Posted by Tina
We in California have been suffering under severe drought conditions for over four years. The trees in our forests are dying by the millions. Fires have ravaged the state. Farmers suffer under the weight of water shortages and the hot summer sun. Businesses and jobs have been lost. Citizens are being asked to cut back by at least 25% on water consumption. Many lawns are completely dead and others have been replaced with landscaping that requires little water. Restaurants offer water only when requested. People are showering less and flushing by the old California quip, “If it’s brown flush it down, if it’s yellow be mellow.”
It’s appropriate that our governor’s name is Brown since his leadership has been a stinky mess. Is hardship and sacrifice the only remedy he can think of in this situation? I mean it’s not like we haven’t been here before. If you think about it, this problem should have been addressed long ago. One has to wonder how long Californians will put up with this? Maybe they just haven’t considered the insanity of those in charge.
Victor Davis Hansen reminds Californians of remedies that have been dropped in a Washington Times article:
The state may be entering the fifth year of a catastrophic drought, but California has not started building any of the new reservoirs that were planned but long ago canceled under the unfinished California Water Project. Water may remain scarce, but legislators — many of whom have their daily water needs met by the ancient reservoirs and canals that their grandparents built — don’t seem overly bothered. They prefer to designate transgender restrooms, ban plastic bags at grocery stores, and prohibit pet dogs from chasing bears and bobcats.
Never has a region been so naturally rich but so poorly run by its latest generation of custodians.
Boy is he right about that! An example is that bullet train, a big expensive project to satisfy the whims of coastal elite’s.
Why were water projects cancelled in a state that has so many water challenges?
Last year Californians approved the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014.
To date I’ve not seen no big headlines touting California’s new projects for storing water.
Have you?
I did find a story from 2013, “California failed to spend $455M on water projects, EPA says”:
FRESNO, Calif. – California has failed to spend $455 million of federal money meant to improve water infrastructure in the state, while thousands of people rely on groundwater laced with nitrates and other contaminants, federal regulators said Friday.
The state has received more than $1.5 billion for its Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund over the past 15 years, but has failed to spend a large part of it in a timely manner, according to a noncompliance letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the state’s public health department. The amount is the program’s largest unspent sum in the nation, the EPA said.
What the heck is going on?
You people are soooooo irritating. What exactly are we supposed to do, now?, … how many years into the drought? … with this $455 million, always assuming it has not yet been spent, which it almost certainly has.
What we need to do immediately is stop Central Valley growers from draining the state’s aquifers to a point of collapse from which they CANNOT recharge. But good luck with that.
When we’re not having a drought anymore, we can talk about spending zillions on storage … but we’re still having our train. Such sour grapes, and short-sightedness, is also REALLY irritating.
You are an idiot! The environmentalists have been sending our stored water down through the Delta and on out to the ocean to “save” the smelt. If aquifers have been drained it’s because of gross misuse of our water and the incredible failure of government to adequately address our water needs…also due to radical environmentalist influences. Nature boys who can’t stand the though of damning up rivers!
Back in 2007 new dams were proposed under Governor Schwarzenegger and this was the response from the lefties in state government:
That evaluation turned out to be totally short sighted and WRONG
The article, produced by “international rivers” is a hoot. The unspoken agenda is papered over with a bunch of nonsense like, “studies indicate that building new large reservoirs will actually increase the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Not only do years of construction to build large dams create emissions”
Oh my God…nature happens!
Some money, according to Homeland Security News Wire is being spent to replace the Calaveras dam…infrastructure that is long over due for attention. Guess who benefits from this 2009 expenditure?
Oh great, Bay area elites move fast to take water from Oroville dam, not for food, but for a fish the size of a shrimp and then rebuild a damn that feeds water to the Bay Area. Greed takes many forms…so does careless disregard for the needs of your neighbors! And LA…another elitist are of California is freckled with golf courses, swimming pools, and lush landscaping and they have done nothing of substance to capture and store water other than taking it from the Northstate.
Then there’s the plight of the steelhead trout, whose well-being takes such priority over human need that in the Carmel area an old dam was simply removed (2013). The Moron who commented in the article is obviously a radical environmentalist:
Oh they’ll notice all right when in drought years water for swimming pools and golf courses isn’t flowing so abundantly because it’s headed straight for the ocean!
This insanity is horrendous. Americans have always found a way to solve problems in ways that work for everyone and protect the environment. When the water needs of people are being ignored because of the power structure of radical activists it is a sad day indeed. They’ve been at this for decades!
Libby it isn’t just about what we could do now, it’s about what we should have done and what we should be doing for sometime in the future, but we are thwarted at every turn by idiots who say moronic things like, ” but we’re still having our train. Such sour grapes, and short-sightedness, is also REALLY irritating.”
You lefties are not only shortsighted but a selfish, uncaring lot. Such phonies!