Dec. 23, 2025
Battle over a dry river puts California water rights back on trial
Once a flowing river through Bakersfield, the Kern now runs dry for most of the year. A case now before the California Supreme Court asks whether state law requires it to flow again--and what that answer could mean for water users statewide.
Merle Haggard, a son of Bakersfield, sang the blues for the river that once flowed through his hometown, but now mostly runs bone dry.
His "Kern River Blues" lyrics echo the core grievance of the plaintiffs' opening brief in a developing state Supreme Court showdown over the empty watercourse's future: That corporate agricultural needs have come to overbalance the public's interest in a healthy environment.
Haggard sang, "Well, they used to hav...
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