California’s recent wet weather has not only added more than 6.4 billion gallons of fresh water to Lake Tahoe, raising the entire lake level by 2 inches, but now according to recent news reports, has produced so much new snow that it is considered “136% of normal” according to state officials. On Wednesday, state workers measured the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada at 54 inches. So the question is, how will the state’s “water rationers” react now?
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!What you can expect them to say is the “drought is not over.” And perhaps it isn’t quite yet, but given the current conditions, and with San Francisco and other parts of the state bracing for record “king tides” as a result of the appearance soon of the first “El Niño” weather conditions as predicted by NASA (caused by a pocket of warming in the Pacific Ocean that will force precipitation towards us), expected throughout early 2016, perhaps now is indeed the time for policymakers to start thinking more optimistically, even about plans for lifting water rationing in the state, and for regulators to start planning on loosening up on water controls.
The mountain snowpacks provide a whopping 30% of California’s water, and experts consider the current snowpack to contain twice as much water as at the same time last year. Rain obviously provides plenty of water as well, and in a typical El Niño year, rainfall in California is also doubled. And the experts say that the El Niño has not even “kicked-in” yet!
So, perhaps Californian’s will soon have plenty of water to be thankful for in 2016!
And yet they will still raise the rates on us.
The State led by “Moonbeam” will do what they have done for years. Open the gates of the few dams they have and let the water run out to sea…
Unfortunately, people like Brown and Obama believe in Rohm Emanuel’s (and Saul Alinsky before him) claim to never let a crisis opportunity go to waste (for the sake of big government’s time to confiscate liberties from the people). But we also must not count our chickens before they hatch. As wonderful as the extra snow pack is, this is hardly a start of what is currently needed. El Nino is wonderful news, but it hasn’t materialized yet. One was predicted for last year (not nearly as big as this one) but it never came. Just because we are having some very good news for potential rain means nothing until we get it. The “drought” isn’t over. I am living within 3 miles of lake Oroville – major California water supply resource – and it is only about 1/3 capacity – the lowest I have seen it since moving here 15 years ago. As a mini farmer, I installed cisterns some 7 years ago. This past summer is the first time they went dry and currently are only about 1/3 full. My point is this. although I do not agree with all government policies, our problems are not over. We have good potential for future rain, but lets not over consume on the basis of predictions that have yet to materialize.
No!
Rationing is the “new normal”, and the added water will allow us to “save” even more Delta Smelt, Steelhead, and Coho Salmon.
It will remain thus until all of the Prime Invasive Species* has been removed from CA and it has returned to its pristine natural state – overseen by an elite group of “caretakers”, of course; who will reside in “cottages” along the coast.
*man
They will still prevent -we the people – from saving water in dams and any place for future dry conditions. They will prevent the Central Valley from growing orchards -and all that is good for commerce and the farmers. There is nothing good about the LIBERAL ADMINISTRATION starting with Brown. Don’t expect things to be better when the gray matter is mush and common sense is not in use.
How soon people forget. How quickly they turn on optimism supported by hope. One (1) little storm and the drought is fading into history, but the reality is it’ll have to be solid rain and snow through April before CA can even think of relaxing water restrictions. Think of it like this, as soon as it stops storming, we’re back on the road to drought conditions. Think of water as a bank account and when the balance is zero….well, use imagination rather then fantasy.
Doesn’t matter they’ll tearing down all the dams so it’ll all just melt and run to the ocean just like Washington State.