California, under Governor Newsom, flushed trillions of gallons of rainwater from January storms out to the ocean instead of saving it in reservoirs and pumping it to farmers after three years of extreme drought. Since late December, a series of heavy storms called atmospheric rivers brought an estimated 32 trillion gallons of rainwater to the state that would have been enough to supply the state’s agricultural, industrial, and residential needs for at least a decade—if it were stored in reservoirs. Instead, 95% of of the rainwater at the hub of California’s water grid was washed out to sea, using the excuse of protecting the environment/ the tiny Delta smelt fish.
State Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Corona) called on Newsom to reform the California Environmental Quality Act and streamline the approval process of new water reservoir projects. “The fundamental problem is that there’s no appetite or will to actually solve this issue and deal with the environmental groups that are relentless in their opposition to any water storage infrastructure. That’s the real problem,” he said.
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California flushed trillions of gallons of rainwater from January storms out to the ocean instead of saving it in reservoirs and pumping it to farmers after three years of extreme drought.
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Since late December, a series of heavy storms called atmospheric rivers brought an estimated 32 trillion gallons of rainwater to the state, according to the FOX Forecast Center. U.S. Geological Survey data suggest this would be enough to supply the state’s agricultural, industrial, and residential needs for at least a decade—if it were stored in reservoirs.
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However, around 95 percent of the rainwater in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the hub of California’s water grid, was washed out to sea, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
The bureau told The Epoch Times in an email on Jan. 23 that 5 to 6 percent of incoming water during the storms was captured.
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Nearly a dozen legislators—both Republican and Democrat, several from the parched agricultural regions of the Central Valley—recently sent a series of letters demanding that California Gov. Gavin Newsom ease pumping restrictions on water from the heavy rains. The environmental restrictions are designed to protect endangered fish such as the Delta smelt.
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Missed Opportunity?
U.S. Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno) wrote a letter (pdf) to Newsom, California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, and U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Jan. 11 calling on federal and state agencies to maximize pumping water from the rains, contending this would have little impact on endangered species.
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“Community drinking water systems, agriculture, and listed species that occupy managed wetlands alike would benefit from an increased supply of stored water for use during the next dry period,” Costa wrote. “If the 2022 water year is any indication, that could come as soon as next month. It makes NO sense to miss the opportunity created by the extraordinary wet conditions California is now experiencing.”
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Costa suggested the state discontinue its “calendar-based approach” to water management and implement more adaptive “dynamic” strategies to respond more quickly to changing weather patterns and conditions.
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“Water needs to flow freely to the Central Valley,” Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield) wrote in another letter to Newsom on Jan. 12. “During this drought, farmers need water to save for the coming dry months in order to grow the food we eat, and communities need water for homes and businesses.”
State legislators Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) and Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains (D-Bakersfield)—citing data from the Bureau of Reclamation—stated in yet another letter to Newsom on Jan. 10 that water usage from the Delta between Dec. 31 and Jan. 8 was cut by more than half from about 6,000 cubic feet per second to a daily average of less than 3,000.
Offline is a documentary on the inevitability of the Earth being slammed by a mega solar flare – not the common type that interrupts communications and creates a light show in the Northern skies – but the big brothers thousands of times more powerful. These monsters deliver enough energy to blow apart the master transformers that supply the planet’s energy grids. When that happens, the lights go out for longer than anyone wants to think about. These X-Class solar storms hit the Earth every 150 years, on average. The last one arrived 156 years ago. We are overdue (
Until we stop electing complete MORONS who only know how to destroy everything this is what we get!
The leadership of the New California State movement have explained that this CA water situation is a result of the dysfunctional CA state constitution which has rendered CA ungovernable. These water storage projects get approved, but they can never actually get built. The formation of New California as our 51st state will cut out the communist interests of the large leftist urban influence in CA politics so that the resource-rich rural areas can store water and produce very cheap electricity which will usher in a new era of prosperity.
Where are the environmentalists when the fresh water gets dumped into the saline ocean water? Doesn’t that harm/kill the marine life that depends on the saline? Shouldn’t criminal charges be appropriate?