directing outraged citizens to spell fuss North Kern Storage Water District and Kern Delta astir the waterflow arsenic they power it. 

'I would promote you to spell to Kern Delta, they person nationalist meetings and archer them astir wherefore you privation h2o successful the river,' she said, according to KGET. 

Damian said the existent crushed the stream has tally adust is due to the fact that 'there are 5 antithetic entities that ain rights to the Kern River h2o and nary of them fto their h2o tally done the riverbed.' 

The h2o districts allegedly routes the h2o distant from the stream to enactment the flourishment of crops and almond trees, according to KGET. 

Councilmember Bob Smith said the metropolis 'ran what h2o we had, what h2o we person rights to, arsenic agelong arsenic we could,' according to The Times. 

In a September 3 property release, Bakersfield said it would beryllium 'reducing h2o flows' to the stream to let for infrastructure work. 

Since July, McNeish and her students person been studying the Kern riverbed, and they person watched pools of h2o dissipate successful dry, cracked earth. 

'We're each precise amazed astatine however rapidly things changed,' she told the Los Angeles Times. 'It's truly bittersweet to see.' 

Bring Back the Kern and the Kern River Parkway Foundation, among others, sued the City of Bakersfield successful 2022 arsenic they wanted the metropolis to survey stream operations nether the Public Trust Doctrine, according to SJV Water reporter Lois Henry. 

The doctrine states that the state's earthy resources person to utilized to the highest beneficial use, which includes protecting the environment. 

In 2023, food were seen backmost successful the stream that began moving again and a preliminary injunction mandated Bakersfield support capable h2o successful the stream to enactment the food nether the Game Code 5937. 

The h2o territory appealed the determination and a proceeding is scheduled for aboriginal this year, SJV Water said. 

The entreaty froze the judge's bid that capable h2o travel had to beryllium provided to the stream to support the food alive, according to The Times.  

As the h2o continues to evaporate, section activists and students are acrophobic by the decay and decease they've seen.   

'I was tearing up the archetypal clip that we started seeing the food flopping,' pupil Alexandra Brown, who has helped survey the river, told the Los Angeles Times. 'There was thing we could do.' 

Brown, who grew up successful Bakersfield, remembers seeing the riverbed some bedewed and adust passim her lifetime, and truly enjoyed however 'beautiful' it was 'when you get to person a flowing stream and spot however overmuch is supported by that,' she told The Times. 

'Now it’s similar hardly thing is near alive,' she said. 'That determination has been truthful overmuch decease is very, precise disappointing, considering however afloat of beingness this was.'

McNeish's radical noticed the h2o had begun retreating successful precocious August earlier wholly drying up 5 miles of the river, and it continues to retreat. 

Compton, connected the different hand, believes section officials are trying to propulsion distant stateless radical by taking their h2o source. 

'This is nationalist ground, and they’re taking the h2o distant from the public,' she told The Times. 'We privation the h2o back.'