SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Water is one of California’s biggest needs. In Kern County, there are three types of water sources: ground water, state water from canals and surface water from the Kern River. Santa Barbara has similar access to their own ground water, state water and surface water; but they use the Pacific Ocean to help offset their water needs. The Kern River, it brings about 760,000 acre feet of water to the valley a year. In 2014 the Kern County Water Agency found that The Kern River only made up 21% of our water supply.

HESPERIA, Calif. — Federal engineers have found that a dam protecting the high desert communities of Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley and Barstow falls short of national safety standards and could erode and collapse in an extreme flood, inundating thousands of people. Officials for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday that they had raised the risk factor for the Mojave River Dam from “low” to “high urgency action” because of “performance concerns” discovered at the 48-year-old structure, which joins a growing inventory of California dams showing signs of severe stress.