Water is again running in the Kern River through Bakersfield, four months after it suddenly went dry at the end of August, 2024, leading to a massive fish die off. But it will only last through January 20, according to Bakersfield Water Resources Director Kristina Budak. “Water is being released from Isabella Dam as part of Power Flow operation requirements. It is anticipated to last through approximately January 20, 2025,” Budak wrote in an email. Southern California Edison’s Kern River No. 1 power plant, a few miles east of the mouth of the Kern River Canyon, has rights to the first 412 cubic feet per second of river flow, as long as that amount or more is coming into Isabella Lake. It runs the water through its turbines then releases it back to the river. Typically, though, the bulk of that water doesn’t make it all the way down the river through Bakersfield as a large share is taken out of the river bed by the Beardsley Canal, a few miles east of town.