6/18/25 Fake DMV Texts + Kern County Water Bond Concerns with Lois Henry

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Wednesday, June 18th BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Guys" podcast call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Management Guest: Lois Henry, CEO & Editor for SJV Water website: www. SJVWater.org

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From the Garret Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway, here is Money Wise. Call or text into the show 24/7 at 396-1000.

• 0:39Speaker 00

  Here is Money Wise. Money, money, money, money.

• 0:43Speaker 01

  Welcome to the Money Wise Show. We are live from the Garret Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway on ESPN Bakersfield, 1230 a.m., 101.1 FM, and always streaming at MoneyWiseGuys.com. You can call or text into the show 24 hours a day at 661-396-1000. Today, we're your hosts. I'm Sharad Wade and

• 1:03Speaker 02

  Dustin Weaver.

• 1:04Speaker 01

  D-Dub.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  Yes, sir.

• 1:05Speaker 01

  Hey, we have been getting a good stream of listener questions and comments. Today is no different.

• 1:14Speaker 02

  All right.

• 1:14Speaker 01

  You have them there?

• 1:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, I've got at least one, and I resonate with this one quite a bit.

• 1:20Speaker 01

  Let's hear it.

• 1:20Speaker 02

  I'll read it to you.

• 1:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:21Speaker 02

  "As a homeowner and father of kids in their early twenties, I'm really concerned about what I see. Twenty years ago, buying our first home was tough but doable. Now my children's entire paychecks go to rent, bills, and gas. They're doing Uber, side jobs, just to buy groceries. How can young people today realistically save for a home when they're living, already living, paycheck to paycheck?"

• 1:43Speaker 01

  You and I were kind of talking about this before the show, and it resonated with us. I bought my first home 25 years, well, it'll be 20, 25 years this year.

• 1:52Speaker 02

  19 for me.

• 1:53Speaker 01

  Yep, 19. So roughly, roughly the same amount of time that this listener was. I go back to my time I bought my first home. It was $110,000, four-bedroom, two-bath, 12, 2,000 square foot, new construction in Silver Creek. You know, like, kind of the, was that, south, south of town? And I remember being terrified.

• 2:17Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 2:18Speaker 01

  I remember being terrified of the payment. I think my mortgage payment was maybe $800 or $900 a month. And at that time, I was maybe making, I was maybe making $60,000 or $65,000 a year, maybe. But so it was, it was, you know, very scary. I look back and I go, man, I have, I had no idea how good I had it.

• 2:43Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 2:44Speaker 01

  Right? Compared to today.

• 2:46Speaker 02

  Eight hundred dollar payment, most of us would.

• 2:48Speaker 01

  You can't, you can't rent an apartment. For that. Yeah, you can't rent an apartment for that.

• 2:52Speaker 02

  Right.

• 2:52Speaker 01

  And.

• 2:53Speaker 02

  Might get a room.

• 2:54Speaker 01

  Maybe. Right. Like, yeah, you rent out a room with a bunch of roommates and maybe you could do that. And yet, you know, have wages gone up four times? So now the median, at that time, let's say the median home price was what I paid the house for, a hundred, it was about that median level, $110,000. The median home price now is about $400,000.

• 3:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, we had Alan on yesterday talking about that.

• 3:16Speaker 01

  And so have wages gone up that much? No.

• 3:19Speaker 02

  No.

• 3:20Speaker 01

  And.

• 3:21Speaker 02

  And you've got interest too, right? Interest rates are higher today than.

• 3:26Speaker 01

  For me, my first, my first mortgage was around six and a half percent. So it was about what it is today, maybe a little lower. But then it got lower and I refinanced and I refinanced down to like 3% or something.

• 3:39Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 3:40Speaker 01

  And, you know, so then it was like, it got even lower. And it was, you know, it was still took a leap of faith at that time. So the leap that people have to take now just to get into a median price home of $400,000 is just, as we said yesterday with Alan on the show, it's about $100,000 would be your minimum in annual household income to be able to afford the median home price in Kern County.

• 4:10Speaker 02

  Well, yeah. And then you add to that all the other things that have inflated, right? I mean, the average cost of college has gone up, you know, five, six percent a year, which is double the normal inflation of other things. So if you're a student coming out of college with student loan debt, I mean, that's just one more. Part of your overall equation that makes it even more difficult.

• 4:29Speaker 01

  Right.

• 4:30Speaker 02

  Right?

• 4:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, it makes it incredibly difficult and I don't see any, I don't see any relief in sight. It doesn't seem like, I mean, obviously markets go in cycles and the real estate market goes in cycles. It's not always all up all the time. It does have periods of time where prices come down. But overall, in the long run, we would anticipate that home prices would continue to rise. The national average of home price appreciation has been about 3%, 3.5% going back 80, 80 years, 80 plus years in the United States. So it roughly keeps up with inflation, your home price.

• 5:11Speaker 01

  So you don't want to necessarily think of your home as being this great investment because that's not like stellar return. But what you get, what the benefit of is, is you get to lock in that price. You get to lock in your payment and then let inflation appreciate and let you gain some equity. But you get to lock in that price, so you're not, you're protecting your future self from inflation.

• 5:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, if you lock in a payment that is affordable at today's wages and then, you know, most of us over time have an increase in income, right?

• 5:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:42Speaker 02

  So fast forward 5, 10, 15 years from when you locked in that loan, usually it becomes more reasonable over time, right?

• 5:48Speaker 01

  Yes. And so, you know, what advice do you give Dustin? Like what would you advise a young person, a young family that's wanting to buy a house? And they're just starting out, like what, what do you say?

• 6:02Speaker 02

  It's tough, right?

• 6:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:04Speaker 02

  And we all have future goals and where that starts is we got to pencil out and plan for it. So what do down payments look like? What would it take to get there? How do we actually come up with a savings plan to get there? How do we get our credit to a point where that is stellar, to where we have, you know, the best chance of getting the best interest rate possible? And then doing what you can, if that, if that means having a buy with a cosigner or another, you know, you're buying with somebody else, you know?

• 6:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:33Speaker 02

  Unfortunately, a lot of times these days, it does take a two-income household to be able to. To purchase a home. I mean, it's just the reality here in California.

• 6:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:41Speaker 02

  How it's looking.

• 6:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's, don't compare, I would, I would, I would, I would recommend a young couple not compare the, the, the easiness or the hardness of getting into a home to their parents. It's like, if I would have done that for my parents, like, my, my parents paid like forty grand for their house.

• 7:00Speaker 02

  Right, I think it was twenty-two thousand was my parents' purchase house.

• 7:03Speaker 01

  There you go. My grandparents was, it was like five grand they paid for their house. So it's, like, you don't want to just go and compare and go, oh, you know, it's just gonna be too hard. Because no matter what, you're paying, you gotta pay to live somewhere. And so, it's, it's also not great to just pay, paying rent. Now you're paying somebody else's mortgage. Now you're paying the landlord's mortgage rather than your own. So, you really want, I, I agree that you want to, you want to advise people to get with some sort of plan. And what I usually hear is the plan involves saving and budgeting, and I think that is definitely part of it. But I think that's only half, maybe less than half of the, of the, of what needs to happen.

• 7:45Speaker 01

  Because what is often not talked about is your ability to make more money.

• 7:49Speaker 02

  Absolutely.

• 7:50Speaker 01

  And that is, sometimes it's frowned on. I don't know, maybe because it, it might be viewed as you're just being selfish or greedy, or like you're just money hungry, or whatever. But, your ability to earn income is the most valuable asset that you have.

• 8:05Speaker 02

  And when you're starting off, for sure.

• 8:06Speaker 01

  Especially when you're starting off. And, and you're starting off, obviously, you're, you're at the ground level. But there are things that you can do to invest in yourself that can increase your ability to make more income. For example, getting more certifications, more licenses, more, you know, trainings that can elevate your ability to market yourself, whether it's with your current employer or an employer that's willing to pay you more. Or maybe it's a career change altogether, so it's getting an, an education altogether, or experience. Now, that means that's more time, that's more work on your part. But that's, you know, it's also gonna be work sticking to a budget. It's also gonna be work living within certain means.

• 8:51Speaker 01

  But if you're very strategic about that, and you've got a plan that not only addresses the money that's going out, but it also addresses the money that's coming in. And you start thinking about your talents, your skills, your resources, to be able to improve your human capital and your ability to make money. Side gigs, we have the gig economy now, so there are ways that some people can make money on the side. And that can, that can build up, that can, you can start accumulating. Once you've got your expenses dialed in and you're living off of, off of your, your, your fixed expense budget. Now, everything that you make above that is just gravy. And you can, you can build up a decent savings. And then the other nice thing about it is your, the home that you can afford.

• 9:38Speaker 01

  You don't want to have to put more money down than you need to. And so the home that you can afford is going to be linked most, for most people to just their income.

• 9:47Speaker 02

  Right.

• 9:47Speaker 01

  So if you can increase your income for a period of time, that means you qualify for that much more of a home. And that's what all they care about.

• 9:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:55Speaker 01

  And once you get into that home, guess what? Yeah, you, you might be paying a little bit more than your rent, but at least a little bit of that money every month is going towards equity.

• 10:04Speaker 02

  Right.

• 10:04Speaker 01

  And you get the benefits of being a homeowner and the appreciation and all of those things. So.

• 10:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, renting and hoping to buy is hard.

• 10:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:13Speaker 02

  If you're in that spot and not able to, but so is going back to school and getting that more education. It, you know, nothing worthwhile is easy.

• 10:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's right. That's right.

• 10:23Speaker 02

  The way to look at it is it does take, it's complicated, a lot of moving parts, but climbing out of debt, increasing savings, getting your credit better. And as you mentioned, increasing income, all good things.

• 10:34Speaker 01

  Yeah. Got another question here and I'll go ahead and read it, Dustin. It says, I believe this is a scam, but I wanted to let you guys know that these are going around and seems like a new one. California DMV Department of Motor Vehicles Final Notice. Enforcement penalties begin on June 19th. Our records show that as of today, you still have an outstanding traffic ticket.

• 11:00Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 11:00Speaker 01

  In accordance with the new California DMV Administration Code 15C 1603. If you do not complete payment by June 18th, 2025, we will take the following actions. And then it gives a list of five different actions. They're going to report.

• 11:14Speaker 02

  I, I've received this.

• 11:16Speaker 01

  Have you seen this?

• 11:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, I've received it.

• 11:18Speaker 01

  I get a similar text message like this, but it's about a

• 11:25Speaker 02

  Toll? Yeah, I've seen that one too.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:27Speaker 02

  But what's a little, what'll throw you off is the link looks like it could be a real link. Yeah, this one, for example, is, you know, it's HTTP and the backslash and all that, but it says DMV.ca. So it looks like, hey, DMV, California, this looks legitimate, but it's not.

• 11:44Speaker 01

  It's not, because if you look at it even closer, it's, you know, HTTPS backslash, then it's DMV.ca hyphen GOV, G-O-U dot live slash pay. So it's like, they know exactly what they're doing, because most people aren't going to read the full URL.

• 12:04Speaker 02

  Right.

• 12:04Speaker 01

  They'll get to the point where they say DMV, they say, okay, they see CA, and then they see GOV.

• 12:09Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 12:09Speaker 01

  And they're like, okay, this is legit, and it's just not legit.

• 12:13Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 12:13Speaker 01

  DMV is not going to text you, DMV is not going to give you those types of deadlines.

• 12:21Speaker 02

  Well, and here's another reminder, the IRS will not text you or call you either. It's always a formal letter from the IRS.

• 12:27Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 12:28Speaker 02

  So I know we're talking about the DMV here, but just on that topic of who will actually reach out and how, you gotta be aware of that one, too.

• 12:35Speaker 01

  Yes. If you're ever in doubt, Google is pretty good, or whatever chatbot you use, if you copy and paste into that, especially Google is good, because it will, there's been, you know, thousands of other people that got the same exact message. And so usually it comes right up, it shows, you know, scam.

• 12:55Speaker 02

  Right.

• 12:56Speaker 01

  Don't answer, you know.

• 12:58Speaker 02

  Yes, spam likely.

• 12:59Speaker 01

  Spam likely, yeah. And that's exactly what this is, so thank you, listener, for sending that in. Hopefully that helps you avoid, you know, avoid getting scammed. We're going to do this. Dustin, we're going to take our first break of the day. We come back, we're going to be joined by Lois Henry. She is CEO and editor of SJV Water. We're going to talk water and what's going on in the valley. We're Money Wise. Don't go anywhere.

• 13:25Speaker 00

  Money Wise Wealth Management is the only locally owned independent firm that uses a comprehensive wealth tax and estate approach. Working closely with a highly trusted CPA and attorney for information on how Money Wise can help you invest and plan for your future. Call 661-847-1000. That's 661-847-1000.

• 13:50Speaker 01

  Welcome back. We're Money Wise. That's the walkout song for our current guest, Lois Henry. Is that what they call it?

• 13:58Speaker 02

  Walkout song?

• 13:59Speaker 01

  Walkout song?

• 13:59Speaker 00

  Walk in.

• 14:00Speaker 01

  Walk in song?

• 14:01Speaker 03

  Am I walking out?

• 14:02Speaker 01

  No.

• 14:03Speaker 03

  The guest got here.

• 14:03Speaker 00

  Not yet.

• 14:04Speaker 01

  I think they're walking out to the plate, but it's what they're walking into.

• 14:08Speaker 00

  Their entrance theme.

• 14:09Speaker 03

  I'm taking my Diet Pepsi and I'm walking out.

• 14:11Speaker 01

  No.

• 14:12Speaker 02

  Entrance theme. I like.

• 14:13Speaker 01

  It's not entrance theme.

• 14:14Speaker 00

  Yes, that's what it's called.

• 14:15Speaker 03

  Isn't it bumper music? What's bumper?

• 14:17Speaker 00

  Bumper is all music coming in and out of music. But when you, sports, wrestling, boxing, it's your entrance theme.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  Okay, all sports. But what about baseball? Just Major League Baseball when they're walking out to get to get ready to be at bat?

• 14:33Speaker 00

  That's their intro song.

• 14:34Speaker 03

  Walk on. Walk on.

• 14:37Speaker 00

  They don't do that. That's just in a Major League movie. They don't actually do that.

• 14:42Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 14:43Speaker 01

  Don't they do it? I just went to a Dodger game.

• 14:47Speaker 00

  Yeah, Dodger games, they'll do it. But not in other 30 teams.

• 14:50Speaker 01

  Are you serious?

• 14:51Speaker 03

  Apparently not in real sports, according to Steven.

• 14:54Speaker 01

  What makes me like the Dodgers even more?

• 14:56Speaker 00

  It's like the, they used to do it with Michael Jordan and the Bulls. They had that Chicago Bulls theme song. But they stopped doing that after Jordan left.

• 15:04Speaker 01

  Oh, oh, that's sad. So they don't do the big light show and

• 15:10Speaker 00

  No.

• 15:10Speaker 01

  Oh, my goodness. Sports are getting soft?

• 15:13Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 15:14Speaker 02

  Since Lois loves AI.

• 15:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:16Speaker 02

  AI said, you can call it entrance music, walk-on music, or entry theme.

• 15:21Speaker 01

  Walk-on music is what Lois said.

• 15:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:23Speaker 01

  Entry theme sounds too formal.

• 15:24Speaker 03

  I asked. I really wasn't making a statement. I was asking because I know nothing. I know nothing about sports other than, good God, turn it off.

• 15:31Speaker 01

  Okay. You're averse to that and you're averse to AI.

• 15:35Speaker 03

  Very averse to AI and overuse of the word awesome.

• 15:38Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 15:39Speaker 02

  Awesome.

• 15:40Speaker 01

  Yeah. Even worse than the word awesome, this came out during COVID, was unprecedented.

• 15:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, everything's unprecedented.

• 15:47Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. If I heard unprecedented one more time, I was ready to.

• 15:50Speaker 03

  You were ready to have an unprecedented, awesome fit.

• 15:53Speaker 01

  Yes, that's right. Lois, you've written, look, since last time you've been here, it looks like about 18 different articles. I want to kind of go to the most recent one because it covers a few of them, which is this ongoing lawsuit between the Save the Kern, Bring Back the Kern.

• 16:14Speaker 03

  Bring Back the Kern is the name of the group.

• 16:16Speaker 01

  And it is against, I guess, multiple agencies, including the city of Bakersfield.

• 16:21Speaker 03

  Incorrect.

• 16:21Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 16:22Speaker 03

  It's only against the city of Bakersfield.

• 16:25Speaker 01

  And there was a, from what I understand, Bring Back the Kern was saying, we need to dismiss this judge.

• 16:32Speaker 03

  No. No. And it's confusing because there's a lot of, there's a lot of moving parts and a lot of people and organizations. So Bring Back the Kern is a public interest group here locally made up some, you know, very energetic young people. I don't like young people normally, but they're very good people. They're very smart.

• 16:52Speaker 01

  Those young people.

• 16:54Speaker 03

  And they're very dedicated to learning a lot. So anyway, they. They want to bring back the Kern River through Bakersfield and they, along with a couple of other public interest groups and then this other organization called Water Audit California, they created this plaintiffs coalition and sued the city of Bakersfield in 2022, demanding that it look at its river operations because the city is in charge of, you know, they don't own all the water, but they are in charge, they own the river banks and the riverbed all the way from Manor to Enos Lane and all of the pertinences, the Weir's and Canalhead Gates, et cetera, within the banks of the river. And they are in charge of record keeping of the river and opening and closing those.

• 17:38Speaker 01

  The gates.

• 17:39Speaker 03

  The gates to deliver water, right? So they're basically in charge of this section of the river. And so Bring Back the Kern at all sued the city of Bakersfield demanding that they look at their river operations through the lens of the public trust doctrine, which, you know, is, you know, sort of looking at, you know, what's the highest, most beneficial use of water? And their contention is you're not, you know, considering public access and the environment in your operations. And the city's contention is, look, we're just operating the river based on 150 years' worth of agreements and lawsuits and decrees and contracts. You know, so, you know, our name's Bennett and we're not in it. They just, you know, we're just, they're just saying jump and we're saying, you know, okay, how high?

• 18:22Speaker 01

  Right.

• 18:23Speaker 03

  So that's the lawsuit that's going on. The very confusing part is that they did not name the other river owners, the river rights owners, which include the Kern Delta Water District, North Kern Water Storage District, Buena Vista Water Storage District, Kern Water Agency, and Rose del Rio Bravo Waters. They didn't name them as defendants, but the judge allowed those entities in as real parties in interest. So they can initiate, which they did, an appeal of the judge's.

• 18:55Speaker 03

  injunction that he issued in 2023 that said, hey, city, until we figure out this lawsuit and it's settled, you have to keep some water in the river for fish.

• 19:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:05Speaker 03

  That injunction was in place from 2023 until May of 2024. And those real parties in interest that I named, all those agricultural water districts, we'll just call them the water districts, appealed that injunction to the Fifth District Court of Appeals, which then overturned the injunction just here in April. And then the Kern Water Agency, one of the water districts, filed a motion to have the judge, Judge Gregory Pulsecamp, here locally, kicked off the case. And that was just denied. Sorry. It's super confusing. I know. That's a lot.

• 19:39Speaker 01

  That, that, that really helps. That's actually makes, makes more sense.

• 19:42Speaker 03

  I feel like I should maybe do a diagram when I do these stories.

• 19:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, you need to bring in a whiteboard with you when you come in. It's crazy.

• 19:49Speaker 02

  I'm a visual learner. I'd benefit from that.

• 19:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:51Speaker 02

  For sure.

• 19:52Speaker 01

  Just the, the different water agencies, it's just so complicated, how many rights, you know, river or water rights owners there are and who manages them and all of this stuff.

• 20:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, because they're, and, and at any given time, they're all suing each other.

• 20:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:10Speaker 03

  So at any given time, you are correct to think the city did this or so and so did that because at some point they all are.

• 20:17Speaker 01

  They're contractually obligated to do certain things. And so have you been a part, have you seen any of these hearings?

• 20:24Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, I've been to, I've been to almost all of them, except I think one of the management conference hearings. Yeah, so I sit and watch Judge Pulsecamp, and I was really surprised by the motion to kick him off. And the agency's contention was, oh, well, he filed this injunction, we appealed it, we won, so he's not going to like us now, so he's going to be biased against us, right?

• 20:44Speaker 01

  Oh, I see.

• 20:45Speaker 03

  And I was like, wow, I think that in watching this, and I've watched some complicated hearings over my years as a journalist, Pulsecamp has been incredibly patient. You know, where, where people are kind of going on and on, and I'm like, oh, my God, give him the hook.

• 21:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:03Speaker 03

  You know, personally, as I'm listening to it. And he's very patient, he's very thorough, he wants everyone to have their say. When he issued the injunction, He acknowledged that this will probably be appealed and we're not really sure. You know, maybe the appeal court will give us more clarity on it, but my reading of this state law is that I don't have wiggle room. I cannot make a different determination than I have just made. Now, and so he was not like arrogant, he's not, you know, making, you know, absolute certain pronouncements, you know, here's my commandments, blah, blah, blah. So I was really surprised that they did that.

• 21:40Speaker 01

  Yeah. And so did, was there any further clarification that we received from the appeals?

• 21:46Speaker 03

  Uh, the appellate court overturning of that injunction was not just an overturning of that injunction, it was a repudiation of that injunction. It, um, you have to understand, okay, Pulse Camp based his injunction on California Fish and Game Code 5937, which states that any dam operator has to make sure.

• 22:04Speaker 01

  Hey, watch your mouth. This is, we're, we're live on the air, Lois. I got Steven on that one.

• 22:10Speaker 03

  We're operator.

• 22:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, we're, there you go.

• 22:14Speaker 03

  Not a weird.

• 22:15Speaker 01

  No.

• 22:15Speaker 03

  Operator, you could be weird.

• 22:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:17Speaker 03

  And still operate the we're.

• 22:18Speaker 01

  We'll call him a dam operator.

• 22:20Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 22:20Speaker 01

  Just have a little pause between dam and operator.

• 22:22Speaker 02

  Operator of the dam.

• 22:23Speaker 03

  Operator of the dam. Yes. Uh, more passive construction, but okay. Anyway, so any one of those honiots.

• 22:32Speaker 01

  People.

• 22:32Speaker 03

  Um, has to make sure there's enough water downstream for fish. That is 5937. It's been a part of California law since before California was a state. It actually comes from back in the, in the 49, the 1849ers. Anyway, so Judge Pulse Camp said, okay, this is, you know, I gotta say, you gotta put enough water down the river to, you know, have enough fish. The Fifth District Court of Appeal said, oh, no, no, no, look, um, we're gonna send this back to you and you have to first determine how much water the fish need, which is, is a huge, I mean, you can imagine how many.

• 23:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, opinions there are on that.

• 23:08Speaker 03

  Opinions and experts, everyone's gonna hire and, you know, what kind of fish and how long and for what, I mean, so that's in itself just this huge, you know, ball of, you know, never ending questions.

• 23:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:18Speaker 03

  And then they said, and then you also have to balance, once, once you've determined this amount of water, you have to balance and say, is that a reasonable use of the water compared to all of the other demands on the river? And of course, that's its own giant, you know, ball of wax and stuff like, and then there's this, I don't want to get into it because maybe it's too much, but there is this whole issue of. Judge Polskamp, in environmental cases, judges typically say, like, if I get an injunction against you for speaking, you know, I'm enjoying you against speaking, and you're like, well, you know, that's how I make my living. So as long as the injunction is in place, you're not going to be able to make a living, and so I have to put up a bond that in case the injunction is found to be incorrect, you are not out the money that you've lost.

• 24:03Speaker 01

  I see, I see.

• 24:04Speaker 03

  Right? So typically, in environmental cases, that's called a nominal bond, and in this case, the judge said, you have to give us a $1,000 bond, and the plaintiffs did. Well, the fifth district said, no, no, you have to put up an actual bond. And the water district said that during the time that injunction was in place, they lost $5.7 million. And unlike a criminal bond, which some of us know more about than

• 24:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:28Speaker 03

  we probably should, which you only need to put up 10%, and then you get a bail bondsman to put up the rest, right?

• 24:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:33Speaker 03

  No, no, in this case, you have to put up 100%.

• 24:35Speaker 01

  So that would mean that the plaintiffs, bring back the Kern, would have to come up with 5.5 million or 5.7?

• 24:41Speaker 03

  5.7, and that was only for the five months that the injunction was in place. So I'm sure, you know, potentially it could be far more. So all of those issues are now at the Supreme Court, California State Supreme Court.

• 24:54Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 24:54Speaker 03

  The plaintiffs are seeking review of all of those issues, because the bond issue in particular could affect all kinds of cases, up and down and around the state. And there's all kinds of different public interest lawsuits, not just environmental lawsuits, that, you know, the bond issue is going to be completely prohibitive.

• 25:11Speaker 01

  We're joined by Lois Henry. She is the CEO and editor of SJV Water. Lois, you'd mentioned the law that goes back to the gold rush. Was there not other, was there not another, like, state Supreme Court ruling or something that changed the definition in terms of environmentally, the requirements for water, public water? Like, am I thinking, maybe I'm just not thinking of that, but like, it seemed like there was something more recent that changed, you know, within the last 10 years that made it more

• 25:49Speaker 01

  More possible for the water to come through the river. It's not that the law of the river?

• 25:55Speaker 03

  Not probably not.

• 25:56Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 25:56Speaker 03

  But I know, I'm sorry.

• 25:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:57Speaker 03

  It could be, but I'm just not as familiar.

• 26:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, it just seems why, why has it taken this long for there to be any lawsuit at all? We haven't had water running through the river since I was born and raised here. Fifty years, we've gotten lucky a couple of years, you know, but there's never been water running through the town.

• 26:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, well, so I'm actually trying to work on a series of videos to try and explain that. I'm terrible at it. I don't know why. I, oh, yeah, I'll do a video. It'd be great. Oh, yeah. By the way, I don't know how to do video.

• 26:27Speaker 01

  No.

• 26:28Speaker 03

  Or audio.

• 26:28Speaker 01

  You've done some videos, maybe it was an intern that you had, but you had, I really enjoyed them, the videos.

• 26:34Speaker 03

  The Law of the River.

• 26:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, and then you interviewed, was that Mark Moké?

• 26:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 26:39Speaker 01

  And you could see the weir and he explained how the weirs work and I was super informative.

• 26:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, I was looking back at this. It's called The Law of the River and I looked back, there's seven of those videos and I basically went to each section of the river. You know, I did seven sections and said, okay, here's how this part works.

• 26:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:55Speaker 03

  Here's how that part works. And I kind of, I kind of had a misnomer in the intros where I was like, yeah, we're gonna look at the ownership of the water. Really, we didn't look at the ownership of the water. We looked at the mechanics of how the river works. And in this series of videos I'm working on, I'm trying to do the ownership of the water, which is, as you mentioned, super confusing. You know, because, oh, you know, these three entities get this much, you know, if the river's running at a thousand CFS, which is cubic feet per second, then this guy gets, you know, seventy cubic feet per second, this guy gets ten and this guy gets twenty percent. Okay, great. I get it. Okay, I can see it. Oh, except for if it's March through August, then it's all completely different. What?

• 27:35Speaker 01

  Yeah. It doesn't get easier.

• 27:38Speaker 03

  So I'm trying to figure out a way to do something graphically to show how this water actually moves and where it goes to and all that kind of stuff.

• 27:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, that would be helpful. Bring in a big, blown up, printed version of it next time you come in here.

• 27:50Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 27:51Speaker 01

  Okay, so then that's where we stand right now. It sounds like it's going to the state Supreme Court.

• 27:57Speaker 03

  Well, that particular portion of the

• 27:59Speaker 01

  Oh, just the bond.

• 28:00Speaker 03

  Just the injunction. Well, no, no, they're the California Attorney General got involved and all this kind of stuff. So all of the stuff that I mentioned, the 5937, the bond, all of that stuff is going up to the Supreme Court, which may or may not. It's highly like, it's highly unlikely they will grant review because they very, very seldomly grant review. So we'll see what happens with that. But the lawsuit, the underlying lawsuit is continuing and the next date is December 8th is the actual trial date. So we'll see. And, and, you know, so it is a good thing that the Kern County Superior Court, if, if people are, you know, looking at this in a timely manner, that they denied that motion for a new judge because that would have like

• 28:42Speaker 03

  reset everything. I mean, a new judge would have to just, you know, get up to speed on all this stuff. And I'm sure that, you know, the jurists in Kern County are looking at Pulse Camp going, you go for it. We want nothing to do with this sucker because it is so complicated.

• 28:57Speaker 01

  Very complicated. They, they, then what this court hearing will be is to

• 29:03Speaker 03

  It's the trial. It's the trial date.

• 29:06Speaker 01

  How was the trial, like the trial, it seems like the appellate court shot it down.

• 29:11Speaker 03

  That's just the injunction. That's just the injunction. So the, the lawsuit is going along. Chuk, chuk, chuk, chuk, chuk, right from 2022, right? Do, do, do. We want the city, because it's

• 29:21Speaker 01

  Release the water.

• 29:22Speaker 03

  It's Bring Back the Kern is not saying any of that. Bring Back the Kern is suing the city, saying you have not operated this river appropriately because you need to study the operations on the environment. That's what you need. That's the underlying lawsuit.

• 29:34Speaker 01

  I see.

• 29:35Speaker 03

  Then 2023 happened, you know, that we had a river, fish came back, and then they said, hey, we want to do an emergency injunction to keep water in the river to keep the fish alive. And that was its own kind of little plate that went spinning off to the side.

• 29:48Speaker 01

  I see. Okay. And that's what's going to the Supreme, the state Supreme Court, just that injunction. But the trial's still going down forward.

• 29:55Speaker 03

  Right.

• 29:56Speaker 01

  And so, wow, that's a big distinction. I didn't realize that.

• 30:02Speaker 03

  It's so complicated, sorry.

• 30:04Speaker 01

  Well, you have to understand all the legal processes, you know, that's what's, you know.

• 30:08Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's not easy.

• 30:09Speaker 02

  A lot of moving parts.

• 30:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:11Speaker 02

  We actually got a good listener question in here. It said, did I read that water prices will be doubling here in a few weeks, too? Are they just attempting to try and make it harder to live in California unless you work two to three jobs? I know two different questions there, but, uh, Miss Water Expert, what, uh?

• 30:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, you've written about.

• 30:28Speaker 02

  What is happening? Is there some, have you written about this?

• 30:30Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 30:30Speaker 02

  Increasing, so what's going on there?

• 30:32Speaker 03

  Okay, so in the city of Bakersfield, uh, we have, uh, eight different water purveyors, I think, eight.

• 30:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:41Speaker 03

  Some are, um, some are mutual water companies, some are community services districts, some are Cal Water is the big kahuna. Cal Water Services actually is a, uh, a for-profit utility that's, um, governed by the CPUC, California Public Utilities Commission. And they service most of the people.

• 31:00Speaker 01

  In the city.

• 31:01Speaker 03

  Yeah, in the city.

• 31:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:02Speaker 03

  And then the city of Bakersfield actually has its own, um, little area that it, it serves. Just to make it more confusing, though, the billing is done by Cal Water. So a lot of people who are in the city.

• 31:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:15Speaker 03

  The, the way that you would know that if you're in the city's, uh, jurisdiction is your water is super, super cheap.

• 31:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:21Speaker 03

  Because municipalities are legally, unlike for-profit and all these other places, they legally are only able to charge what it costs to produce and provide you with the water. And anytime they want to do a rate increase, they have to do what's called a Proposition 218 election. And so that's what just happened here recently. And, um, the city water department, um, also took over the wastewater department last year, I think, you know, with the sewer and everything. And so. They did a study of it. They like, in fact, I wrote about this. I went to the Water Resources Department meetings. That's what I go to.

• 31:53Speaker 01

  Fun.

• 31:54Speaker 03

  And, um, yeah.

• 31:56Speaker 01

  Good times.

• 31:56Speaker 03

  I told you what I was doing before I came in here.

• 31:58Speaker 01

  I know.

• 31:58Speaker 03

  Reading contracts from 25 years ago. Anyway.

• 32:00Speaker 01

  That's why you need that caffeine.

• 32:02Speaker 03

  Yeah. Um, so at this, at this meeting, and I covered it and I, you know, and the Californian ran my story too. And I was like, oh, this is gonna get some notice.

• 32:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:10Speaker 03

  And it just went over like, phew.

• 32:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:12Speaker 03

  Uh, they were gonna, they agreed to recommend to the city council to do a proper 218 election on the sewer rate and the water rate. Sewer rate, they wanted to raise by 350%. They needed to. And it's, I'm not saying they didn't need to. It's, they haven't raised the sewer rate in like 16 years or something, you know? And people have been flushing.

• 32:31Speaker 01

  Right.

• 32:31Speaker 03

  Anyway, so then also, I was like, well, the city water rate is gonna go up by, I think it was, you know, it's like, it's like, I don't know, 20% one year and 25 and then da-da-da, you know? So you add it all together and it was like, wait, this is going up by like almost 60%.

• 32:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:48Speaker 03

  And not only that, two years before, they had approved a water rate increase. And so it's like, it's been doing nothing but been increasing over the last like six years and it's gonna continue to increase. And so I wrote about that. And then the sewer rate, you know, got all kinds of attention when it went to the city council. And the city council was like, oh, wait, what? People don't want their, you know, they don't want a 350% increase? What? And, um, and I kept writing about like, well, okay, yeah, that, you know, that went down in flames. And, but the water rate is still coming, people. The water rate is still coming.

• 33:20Speaker 01

  Right.

• 33:21Speaker 03

  And, you know, I don't know, people just didn't really pay much attention to it. And yeah, now people are like, wait.

• 33:26Speaker 01

  What's happening?

• 33:27Speaker 03

  Because I think they did their 218 election and the way a 218 election works is, you know, I put out the notice like, hey, I wanna, you know, take all your money and your shoes and, um, you know, kick your dog. Is that okay? And then if you don't write in and say, no, and the, a majority of people write in and say, no, that's not okay.

• 33:45Speaker 01

  Right.

• 33:46Speaker 03

  I win.

• 33:47Speaker 01

  Right.

• 33:47Speaker 03

  Which, it's a really fun way to do an election.

• 33:49Speaker 01

  Really fun. Like what a, what a strange election.

• 33:52Speaker 03

  And by the way, I'm, I'm planning on having exactly that election. Take it all your money, plus your good shoes.

• 33:57Speaker 01

  Yeah. So I just, you just need, you need just less than half of the people mad enough to write a letter and you could get that, you could get that passed.

• 34:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:07Speaker 01

  And so that was my suspicion too, was that there was so much outrage right when it first happened.

• 34:12Speaker 03

  Over the sewer rate though, everybody, because they, they did it, the city council did it in two things, right? They didn't do it in one batch where people would like get mad at the whole thing, they did it separately.

• 34:21Speaker 01

  Right. And then it can go fly under the radar maybe potentially until people start getting their bill.

• 34:26Speaker 03

  Right.

• 34:27Speaker 01

  That, my guess is the next step is they'll start seeing the increase in their bill whenever it takes effect.

• 34:32Speaker 03

  Right. Arguably, I mean, the city, uh, okay, so here's, if you want to hear me late, I was like, like, it's hard to do this without swearing. In that city resources department meeting where I was at, they were talking about, oh, we've done this 10 year study on these projects we need to do and how terrible everything is and da, da, da, da, and this, that and the other, right? And so they, the committee vote, it's three council members on that committee, they vote, yeah, yeah, you know, it sounds really good, we're going to recommend to the city that they do these, you know, outrageous increases. And I was, I went up to him later and I was like, well, can I get a list of that project, that study, you know, that you're talking about that these people just in a public meeting voted on? And they were like, mm, no, that's draft. And I was like, you know, cause you, I don't know if you know this about me, I go from,

• 35:15Speaker 03

  hi, how are you, nice to meet you, to like devil horns coming out of my eyes in like 10 seconds and nothing just horks me off more than public agency people not giving me public.

• 35:28Speaker 01

  Information.

• 35:29Speaker 03

  Information. And so they made me do, um, a, a California Public Records Act request for that information, which then takes whatever, two, three days. Sometimes they like to stretch it out to do 10 days to get it to me. And I was sort of like, I'm, you know, trying to write this in a way so that people understand why this is necessary, so it gives them more context, more information. But, uh, my story tomorrow is just going to say that you guys voted on this public document and refused to give it to me.

• 35:55Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 35:55Speaker 03

  By a condios, with your, by a condios with your attempt to get people to buy into this and guess what happened?

• 36:02Speaker 01

  It showed up and you didn't run the story?

• 36:04Speaker 03

  Oh, I ran the story.

• 36:05Speaker 01

  Oh, you, they ended up not giving it?

• 36:07Speaker 03

  I, no, they didn't give it to me. And I was like, well, they didn't give it to me, they voted on this thing and said they had this document, but, um, they wouldn't give it to me, so I can't tell you what the projects are that they want this.

• 36:17Speaker 01

  That's justifying the increase.

• 36:19Speaker 03

  Yeah, so, and people, you know, were like, wait, what?

• 36:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 36:24Speaker 03

  They didn't do. My point is, when a public agency wants to do this kind of stuff, they might see me and other people in my industry as the enemy, but it's like, you know, the more information to the public is always better. And if they know, if they knew how, but now, of course, after the disastrous outreach or outcome that they had of all that stuff, now they're trying to get people to come out and do tours of the wastewater plant and stuff like that. And it's like, dudes, I was there. I was the only one there. I was asking for the information. You may not like me, and I totally get it because I'm completely unlikable, and I don't care.

• 37:02Speaker 01

  Right. And you know what? That is good journalism.

• 37:05Speaker 03

  But give me the information!

• 37:07Speaker 01

  That is why you're a good journalist, because who else is going to be there, you know, after the meeting, asking for the information that should be important, that should be public? Like, this is why I'm a fan of local journalism, especially local journalism, because they're essentially a watchdog, a watchdog for the public.

• 37:28Speaker 02

  Local journalism with passion. Where did this passion come from for water?

• 37:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:32Speaker 02

  We've probably asked you this before, but...

• 37:33Speaker 01

  No, that's a good question, Dustin.

• 37:34Speaker 02

  Honestly.

• 37:35Speaker 03

  It's kind of a long story.

• 37:36Speaker 00

  Well, we've got about 16 minutes.

• 37:39Speaker 01

  Yeah. If you want to share, we could take a break. You want to think about it?

• 37:43Speaker 03

  Oh, I don't have to think about it, but we can take a break because I need to drink more Diet Pepsi.

• 37:47Speaker 01

  Okay, we'll take a break. You drink more Diet Pepsi, and then we'll come back. Lois Henry is going to tell us her long, romantic story.

• 37:55Speaker 03

  Funny curse words. There's trauma. You'll laugh, you'll cry.

• 37:59Speaker 01

  How water came to be in the life of Lois Henry. We're MoneyWise, don't go anywhere.

• 38:03Speaker 00

  Are you an employee with a company-sponsored retirement plan? Do you fully understand how you're invested and whether or not you are maximizing your retirement plan's options? For more information on a free assessment, contact MoneyWise's 401(k) Specialist, Justin Leland, at 661-847-1000. That's 661-847-1000.

• 38:28Speaker 01

  Here's Lois Henry's walk-on song. We're Money Wise. It's just called a walkout now. Walkout, yeah. Thanks for tuning in, folks. We're Money Wise. I'm Jared Waite here with Dustin Weaver. Our guest today is Lois Henry, CEO and editor of SJV Water. Lois, we left the last segment talking about your, your passion for water.

• 38:51Speaker 03

  I was hit on the head as a small child.

• 38:53Speaker 01

  That's it, huh?

• 38:54Speaker 02

  With a water bottle.

• 38:55Speaker 03

  With a water bottle.

• 38:56Speaker 01

  By a farmer.

• 38:57Speaker 03

  Yes, there you go.

• 38:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:59Speaker 03

  All right. You want to hear the story?

• 39:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, I want to hear the story.

• 39:01Speaker 03

  Okay, so there I was as the assistant managing editor at the newspaper.

• 39:05Speaker 01

  Yeah. Bakersfield, California?

• 39:07Speaker 03

  Bakersfield, California, assistant managing editor. I always have and still do read the legal ads in the newspaper.

• 39:15Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 39:18Speaker 01

  You're crazy.

• 39:18Speaker 03

  There's lots you can learn.

• 39:20Speaker 01

  Oh, I'm sure.

• 39:21Speaker 03

  Lots you can learn.

• 39:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:23Speaker 03

  And so, let me think. This was, well, it doesn't matter. It was early 2000s, but we were in a drought. We're always in a drought, right? You know, farmers like, oh, wow, wow, we're just, you know, dying here, no, no, right? And I start noticing all of these legal ads for water sales of excess water. The Kern County Water Agency kept putting all of these water up for sale for excess water, sales of excess water to this thing called the Environmental Water Account, selling to the Water Account. And I was like, what the heck? So, we had an environmental reporter at the time, whose name Shelby Karen.

• 39:56Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 39:56Speaker 03

  Okay, and I was the, because I was the AME. I was, I was not doing my own stories, right? So, I tapped Karen to say like, hey, you know, can you find out what's going on with this? And, you know, go to the Kern County Water Agency. So she kept coming back with, not, she was quoting them accurately, but I was like, that sounds like BS.

• 40:14Speaker 01

  Did she also come back with gifts?

• 40:16Speaker 03

  No.

• 40:18Speaker 03

  She would come back with this dazed look on her face like, please don't make me go talk to them anymore.

• 40:23Speaker 01

  What are they talking about? Right.

• 40:25Speaker 03

  So, they were saying like, they were telling her, well, you know, because of the delta smelt, the, you know, sensitivity of the Sacramento, San Joaquin delta, we, the Kern County Water- Water agency have entered into an agreement with the Department of Water Resources where we will sell them back water, you know, in order to keep the smelt going or the endangered species or what have you for the environment. And I was like, huh, how's that happen? You know, we're 300 miles south of them and it's all gravity fed. How does that work? And I also noticed that they were selling, they were buying the water at like, you know, $65 an acre foot and selling it for like $565 an acre foot, right? Pretty good deal. Right, yeah. So they were very money wise. Yes. If you're supposed to give you a plug here. Yes, they were.

• 41:09Speaker 03

  So I was like, how does this work? I kept sending her back and, you know, she'd come back and she was like, oh, well, there's like, apparently pumping electricity costs? And I was like, that's ridiculous. There is no pump that's out there pumping this water. 300 miles. 300 miles north. So I kept sending her back, kept sending her back, kept sending her back. And so finally, we work out this story that was a front page story, bottom of the fold, so annoying, about how these farmers in Kern County were making these sales. And what they did is they just basically said, okay, we won't take the water, right? And so we'll sell it back to you by not taking the water deliveries down here. That's how they sold it back. So there's no electricity pumping, none of that garbage, right? But they were making this huge profit. And, you know, some of the people within the Kern

• 41:53Speaker 03

  County Water Agency, because the Kern County Water Agency is just an umbrella unit and then, or structure, and then there's all these water agencies beneath it that actually, you know, get the contracted water. But when they set it all up, the Department of Water Resources said, we don't want to deal with 13 of you Honyaks, you know, just make one agency and then you are the pass through, you know? So Kern Delta pays the freight and then the Kern County Water Agency gathers the money and gives it to DWR, right? So within those different districts, there were people like, oh, I don't know, wonderful farming, selling this excess water, right? At the same time as they're screaming about drought and everything. And so, I mean, it was multiple millions, millions and millions of dollars, right? So we did this little story that, you know, I could finally, you know, hammer poor Karen into doing, because they kept sending her back, blah, blah, blah,

• 42:38Speaker 03

  blah. And it was a huge, huge, huge, huge. A S S story.

• 42:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:44Speaker 03

  In the scope of things. And so we had the, you know, I could barely get her to do that. And by the way, she quit right after that and said she never wanted to write another water story again.

• 42:52Speaker 01

  Whoa. Was it pressure from the?

• 42:56Speaker 03

  I broke.

• 42:56Speaker 01

  Big water?

• 42:57Speaker 03

  Reporter. No, I broke. I think it was, I think it was like, I don't really want to work with that Lois. She's a psycho.

• 43:04Speaker 03

  And so, so that we did our little story, right? And then like three or four weeks later, the Contra Costa Times comes out with a series on the same thing where they kind of delved, you know, in greater depth to it. And they got like a huge like prize for it. I can't remember who they got a huge, big, you know, journalism prize. And I was just, of course I was steaming about that because I couldn't get my own reporter, you know, and it couldn't get my own little fingernails in there.

• 43:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:28Speaker 03

  But that, I looked at that and I said, water is money and water is power. That's what water is. Water is not like some boring thing that comes out of your tap. Water makes, breaks, empires, especially in this state. And the people who are moving it and running it and, you know, this is, I mean, it's our, it's all of our lifeblood. Obviously we need water to survive, but it's also our economic base, right? So what's happening with it? Who's doing what? Who's profiting? Who's not? Who's in? Who's out? I mean, the questions are endless.

• 44:01Speaker 01

  Right.

• 44:01Speaker 03

  There you go.

• 44:02Speaker 01

  It needs to be tracked and reported on, and that's what you're doing.

• 44:04Speaker 03

  And that's what I do. And I, every time I think, God, why have I gotten myself into this? Something will hook me back.

• 44:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, then you go for a swim.

• 44:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:12Speaker 01

  The, um, though, this was before Sigma also, right?

• 44:17Speaker 03

  Oh yeah, this was back 2000.

• 44:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:21Speaker 03

  So Sigma wasn't passed until 2014.

• 44:23Speaker 01

  Oh yeah. So like, I mean, that alone is like a monumental shift in the way that water's been managed in the state of California since the beginning.

• 44:32Speaker 03

  Right. Well, yeah, Sustainable Groundwater Management Act for your listeners who don't know. It's the first, the first effort by California ever to regulate groundwater. And we have a serious problem. We, I'm not going to say we don't, you know, pumping has been excessive. Our, um, our overdraft, I think in Kern County is 300,000 acre feet a year. Overdraft, just like your bank account.

• 44:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:54Speaker 03

  You're not putting in as much as you're taking out.

• 44:55Speaker 01

  Right. And people would think, well, who cares? What's the big deal? Part of it is the subsidence.

• 45:00Speaker 03

  Land, okay, so.

• 45:01Speaker 01

  Damage.

• 45:02Speaker 03

  The, well, I think the bigger issue is domestic wells. Ag wells are usually drilled, you know, super deep, right? Domestic wells are like in the 300 to 400 feet, you know, 500 feet. And I think the municipal wells are much deeper now, but when you drop that groundwater table, you're affecting everyone's drinking water, not just access, because, you know, a well can go dry.

• 45:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:24Speaker 03

  But also water quality, because the less water there is, there's the less dilution for potential pollution.

• 45:30Speaker 01

  Right, right.

• 45:31Speaker 02

  I have a crazy easy question. Acre foot. I'm picturing an acre lot with like a foot deep of water. Is that an acre foot? Okay.

• 45:38Speaker 03

  I always think of it like this.

• 45:39Speaker 01

  Good job.

• 45:40Speaker 03

  Even though I dislike sports.

• 45:43Speaker 03

  A football field, a foot deep, that is an acre foot.

• 45:47Speaker 02

  Acre foot.

• 45:48Speaker 01

  It's okay, ACDC is overrated. Wow. Ouch. Shots fired.

• 45:55Speaker 03

  I have friends who will be visiting you.

• 45:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:59Speaker 02

  They probably know my dad and they're all long-haired hippies, so.

• 46:04Speaker 03

  And then here's another measurement for you. CFS.

• 46:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:07Speaker 03

  CFS measures cubic feet per second. Cubic feet per second.

• 46:11Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 46:11Speaker 03

  So that's the volume of water that's going past a stationary point. You can think of CFS as like a cubic foot as a basketball. So if I tell you something's running 1,000 CFS, that's a thousand basketballs going by you every second.

• 46:24Speaker 01

  Oh, wow. Right.

• 46:24Speaker 03

  So you can kind of.

• 46:25Speaker 01

  It's great visual.

• 46:26Speaker 03

  Visualize that.

• 46:27Speaker 01

  And then a home uses, what's the acre foot? Or how much does each resident roughly use in water?

• 46:35Speaker 03

  An acre, let me think. An acre of homes uses about three acre feet per year.

• 46:41Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 46:41Speaker 03

  I think that's right.

• 46:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:42Speaker 03

  Because it's the same for, it's transitioning from ag to urban is about the same.

• 46:49Speaker 01

  Yeah. That's fascinating. Lois Henry, thank you so much for taking the time, coming on our show. It's Lois Henry, CEO and editor of SJV Water. You can find out more at sjvwater.org. Support local journalism. Remember these three things. Be smart, be safe, and always be money wise.

• 47:07Speaker 04

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