TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

The skies opened up in December and dumped blessed snow in California's mountains, flooded our streets and filled our rivers. That's a good thing, right?

Yes and no.

OK, it's better than having no precipitation, according to water district folks I spoke with recently. But the timing and sheer abundance of snow in the northern mountains created a new headache known by the name "carry over water."

I know, I know, water guys around here sometimes seem like a bunch of hairy-legged Goldilockses -- there's not enough water; then there's too much. It's never juuust right.

Carry over water, though, is an interesting twist in the state's intricate plumbing system so it is helpful to understand how it works and why it's such a big deal to Kern County.

When State Water Project contractors are faced with shortages from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as has been the case over the past few years, they pump more ground water and save as much delta water in the San Luis Reservoir as they can to hedge against the next year.

Whatever they save is carried over in San Luis to the following year, hence the creative title of carry over water.

As drought and regulatory restrictions have choked back supplies from the delta, carry over water has become a larger feature of water management, particularly for districts in western Kern County, which rely heavily on state water.

"That's our insurance. No one wants to lose any carry over water," Harry Starkey, general manager of West Kern Water District, said.

Kern state water contractors collectively had a little over 160,000 acre feet of carry over water in San Luis coming into this water year, according to Rob Kunde, general manager of Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa Water Storage District.

Then along came those rippin' December storms.

Suddenly, the state (and the federal Central Valley Project, but we'll leave it out for simplicity's sake) started moving water out of the delta into the San Luis Reservoir in a hurry.

That in turn created a mad scramble locally.

Because, at a certain point, as the reservoir fills, whatever carry over water districts had from the previous year is assimilated into the current year's supplies.

It is erased -- lost.

"The crazy thing is, this is such a good water year and we could have ended up losing water," Starkey said.

Exactly when the change from carry over to current supplies happens is more of an art than a science.

"There isn't a certain date when they convert the carry over water," Kunde explained. "It's the physical amount of water in the reservoir. It's when it's full."

Moving 160,000 acre feet of water out of San Luis Reservoir to some other handy, accessible spot was a daunting feat, particularly since every other state contractor was trying to do the same thing.

Kern is lucky to have vast groundwater banks at the ready, which are also quite thirsty after several years of massive pumping to meet demand. So, just about every recharge pond in the county was flush to the brim all January long.

"All our ponds are taking as much as they can," said Scott Hamilton, a director for the massive Kern Water Bank. "If any are empty it's only because of capacity constraints in the Cross Valley Canal."

Districts couldn't get water into the ground fast enough, Kunde agreed.

As January stretched out warm and dry, the pressure slacked.

As of Monday, Kern state water contractors had only about 60,000 acre feet of carry over water left in San Luis, Kunde said.

OK, so the carry over water crisis appears to be handled. Yay!

But now, Hamilton said, the big question is what's known as "Article 21" water. (I know, it never ends with these guys.)

Article 21 water is pure gravy.

The delta doesn't need it for endangered species, San Luis Reservoir is full and there's spare pumping capacity. When those stars align, state contractors are offered Article 21 water proportionally based on their contracted allotments.

Other contractors don't have the banking capabilities Kern does, so most of that water comes here. That is, until endangered species regulations forced greater pumping restrictions on the delta over the past few years, drying up Article 21 water almost entirely.

Without it, the Kern Water Bank and others have drawn heavily on previously banked supplies. And that has caused turmoil among neighboring districts, such as Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District, which sued Kern Water Bank last year for depleting its groundwater.

"If we hadn't lost that Article 21 water over those last several years, you have to wonder what would the situation for homeowners in Rosedale be?" Hamilton said in reference to several residents whose wells have gone dry over the last year.

This year, Hamilton speculated, as much as 250,000 acre feet of Article 21 water could be available, which would go a long way toward replenishing the bank.

But the clock is ticking.

"By the end of March, the opportunity to take it disappears," he said.

That's when the irrigation season kicks in and pumps will be busy meeting that demand. So even if there's extra water, no one can get at it.

Kunde laughed when I asked if water people were ever satisfied.

"No," he said. "We're never comfortable."

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at Bakersfield.com, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com.