Friant-kern Canal repairs damaged by storm
A major repair project of the Friant Kern Canal was able to withstand all of the storms so far this winter, including doing what it was intended to do during the New Year’s storm. But the latest major storm that happened on Thursday night and Friday was too much for it to handle.
The Friant-kern Canal repairs at Deer Creek sustained damage on Friday night. The Friantkern Canal repairs had sustained minimal damage through this season’s storms until Friday.
And it will be difficult to assess the damage for now especially with another major storm expected today. Photos posted by the Friant Water Authority, which oversees the Friant-kern Canal, shows the enormous amount of flooding that happened at the site due to the most recent storm.
The Friant Water Authority described what happened as result of the most recent storm as a “severe breach” to the construction site to sjvwater.com
In posting the photos of the flooding at the construction site, the Friant Water Authority stated: “Fix the FKC Middle reach, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.”
The post was referring to the name of the project, the Friant-kern Canal Middle Reach Capacity Correction Project. The ultimate plan of the project is to repair a 33mile stretch of the canal from between Lindsay and Strathmore to North Kern County where it has been the most damaged due to subsidence, the effective sinking of the canal caused by the overpumping of groundwater. As a result of the subsidence, the canal’s conveyance ability, it’s ability to deliver water, has been severely hampered in that section.
Work began in January, 2022 on what was considered the most damaged part of that stretch, a 10mile stretch. Effectively, a new canal is being constructed adjacent to the current canal as part of that project. The Deer Creek site is near Avenue 104 and Road 208 west of Terra Bella.
A critical feature of the canal's repairs was completed which represented a major milestone. The completion of the Deer Creek siphon enabled the canal to handle
higher flows of water through Deer Creek.
That repair was done just in time as the Deer Creek Siphon was put to the test during a New Year's storm and the siphon was able to avert an overflow. But last week's storm proved to be too much to handle.
Before the recent setback it was hoped the 10-mile stretch repair could be completed by January, 2024.
It's projected the 33mile repair of the canal could cost as much as $500 million. A package of financing of local, state and federal funds is being used to fund the project.