KR3 Damages The River Environment

ISSUE: The data shows that KR3’s diversion of water out of the river at Fairview Dam harms the North Fork Kern riverine ecology, from fish and frogs to bugs and bushes and trees.

OUR TAKE: The minimum instream flow below Fairview Dam should be radically higher than it is now to ensure the health of the river environment in the 16 mile dewatered reach below Fairview Dam.

DETAILS:

• More than half the time, there is more water in KR3’s pipes than in the 16 miles of river it dewaters

• Although natural flows on the NF Kern only fall below 150 cfs 14% of the time, KR3 takes so much water that flows below Fairview Dam are forced below 150 cfs 77% of the time — and below a paltry 50 cfs 32% of the time

• The current fish flow regime is 100 cfs or less 83% of the time

• The current fish flow regime drops to a mere 40 cfs for four months of the year, every year

• Contemporary science indicates the fish flow should be 165-220 cfs with an additional percentage take on flows above those levels to more closesly mimic natural river variation

• The current fish flow regime kills the fish below Fairview Dam (see chart above)

• The current fish flow regime is so low as to threaten human health and river aesthetics

• The current fish flow regime repeatedly fails to meet state water quality standards for temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and other parameters critical to river health:

Edison’s Position: Current minimum flow are adequate; no changes proposed.

How to Help: Tell FERC (click the link for instructions):

1. What hydroproject is at issue (FERC No. “P-2290”);

2. Who you are;

3. How much you love the North Fork Kern;

4. That you are concerned for the health of this river due to inadequate minimum flows from the KR3 hydroproject; and

5. You want them to radically increase minimum flows to protect the health of the river environment.

The Extra Mile: Tell other managing agencies the same thing (click the links for instructions):

• US Forest Service

• California Water Resources Control Board

• California Fish and Wildlife

• US Fish and Wildlife

Go Deeper: Read KRB’s Environmental Flows Study Proposal. Read KRB’s Environmental Flows Whitepaper. Visit the UC Davis CEFF website. View KRB’s slideshow on the river environment. Read KRB’s full set of comments to Edison’s PAD.

We also have teed up information about five other areas in which KR3 harms our river, the natural environment, and the human environment:

Aesthetics ºº Angling ºº Health ºº Whitewater ºº Safety

Please have a look at these resource topics and send your views on them issues to FERC and other managing agencies. Do not simply assume the agencies will resolve these issues in the public’s favor; they have failed in the past and Edison is well funded and politically connected. Speak up now for yourselves and the future. And please consider following our Free The Kern Facebook campaign page. Together, we can Free The Kern.