A water dispute involving a community more than 200 miles away could have real financial consequences for Kern County residents, with a $14 million debt at the center of the controversy.
For more than two decades, the Kern County Water Agency has supplied water to Diablo Grande, a 600-home development in Stanislaus County, through a complex state water exchange. According to the Kern County Water Agency, the Western Hills Water District in Stanislaus County stopped paying for those deliveries in 2019, and the unpaid bill has now grown to about $14 million.
I reached out to the Western Hills Water District for comment, but they hung up on me and then refused to answer my calls…