News Release Archive

Reclamation to Provide $3.3M for Friant-Kern Canal Reverse Flow Pump-Back Project

Media Contact: Shane Hunt, 916-978-5100, shunt@usbr.gov

For Release: September 20, 2016

SACRAMENTO, Calif – The Bureau of Reclamation will provide $3.3 million to the Friant Water Authority for its Friant-Kern Canal Reverse Flow Pump-Back Project. The estimated $9.3 million total project will improve the Friant Division’s operational flexibility, including the ability during dry years to recover banked groundwater. It is expected to be completed within three years.

The project includes planning, designing, constructing and operating three permanent pump-back facilities on the Friant-Kern Canal. The new facilities would improve the Friant Division’s ability to recirculate and return recaptured Restoration Flows as part of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program.

Federal funding is authorized under Subtitle F of Title IX of Public Law 111-11, and is part of a suite of Reclamation drought relief efforts intended to help boost water efficiency and resiliency in high-risk communities, including in California's Central Valley.

The Friant-Kern Canal is a Reclamation facility, operated and maintained by the Friant Water Authority. The canal conveys water over 152 miles in a southerly direction, from Millerton Lake to the Kern River four miles west of Bakersfield, for agricultural and urban use.

For additional information, please contact Reclamation’s Kellye Kennedy at (916) 978-4640 (TTY 800-877-8339), or Friant Water Authority’s Steve Ottemoeller at (559) 306-9986 or sottemoeller@friantwater.org.

For information on the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, please visit www.restoresjr.net.

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The Bureau of Reclamation is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior and is the nation's largest wholesale water supplier and second largest producer of hydroelectric power. Our facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation opportunities, and environmental benefits. Visit our website at https://www.usbr.gov and follow us on Twitter @USBR; Facebook @bureau.of.reclamation; LinkedIn @Bureau of Reclamation; Instagram @bureau_of_reclamation; and YouTube @reclamation.