California water crisis

AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
18,445
131
106
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20140103/articles/140109857

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/California-drought-communities-at-risk-of-5184906.php

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/news/ci_25598790/redwood-valley-cuts-water-ag-users

We're lucky enough to be on a well that's doing fine, so our 20+ little goats will be ok, but the town next to us is not so lucky.

The Redwood Valley County Water District voted Thursday night to stop providing the water its customers use for their crops and animals.
....
Ricetti said she was not sure what someone with horses or other animals will do for water.

"They're going to have a tough go," she said. "It's a horrible situation. It's sickening."
....
In the days leading up to Thursday's meeting, the RVCWD and other agencies tried to obtain more water by diverting more of the flow from the Eel River's Scott Dam through the Potter Valley Project and into Lake Mendocino.
....
Guinness McFadden, one of the Potter Valley Irrigation District's board members, said multiple agencies discussed the request and all were in verbal agreement: RVCWD, PG&E, the Sonoma County Water Agency, the Friends of the Eel River, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the National Marine and Fisheries Service and FERC.

With the amount of water that was flowing through Lake Pillsbury, McFadden said it would have taken less than two days to collect the desired 800 acre feet, all while keeping minimum flows in the Eel River, if the request had been approved.

However, McFadden said when FERC requested agreement in writing, all of the agencies provided it except for NMFS, which determined that the situation in Redwood Valley did not qualify as an emergency.

Most of you have probably never given a thought to how the political fucked-up-ness of California extends to water, but in this Northern California area it's always walked the border of devastating... and now here we are. I have friends with kids who are generally very focused on conservation and now are ordered to cut their already slim water usage in half... They're trying to figure out if that comes out of dishwashing, showers or laundry. We've got friends with livestock who have no idea how they're going to fill up the water for their animals in the morning.

MFer... They drained our lake, they (Army Corps of Engineers) refused to fill it up short of an act of Congress, and (National Marine and Fisheries Service) they won't consider entire communities running dry "an emergency".

Go-go gadget big government.

I just hope our well holds out.
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AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
18,445
131
106
Mendocino County, CA is not a desert; it's right where the vineyards meet the redwoods. We are dealing with a year that is presently sitting at the lowest rainfall in 120 years, 42% of last year (which was already a drought year.)

Pictured: Not desert
T8EumHr.jpg
 

Knowing

Golden Member
Mar 18, 2014
1,522
13
46
It appears that the general opinion is that anyone who isn't in a large city in California is a second class citizen who doesn't deserve water.
 

Zaap

Diamond Member
Jun 12, 2008
7,162
424
126
^ AC707, no need to explain reality to a total idiot.
 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,386
32
91
Looks like desert scrub to me.
You water the desert a little and it gets green. It's still desert.

Not desert:
fall-New-England-wallpaper.jpg
 

UglyCasanova

Lifer
Mar 25, 2001
19,275
1,361
126
I'm sure there is another side to this story and they are t just withholding water because they evil. Perhaps releasing that water would be the short sighted approach and cause more long term harm? I don't know one way or the other, but I do know that water conservation is on of those things that people hate and don't think it is very important until it's too late.
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,337
136
Ukiah isn't a desert. But it does reek of meth and teen pregnancy.
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,337
136
It appears that the general opinion is that anyone who isn't in a large city in California is a second class citizen who doesn't deserve water.

Question: who paid for all of California's immense water systems?
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,337
136
Looks like desert scrub to me.
You water the desert a little and it gets green. It's still desert.

Not desert:
fall-New-England-wallpaper.jpg

I'm sorry you don't know the difference between a west coast Mediterranean climate and an east coast humid continental climate, but Mendocino county still isn't a desert.
 

AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
18,445
131
106
I'm sure there is another side to this story and they are t just withholding water because they evil. Perhaps releasing that water would be the short sighted approach and cause more long term harm? I don't know one way or the other, but I do know that water conservation is on of those things that people hate and don't think it is very important until it's too late.

The core cause is "the need for studies". The water policy around here is running on studies and environmental theory that is 50 years old, but nobody will change it until there are new studies. Red tape and bureaucracy mostly, following protocol. :/ That's what makes this such a difficult topic - nobody has money to fund new studies, so in the meantime ag water is shut off, and the river flows through while the towns around it go dry.
 

Knowing

Golden Member
Mar 18, 2014
1,522
13
46
Question: who paid for all of California's immense water systems?

Why does it matter who paid for the pipes that have historically and do now deny water to people who in the past had plenty?

I don't know how anyone in LA can call themselves "green" when the city is essentially responsible for the wholesale destruction of of countless biomes just to secure a water supply.
 

AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
18,445
131
106
Question: who paid for all of California's immense water systems?

In our particular case, Sonoma County paid for more than half and Mendocino County paid for the rest. Both Sonoma and Mendo have petitioned for the lake to have more water retained in it but, per regulations, the controlling agencies can't change the flow.
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,337
136
Why does it matter who paid for the pipes that have historically and do now deny water to people who in the past had plenty?

I don't know how anyone in LA can call themselves "green" when the city is essentially responsible for the wholesale destruction of of countless biomes just to secure a water supply.

Good thing I don't live in LA. And the Russian River doesn't feed LA.
 

Zaap

Diamond Member
Jun 12, 2008
7,162
424
126
I don't know how anyone in LA can call themselves "green" when the city is essentially responsible for the wholesale destruction of of countless biomes just to secure a water supply.
LA definitely has more enviro-hypocrites per square inch than most other places on earth. Possibly outdone by the Bay Area.
 

Murloc

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2008
5,382
65
91
Looks like desert scrub to me.
You water the desert a little and it gets green. It's still desert.

Not desert:
fall-New-England-wallpaper.jpg
mediterranean --> maquis shrubland
The earth is dry but it isn't a desert.
Many very fertile areas are like that.
 

DucatiMonster696

Diamond Member
Aug 13, 2009
4,269
1
71
Nobody calls it Cali.

Says the guy from Stockholm. LOL Anyways Mendocino county is not desert I agree. In fact its located in Northern California along the coast line. However Northern water districts which receive more year round rain are being tasked or pressured to cough up more water to be diverted to central and southern CA farmers some of whom do grow water hungry crops in naturally dry areas of the state. Where the vast majority of these water hungry crops (almonds for example) end up being shipped over seas to China for consumption.

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burninatortech4

Senior member
Jan 29, 2014
709
383
136
wtf. every person i know from cali calls it cali.


Only people from out of state call it 'Cali'. That's always slightly bothered me. Just like people calling San Francisco 'Frisco'. It's prefered to say California just like it's better to say the full name San Francisco or for short 'The City'.