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| California is dying up . Is it the Climate or man made governmental negligence ? |
Yeah. California Gov. Newsom has declared a "state of emergency " . Here is ONE BIG QUESTION. If (1)>>California has such a drought, why do we funnel all rainwater straight into the ocean? Shouldn't we be harvesting it? You'd that would be a priority of the state government ? Last year cemented for me the idea that the California dream is in dire straights and in danger of dying altogether. Between the heat waves and the fire and the trajectory that indicates things are only just beginning to become severe and will accelerate. (1.2)>>The cause of this crisis in California has been the state government, has been at fault for decades . What we see things like fires ever year has nothing to do with the climate . (2)>>I saw the degradation of the ecosystems and the hordes of people creeping into the state. Ecosystems are degrading everywhere. People are overpopulating everywhere. You might as well go where you like it because overpopulation and ecosystem degradation is everywhere in California . The electrical grid is a wreck in the state .Our most important source of water is the snow that falls in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Every important river flowing from the Sierras is dammed, many of them at multiple points, both to provide power and to provide a consistent supply of water for agricultural, industrial and domestic use. (3)>>Is it Climate Change ? The water remaining in the rivers to ultimately flow into the sea is the minimum that will prevent large areas from becoming uninhabitable deserts.In addition to the Sierra snow melt, we get water from the Colorado river, from the mountains other than the Sierras in the northern part of the state, pump “primitive” water from the central valley, and buy water from other states. (4)>>California is dumping a trillion gallons of fresh Water in the ocean to protect the Delta Smelt, a three inch bait fish. (see - Delta smelt - Wikipedia).For years now, the southern 1/3 of the beautiful San Joaquin Valley’s farmland has been turned into a “man-made” dust bowl. A giant swath of what used to be called, “the breadbasket of the world” is a desert because Sacramento with the help of Washington refuses to divert water to the farmland.The water is being allowed to just run off the mountains, through the river system, through the delta, and out into the ocean. The water is being reserved for the little Delta Smelt, a three inch bait fish, that is on the endangered species list.Now, California is in the midst of a drought ?. As the Governor institutes water emergency rules, they just let all that water just keep pouring into the ocean. Unbelievable!
NOTES AND COMMENTS: (1)>>California has such a drought, why do we funnel all rainwater straight into the ocean?Yes - every effort should be made to recharge every drop of rain water before it reaches the ocean and it is not a very tough ask. It may not be possible in one go but gradually a net work of recharge structures of variable depths can be developed inside the ground.Where there is a will there is a way - all we need is the will to prevent precious rain water from flowing into the oceans not just in California but any where in the world. (1.2)>>The cause of this crisis in California has been the state government, has been at fault for decades . You are one of those people who like to forget even recent history. To get into the situation that California is in has taken years if not decades of financial mismanagement. California has been led by both parties essentially equally the past 15 years.What's going in CA is an example of how government is failing the people not a party. Arnold and his predecessor (both Republicans) have done as much damage as the Dem Brown. If anything,Brown has done more to close the budget deficit than either of his GOP predecessors. Don't be blinded by the partisan crap, both parties suck and both parties will lead to the downfall of our country. (2)>>I saw the degradation of the ecosystems and the hordes of people creeping into the state. Now that I'm thinking about it, I am reminded of The Water Knife by Paulo Bacigalupi. It's a novel set in the near-future. It's set in the American southwest and the climate is extremely dry. Most of the action is in Nevada and Arizona, California is referenced. From the character's perspective, CA was wealthy and influential enough to keep the water flowing. And Las Vegas had enough investment to make modern construction with intensive water recycling systems work. Population wise , Some environmental leaders warned that rapid growth would put an unbearable strain on natural resources and called for curbs on immigration. But Latino leaders said such restrictions would be racist.One group leaves California , an another group enters illegally . Becomes the dominate population . The simple answer is because more people live in California than in any other State. The more complicated reason is that California is a very desirable place to live. It has an excellent climate. But all in all, for about 40 million people less children, California appeals to them more than the alternatives. Also, California is one of the largest states in the union, it has three of the largest cities in the country within the state, it has something to offer anyone in so many ways like whatever type of climate you like, the types of terrain, if you like big cities, little cities, small towns, living away from everything, it has almost every type of recreation someone could ask for. It's basically your all around perfect place, except for the Democrats running the ship into the rocks.That may change for any one of them, but it remains, you cannot be the most popular state to live numerically in while also being a horrible state to live in.(3)>>Is it Climate Change ?.And Climate Change! What they didn't have was millions of people, all living unsustainably in a desert, pumping water our of the aquifers such that the water table is dropping to where native plant species can't survive, nor were they pumping water out of the American River and Sacramento River basins over the mountains for these millions of people living in said unsustainable desert 1,200 years ago.If they weren't moving water from it's supposed to be to where it was never meant to be, only the deserts would be in a "drought". I have been here enough decades to have seen these droughts come and go, there has been an almost perpetual state of drought here since the media found it sells papers. What makes THIS drought different or worse is, the INSANE enviro-lunatic, therefore man-made, decisions that intensify the effect of less rain and snow. In the name of some nut jobs bigoted opinion based on the faux-'science' that is bought and paid for and meant not to help mankind but solely to control men by some self-appointed elitists.(4)>>California is dumping a trillion gallons of fresh Water in the ocean to protect the Delta Smelt, a three inch bait fish. .Drought is all about precipitation levels. They only get into reservoir levels for long term droughts, and even then it's only a part of the calculation for when a drought is ended. I don't know exactly how they account for human water usage in the calculations for when a long term drought has ended - but gawd knows we use massive amounts in watering lawns, washing cars, household usage, crop irrigation, etc. And of course, the more people, the more we're drawing down supplies. But if you get normal amounts of precipitation, and just have more people using more water, I'm pretty certain that's not technically a drought at all because crops would still have the rain/snow they need to grow, etc... but it's would be a water shortage. For example for several years now California has been simply dumping incredible amounts of water into the bay ostensibly to 'protect the non-indiginous bait fish, the delta smelt.' If they weren't doing that, the reservoirs would be a good bit higher, but they'd still be in drought even if the reservoirs were full, because they're not getting "normal" amounts of precipitation.
