White River (California)
The White River is a small river in the southern San Joaquin Valley of the U.S. state of California. The river is long and flows entirely within Tulare County. It rises at roughly above sea level in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada on the northwest slope of Bull Run Peak. It flows west, receiving several seasonal tributaries including Arrastre Creek, Coarse Gold Creek and Coho Creek, passing the small settlement of White River. As it nears the border of Tulare County and Kern County its surface flow disappears. The dry riverbed continues northwest into the agricultural San Joaquin Valley and is diverted into canals for flood control and irrigation purposes. The river terminates about north of Delano, short of the historic Tulare Lake.
Hydrology
The White River is part of the Tulare Lake Basin, which is a closed drainage area in the southern San Joaquin Valley. Before farming and water projects changed the region, runoff from the Sierra Nevada foothills, including the White River, helped fill the wetlands and floodplains that surrounded Tulare Lake. These areas used to have large tule marshes and riparian zones that supported many plants and animals.The river drains about 91 square miles and has a mean annual runoff of 6,862 acre-feet, which makes it one of the smaller waterways in the basin. Its flow is mostly seasonal, happening during the winter and spring from rain and snowmelt in the nearby Sierra Nevada. In really wet years, the White River could reach all the way to the Tulare Lakebed, but most of the time it ends on the valley floor before connecting to another river.
Today, much of the river’s flow is used for agriculture and groundwater recharge, so the lower parts are usually dry except after big storms. The surrounding area includes foothill rangelands and farmland, which affect how much water and sediment move through the river during the year.