No Water for You

No Water for You

The man-made drought continues even after rains in California.

From the Wall Street Journal

California is experiencing its fourth year of drought. More than 1,760 water wells have run dry. Emergency drinking water and shower stations have been delivered to areas of the rural Central Valley. Unemployment remains in double digits in much of the valley and is as high as 28% in San Joaquin.

Torrential storms that doused northern California last week promised modest relief if only water pouring into the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta could be exported to farmers and residents south of the Bay Area. Instead, 4,000 acre feet per day—enough to sustain 1,000 acres and 4,000 families for a year—is being flushed out into the ocean because a state regulator fretted about hypothetical risks to fish.

The parable of prodigal water regulators has become like Groundhog Day in California. But there was hope that this time might be different.

Last month the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources petitioned the State Water Resources Control Board—an arm of the state Environmental Protection Agency responsible for regulating water rights and quality—to allow delta pump operators to export more water south during heavy inflows. The Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources sought to double the maximum pumping levels to a third of their capacity. They suggested that operators could ease up on pumping if salmon or smelt were found caught in the pumps. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service even concurred that higher pumping would not jeopardize endangered species.

Yet then the story followed the predictable pattern. The Natural Resources Defense Council sent a letter to State Water Resources Control Board executive director Tom Howard decrying the agencies’ proposal as “biologically unjustified” and “not being in the public interest.” Citing a “potential additional risk of entrainment” of fish, Mr. Howard rejected the request to pump more water south.

Senator Dianne Feinstein , Democratic Rep. Jim Costa and five House Republicans this week importuned the five-member State Water Resources Control Board to overrule their executive director. While they’re deliberating, Governor Jerry Brown ought to deplore Mr. Howard’s failure to serve the human public interest as much as he does Californians who waste water.

Poster’s comments:

1)       Is it the bureaucrats or is it the laws passed by our Politicians who caused this reported absurdity.

2)      I don’t live there, so I don’t know for sure.

3)      Is California too big to let fail?

4)      Didn’t  California voting citizens elect their politicians? Are California people still in charge of their fate?

5)      This drought will affect me in Tennessee. Some of the food I eat comes from food presently grown in California.

6)      Am I willing to work more or pay more taxes from my abode in Tennessee to help my fellow citizens in California? Certainly there is a reason I might do so.

7)      How do many get an award? First they create a situation of their own making, and then they get themselves out of the situation, usually with casualties along the way.

8)      The drought is real it seems to me.