This piece of the ongoing Kern River lawsuit involves a preliminary injunction issued by Kern County Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp in 2023. He ordered Bakersfield, which operates diversion weirs in the riverbed, to keep some water in the river for fish. That injunction was overturned by the 5th District Court of Appeal, which said Pulskamp should have determined how much water was needed for fish first and then balanced that need against existing water uses.