From SJV and mavensnotebook.com – The basic concept of the Kern Fan project is standard groundwater banking: Put excess water underground in wet years and retrieve it in dry years, with some left behind to sustain the aquifer. Kern Fan, however, also promises to hold 25% of the banked water in an “ecosystem account” to be called on by the Department of Water Resources when needed for environmental reasons in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The ecosystem account is one of the main reasons Kern Fan won Prop. 1 funding. There are several wrinkles to iron out before the project reaches its full recharge capacity of 100,000 acre feet, however. (more)