Webinar with David Serafini, US Army Corps of Engineers
David C. Serafini is the Geosciences Branch Chief for the SPD Dam Safety Production Center and is a Registered Geotechnical Engineer in the State of California. He has over 19 years of experience with the USACE working on geotechnical investigations and designs for both the Military and Civil Works Dam and Levee Safety Missions. He has also worked on risk evaluation, risk management plan alternative development and evaluation, and design of Dam Safety Modifications. He currently serves as the Lead Engineer for the Isabella Dam Safety Modification Project.
Serafini provided a brief project review of the Isabella Dam, an overview of modifications to the main dam, auxiliary dam, service spillway and new emergency spillway as well as Phase ll Construction highlights and status for each feature
Karla Nemeth, Direc tor of the California Department of Water Resources (DWR).
January 11, 2021 Webinar with Karla Nemeth,Direc tor California Department of Water Resources
Karla Nemeth was appointed Direc tor of the California Department of Water Resources on January 10, 2018 and was reappointed by Governor Newsom on June 28, 2019.
In cooperation with other agencies, DWR manages California’s water resources to benefit the state’s people, and to protect, res tore, and enhance the natural and human environments.
Nemeth focuses on preparing the Department and state to adapt to more extreme weather as a result of climate change – investing in aging and green infrastructure, better management of groundwater supplies, and various programs to improve local water resilience.
Nemeth provided an update on the Delta Conveyance Project, as well as a summary of DWR projects in Kern County.
The Water Association of Kern County Board of Direc tors has named Jenny Bertagna Holtermann as the new executive direc tor.
Holtermann, a fourth generation California farmer and graduate of California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, has been a blogger, freelance writer and social media advocate as well as sales/grower relations specialist for several agricultural firms in the San Joaquin Valley including SunWorld International and Bayer Crop Science Vegetable Seed. She is a member of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Partners in Advocacy Leadership Program and is a board member of the California Farm Bureau Federation, serving on several committees. She is also second vice president of the Kern County Farm Bureau and a committee member for the Almond Board of California. Along with her husband, she is a co-owner of H& H Family Farms, an almond farming enterprise in Wasco, CA. She is past president of the Kern County branch of the California Women for Agriculture and past chair of the City of Wasco Planning Commission.
“We are so pleased to have Jenny fill our executive direc tor posi ton and know she will do a wonderful job for our organization. She has tremendous credentials,” said Gene Lundquist, president of WAKC. “We have been fortunate to have Beth Pandol as executive direc tor for ten years and believe that Jenny will be able to seamlessly continue our mission.”
Holtermann will begin her duties on September 1, 2020.
If you missed the Kern County Water Summit on March 4, you missed a great event! The speakers were outstanding. Here are some of the presentations from the day:
It will take about 11 trillion gallons of water — around 1.5 times the maximum volume of the largest U.S. reservoir — to recover from California’s continuing drought, according to NASA satellite data analysis.
Join the Water Association of Kern County
Help support education, outreach and information about water issues in Kern County.
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 ▸
