California is dumping a trillion gallons of fresh Water in the ocean and according to the Public Policy Institute of California, a San Francisco-based non-profit, farmers in California’s San Joaquin Valley region, who account for half the state’s agricultural output, will need to severely limit their water use if the State’s groundwater resources are to be conserved.
Who would declare a water shortage disaster after spending years dumping good, fresh water into the ocean to protect a non-endangered bait fish? For years the southern 1/3 of the beautiful San Joaquin Valley’s farmland has been turned into a “man-made” dust bowl.
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 isn’t even on the endangered species list.
California had a wet November, a moist December, an absolutely drenched January and February, and so far a fairly watery March. Los Angeles exceeded its average annual rainfall a month ago, less than halfway into the “water year” (which runs from October through the following September). The Sierra snowpack is at more than 150% of average. The state is soaked.
Epic Drought Means Water Crisis on Oregon-California Border
Federal officials announced Wednesday that farmers who rely on a massive irrigation project spanning the Oregon-California border will get 8% of the deliveries they need amid a severe drought. By Associated Press April 14, 2021, at 10:39 p.m. https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2021-04-14/epic-drought-means-water-crisis-on-oregon-california-border
So they value the lives of the shellfish above the lives of the people of Colorado, but not above the people of California?