The California Aqueduct. (Photo: CA State Water Project)
Water and Drought Deceit: More Dubious Policies California Lawmakers Continue to Perpetrate
More than 50% of the state’s water is allowed to flow out the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean, and other things that just don’t make sense
By Katy Grimes, April 27, 2021 7:47 am
Food or Fish, Liberty or Oppression, Victim or Fighter? We Californians have many decisions to make about our future.
In Climate Deceit and Dubious Policies California Lawmakers Continue to Perpetrate, we addressed unreliable solar and wind power, and China’s influence pushing electric vehicles and an all-electric grid on the U.S., and how this all started with AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which initially set a 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal into law.
Droughts and Water
While California’s drought conditions are actually historically normal, each of California’s droughts are billed by government and media as the driest period in the state’s recorded rainfall history. Scientists who study the Western United States’ long-term climate patterns say California has been dry for significantly longer periods — more than 200 years.
Droughts are nature’s fault; they are naturally occurring. Water shortages are the fault of government officials, and California’s water shortages fall squarely on former Gov. Jerry Brown, and now on Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The state of California hasn’t significantly invested in water storage since the 1970s when Jerry Brown was governor the first time around. “This is an era of limits and we all had better get used to it,” Brown said upon being elected governor in 1975, embracing the “small is beautiful” way of thinking. Since then, California’s population has doubled, as have environmental demands. And, more than fifty-percent of the state’s water resources are allowed to flow out the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean.
Rather than build the desperately needed infrastructure projects to collect and store water during the wet years, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law in 2018 a new water conservation act that will limit each citizen to just 50-55 gallons of water per person per day by 2050.
The truth is that 50 percent of California’s water already goes toward environmental purposes. Of the rest of the water, only about 10 percent goes to “urban” uses for homes and businesses, and 40 percent is used by agriculture. A full 50 percent of the state’s water is used for environmental purposes.
As California farmer and water expert Kristi Diener recently explained, the state has been letting water out of reservoirs across California for months now. And it’s not going to farmers, growers, ranchers or urban use. Environmental policy says the water “flows” from reservoirs are necessary to produce a rebound of endangered Delta smelt and Chinook salmon. However, these policies are a failure as neither species have been collected in all of the latest trawling surveys, where they spend several days a month searching in more than 200 spots. This practice of releasing water and hoping fish improve, has been unsuccessful for nearly 30 years, according to Diener. Both species are close to extinction.
If the State of California didn’t allow billions of gallons of fresh water to spill into the Pacific Ocean every year, we wouldn’t ever face water shortages.
Democrat lawmakers and federal environmental regulators have authorized more than 81 billion gallons of water to flow out to the ocean, instead of being used for human consumption. This is environmental extremism at its worst, and it is killing California agriculture, says Diener.
Don’t believe us? This Los Angeles Times headline today confirms this: “Wells dry up, crops imperiled, farm workers in limbo as California drought grips San Joaquin Valley.”
People forget the winter of 2019 brought 200 percent of average rains and snow pack. Yet the state still held back on water to farmers, and residents are facing rationing, the Globe reported May 2019.
Drought and California’s Big Water Lie
In 2018, then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed a pair of bills creating permanent residential water rationing standards throughout the state of California. Senate Bill 606 by Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Los Angeles), and AB 1668 by Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), impose a mandatory limit of 55 gallons per person per day on indoor water consumption beginning in 2020.
While South Africa, known as a “water-stressed country,” limits its citizens to a maximum of 50 gallons per day, California’s 2019 Sierra snowpack was measured at 500 inches, and is on record at 188 percent of normal. But that water was not stored for future use.
Since year 2000, California voters have approved eight water bonds totaling more than $30 billion, according the the Legislative Analyst’s Office, and approved the construction of two more dams.
Yet, on May 9, 2016, Gov. Jerry Brown signed an Executive Order to “make water conservation a way of life” in California, which opened the floodgates for future water rationing legislation, rather than new dams or water storage.
The oft-repeated media canard that farmers use 80 percent of California’s water, is not true. “The statistic is manufactured by environmentalists to distract from the incredible damage their policies have caused,” according to Rep. Devin Nunes of California. “Environmentalists have manufactured the 80 percent statistic by deliberately excluding environmental diversions from their calculations. Furthermore, in many years there are additional millions of acre-feet of water that are simply flushed into the ocean due to a lack of storage capacity — a situation partly explained by environmental groups’ opposition to new water-storage projects.”
More is never enough for the left
They are coming for the children. While Climate change is back on the docket, buyer beware: one proposed bill would mandate California students are taught about climate change as early as first grade and would make the subject a high school graduation requirement.
A second bill, by the same lawmaker, would establish the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program to facilitate the implementation of regional and state climate change planning into effective projects.
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Long ago California decided to repress the knowledge of the primary water cycle and not even let people know it existed. But by considering the Primary water cycle instead of just the atmospheric water cycle, our water shortages would be over. You can check out the primarywaterinstitute.org website as well as a collection of videos I have on my YouTube channel.
Thank you Debra for the very informative website on primary water sources.
I find this so fascinating, it looks as though we have alternatives to capture snow /rain runoff.
Imagine what 30 billion dollars could accomplish if California Water Resources made an effort to use technology to help solve our water crisis.
As a child we had natural springs off a hill side that would just spring water on to the streets.
We also had Black Mountain water near us which no longer exists after it was sold to Crystal Geyser.
Interestingly enough the owners of Fiji Water heavily contribute to Gavin Newsom’s governor run and now his fight against the recall., they also own WOW pistachios and pomegranate farms.
People to this day purchase bottled spring water from around the world at great expense.
Wow, good info on some culprits, Cali Girl. Thank you.
I love to share the info I run across.
Correction it is Wonderful Pistachios not WoW .
Here is a link :
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Wealthy-donors-help-fund-Newsom-s-anti-recall-16093231.php
The owners of Fiji, POM and WOW pistachios are limousine liberals and we should all boycott their products for being the hypocrites that they are…
Watch the “Leave it to beavers.” PBS special. A few beavers would do more for our water supply than all the democrats and environmentalists in Sacramento have done in the past thirty years.
First thing: Gov. Jerry Brown’s insane 2018 water conservation act that will limit each citizen to just 50-55 gallons of water per person per day by 2050 has to be overturned. What a ridiculous, draconian law — particularly given how mismanaged California’s water already is. But then if vaccines become mandatory and food shortages, particularly meat, lead to starvation, there may not be many people left alive in California by 2050, so water restrictions would be irrelevant. Second thing: Home-schooling is necessary. Between Critical Race Theory and Climate Change Conspiracy Theory, the children have no chance in hell of enjoying their lives after their indoctrination in government schools.
The farmers of California have been the scapegoat for way too long. These so called representatives survive on an US vs. THEM approach to pass BS legislation and draconian mandates.
Farming practices have evolved and become very efficient. If we do not have farms to produce our food, then we have to import. Is that the goal of our elected representatives? It has also forced once fertile farmland to be deserted by generational farmers! It is criminal in my opinion to flush 81 BILLION GALLONS into the ocean.
The irony that the eco-terrorists have convinced the likes of Jerry Brown and Newsolini to prioritize the delta smelt over our food and water supply is insulting to us all. Tiny fish over the lives of 39 million residents. Sounds fair does it not?
Another solution could have been devised, such as hatcheries or fish farming perhaps.
[Since year 2000, California voters have approved eight water bonds totaling more than $30 billion, according the the Legislative Analyst’s Office, and approved the construction of two more dams] One last question, where did that $30 billion go?
Remember while you were locked down and told not to visit your lonely grandparents, Gov. Newsom was at a party at the French Laundry where the water and wine was free flowing!
Do you really think any of these, out of touch, self serving government elitists will survive on 50 gallons a day of water?
RULES FOR THEE NOT FOR ME.
Agree, Cali Girl. So well expressed.
Don’t worry, Bill Gates is always on the hunt for more land to buy up! Can not stand that creep.
Just wanted to say I’m really enjoying what I think of as Katy Grimes “California Deceit” series. A lot of fodder there!
Problem-Reaction-Solution
Suppose Tutor Perini and Bechtel and whomever else from the Pay-To-Play Camp kicking it back to the NewScam see a big hairy infrastructure bill on the horizon and they want a chunk of those big beefy contracts – well, now you create a “crisis” and well … they’ll have to get a new construction contract, which they will milk and squeeze and use to Screw ratepayers, and we’ll get a little trickle down our canal.
NewScam: A Man, A Scam, A Canal – Pandemica!
Correct me if I’m wrong but wouldn’t the environment benefit from additional water storage too? Fish don’t swim in dry riverbeds.
No kidding, Jeffrey McDonald, just one of the ways the environmentalists reveal themselves to be people who don’t much care about the environment. You can tell by the results. Has the environment of the State improved? No, more like burned to the ground, then flooded out because of the burn, as one example. Suburbs and farms improve the environment, and the enviros HATE those. Are our forests in good shape? Solar arrays and wind farms not an eyesore and a blight when they become broken, rusting hulks? Birds not incinerated by solar arrays nor sliced up by windmills? Filth from city streets (homeless and other causes) shooting directly into the ocean not a problem? You get the picture. Most are leftists first and thus can’t help themselves but make things worse and destroy the environment, so heck with ’em. And the naive greenie go-alongs make token efforts that are silly virtue-signals while being entirely hypocritical in their own lives with their environment-destroying Priuses and iPhones and large houses and jet travel and huge consumption of water and energy as they lecture the rest of us about canvas bags and dryer balls and metal straws and the rest of it. Phonies.
This is one of the biggest, most egregious examples of how STUPID California lawmakers have been for DECADES!!!
HOW THE HELL do Governors have the ability to issue Executive Orders without any discussion or vetting by the Assembly and Senate ( not that it would do much good, given the dominion that the dumbschists have in Sacramento)
What a screwed up state, in dire need of a Constitutional convention….