Six rafting enthusiasts held a grueling protest Sunday to draw awareness to what they say are inadequate flows in a 16-mile stretch of the Kern River because of Southern California Edison’s diversions to its Kernville power plant, Kern River 3 (KR3).
The boaters floated from Johnsondale Bridge to the Fairview Dam, where Edison takes water out of the river, running it through a flume high across the mountains to penstocks that deliver it to KR3, leaving the river bed with a fraction of its natural flow
Then they carried, or portaged, the 100-pound, 8-person raft provided by Whitewater Voyages 16 miles down Sierra Way to KR3, where Edison releases water back into the river.
Julianne Finch, Kate Adamson, Omar Ramirez, Jonathan Yates and Juan Vargas, all of Bakersfield, along with James Boster of Bishop, started their day driving to the launch site at 5:30 a.m., ending it back in the river, finally, at 5:30 p.m…