BAKERSFIELD, CA – The Water Association of Kern County proudly presented its Water Leader of the Year and Water Legacy Awards Wednesday, November 6th, at its 2024 WAKC Annual Meeting held at Stockdale Country Club.
Board members and guests gathered for the 68th Annual Meeting and were excited to come together and surprise the award recipients. Jason Giannelli, 2023-2025 WAKC President, welcomed everyone to the Annual Meeting and introduced the evenings agenda. Guest Speaker, Senator Melissa Hurtado spoke about her perspective on water and shaping policy to better protect agriculture and urban communities.
Every year WAKC presents the Water Leader of the Year and the Water Legacy Awards at the Annual Meeting. The Water Leader of the Year award is given to an individual who has shown significant contributions, leadership and integrity over the past year. Jeevan Muhar, General Manager of Arvin-Edison Water District, presented the 2024 Water Leader of the Year award to Derek Yurosek. Yurosek is the current chair of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Coordination Committee for Kern County and is a key player in our SGMA process with the State Water Resources Control Board. Unfortunately, Derek was unable to join us for the evening, however he expressed his gratitude, “…Although I know I am receiving this award, I truly believe that this an award that goes to the entire Kern County Basin and the time, effort and passion that hundreds of people have given to protect our water and land. As we know the person that hold the award is a representation of everyone they engage with and I am blessed to have the best of class in all areas. I hope everyone is having a wonderful evening and I am truly honored and humbled. Thank you!”
Ernest Conant, the 2019 winner of our Water Legacy Award and retired USBR Region Director, presented the Water Legacy Award to honor a recipient who spent his life working in water issues, demonstrated leadership and long-term commitment to Kern County water. Conant presented the Water Legacy Award to Scott Kuney. Conant stated “Scott has dedicated his career to Kern County water over the past 40 plus years. As a 2nd generation Water Attorney, he learned from his father the great work he could do in water. I am proud to have had Scott as a colleague and friend.” Kuney was shocked and extremely grateful for the opportunity and expressed his appreciation to WAKC and the water community.
The evening was a remarkable testament to the longevity of service in the amazing individuals that represent our Kern County water community. We are grateful for their service and commitment to Kern County Water.
Every summer, we organize a water awareness and conservation campaign named ‘Don’t be that Guy’. WAKC connects local purveyors together to engage in a county wide water conservation campaign. Combining efforts and resources to maximize impact for our county. May has been marked as Water Conservation Month by statewide agencies. As May is typically the state to summer, we like to remind residents leading into our summer months ‘Don’t be that Guy’ wasting water, and be aware of your water usage.
May kick starts our water awareness and conservation campaign that will include advertising, marketing and social media promotion. Annually, we participate in a combination of radio ads, tv segments, billboards, internet promotions and more to raise awareness of your water usage. The culmination of the ‘Don’t be that Guy’ campaign will be Water Day at the Kern County Fair on September 26th.
Throughout the summer and all year round, we urge our community to be aware of their water usage and the vital necessity it supplies to our industries.
Thank you for attending the Kern County Water Summit. We hope you enjoyed it and found it interesting. WAKC appreciates your support.
If you would like a copy of any of the PowerPoint presentations please email jenny@wakc.com
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Thank you, again, for your attendance and support.
BAKERSFIELD, CA – The Water Association of Kern County proudly presented its Water Leader of the Year and Water Legacy Awards last Wednesday, November 8th, at its 2023 WAKC Annual Meeting held at Stockdale Country Club.
Board members and guests gathered for the 67th Annual Meeting and were excited to come together and surprise the award recipient. Scott Thayer, 2021-2023 WAKC President, welcomed everyone to the Annual Meeting and introduced the evenings agenda. Guest Speaker, Lois Henry spoke about the historic wet year, the flooding and “how we whistled past the graveyard”.
WAKC elected new officers to lead the organization; President Jason Giannelli (Old River Farming), 1st Vice President Stephanie Hearn (GEI Consultants), 2nd Vice President Dolores Salgado (Ardurra) and Secretary Kristina Budak (City of Bakersfield). We also recognized retiring Board Members; David Nixon (Arvin-Edison Water Storage District) and Tim Ruiz (East Niles Community Services District).
Every year WAKC presents the Water Leader of the Year and the Water Legacy Awards at the Annual Meeting. The Water Leader of the Year award is given for significant contributions, leadership and integrity over the past year. Steven Teglia, General Manager of Kern Delta Water District, presented the 2023 Water Leader of the Year award to Mark Mulkay.
Mulkay, who is retiring this December after a 30-year career as the General Manager of Kern Delta was singled out for his contributions over the past year as the Kern River Watermaster. Mulkay was instrumental in the success of managing the historically wet year on the Kern River. In his introductory comments Teglia recalled “The timing was perfect, Mark’s responsibilities with Kern Delta were winding down and serving as Watermaster for a short term would be a nice way to ease into retirement. Unfortunately for Mark that was not the case.” It was a term like no other before him, Teglia continued “During Mark’s nearly two-year tenure as Watermaster, the runoff from the Kern River switched from abnormally low in 2022 to historically high in 2023. What is normally an obscure role with little public interest, suddenly became the center of attention.” Mulkay’s service and acts of leadership made him a well deserving awardee for our Water Leader of the year.
Rodney Palla, President of Kern Delta Water District next presented the Water Legacy Award to honor a recipient who spent his life working in water issues, demonstrated leadership and long-term commitment to Kern County water. Palla presented the Water Legacy Award to Mark Mulkay. Palla stated “During these early years…Mark introduced a new fandangle idea called water banking. Mark was persistent in convincing the Board that Water Banking was the way of the future for Kern Delta and was instrumental in bringing a banking partner that changed the way the district would operate for years to come.”
It speaks to the magnitude of Mulkay’s tenure that he was the recipient of both awards. Palla stated “Although Mark ended his career as the Watermaster, I truly believe he will be remembered as the Master of the Kern River.” The evening was a remarkable testament to the longevity of service in the amazing individuals that represent our Kern County water community.
Friant Dam and Miller ton Lake (520,500-acre-foot capacity), were completed in 1942, on the San Joaquin River northeast of Fresno. The Friant-Kern Canal, was completed in 1949, running 152 miles from Friant to the Kern River in Bakersfield.
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The Water Association of Kern County is embarking upon a new, stronger effort to educate the general public about water issues that effect Kern County. A newly designed website, videos, Facebook and Twitter are all methods that will be used as a way of reaching the public. Messages will be simple and clear and provide many sources of information about water so that citizens and policy makers can become informed and be better decision makers. Learn More ▸
