It's good to win!

I drove to Sacramento on Monday (what a wonderful way to spend a holiday!).

And attended the State Water Resources Control Board Tuesday, which decided the issue of whether the Kern River is fully appropriated.

I've been advocating for two years now to have it deemed NOT fully appropriated based on a court decision that forfeited some of an ag districts rights. The city has applied for the water covered by those rights and has vowed to run that water down the river.

Yes, for those of you who don't live in the glorious "Golden Empire," we have a big beautiful riverbed with NO water in it.

The city was up against formidable odds as several powerhouse agencies urged the state board to find there was no unappropriated water (even though they'd also petitioned the board to change the river's status and give THEM the water).

But in the end, the board found the river not fully appropriated. Yay! That's a big win in this process, HUGE.

It's also just the first step of a very long journey.

But the really cool thing is my newspaper had started a campaign to get people to write in asking the board to make this finding and more than 4,000 people did!

It was noted by the board staff during the meeting and apparently made a really big impression on the board.

I like to think I had a small hand in that.

So it's good to win!