North Kern administers a conjunctive use project that consists of groundwater banking, recovery, and exchange programs to optimize water supplies. Groundwater banking facilities consist of approximately 1,750 acres of spreading ponds/recharge basins with a capacity to recharge up to 300,000 acre-feet per year (AFY). Most of the District’s groundwater banking is associated with “in-District” operations; however, the District has maintained active water exchange and banking programs with District landowners, other districts, and third parties since the mid-1990s. Although the District typically has an additional 150,000 AF of physical recharge capacity available for use by neighboring Central Valley Project (CVP) or non-neighboring State Water Project (SWP) contractors, the lack of recovery and return capacity of the stored water poses constraints that limit the contractors’ use of the District’s spreading grounds. To incentive groundwater recharge during wet years, the District must improve conveyance capacity so that it can return the stored water to its banking partners during dry years. Through the Regional Drought Resiliency Project, the District is attempting to increase its return capacity by relying on some high-performing wells while also replacing other, less functional wells. This Project also entails the construction of new pipelines and connections to the Friant-Kern Canal , which will be used to convey previously banked water.
