Following up on Rud’s article Western US Drought Implications, it seems that the problem MAY be worse than he states, simply due to massive mismanagement by California officials.
CA reservoirs were designed to provide a steady five year supply for all users, and were filled to the top in June 2019
By Katy Grimes, May 21, 2021 2:20 am
“In the last 14 days, 90% of Delta inflow went to sea. It’s equal to a year’s supply of water for 1 million people.
#ManMadeDrought,” Central Valley farmer Kristi Diener said.Diener, a California water expert and farmer, has been warning steadily that water is unnecessarily being let out to sea as the state faces a normal dry year.
“Are we having a dry year? Yes,” Diener says. “That is normal for us. Should we be having water shortages in the start of our second dry year? No. Our reservoirs were designed to provide a steady five year supply for all users, and were filled to the top in June 2019.”
Don’t believe her?
“You’re looking at our largest reservoirs less than two years ago. They were absolutely teeming with water from 107% to 145% of average!” Diener says. “Our reservoirs held enough water for everyone who relies on them for their water supply, for 7 years. We are barely into our second dry year. WHERE DID IT GO?”
“Where did it go” indeed. According to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, statewide water use averages 85 gallons per person per day. But it’s always urban/residential water users ordered to conserve water: let lawns turn brown and landscaping die, limit showers and baths, wash clothing and dishes less frequently, and other absurd “helpful tips.”
Diener also asks, “How can this year be the driest year on record when it has more than 7 months left? That’s just fake news and crisis creation.”
“Before our magnificent reservoir projects were built, California never had a steady and reliable supply of water. Now water is being managed as if those reserves don’t exist, by emptying the collected water from storage to the sea, rather than saving it for our routinely dry years,” Diener says. “Our water projects were designed to be managed for the long term providing a minimum five year supply, but California has now put us on track to have a man made drought crisis every time we don’t have a wet season.”
It’s so bad even SAN FRANCISCO is pissed!
Even San Francisco is suing the State Water Board. Diener explains:
The State Water Board’s 40% unimpaired flows plan is too radical. Requiring 40% of the Tuolumne River water to flow directly to the ocean without being used for anything else on its way, severely limits that river’s supply to Hetch Hetchy—the main water source for San Francisco.
Water politics in California threaten both the electrical grid and perhaps more importantly the entire agricultural sector.
In a prescient op ed today (2018) in the Modesto Bee, Assemblyman Adam Gray (D-Merced) had some harsh words for Marcus and her radical environmental cohorts. “Despite her promises to the contrary, she and her board have used their immense authority to jeopardize – not protect – the economy and drinking water supplies of the Northern San Joaquin Valley.”
Gray says, “The State Water Board claims it needs the water to help restore fish populations, but an earlier version of their own report suggested their plan would result in little more than an additional 1,000 fish per year.”
“Irrigation districts in Merced, Turlock and Modesto have all proposed responsible alternatives that call for a combination of increased water flows, habitat restoration and predation controls,” Gray said. “Unsurprisingly, the State Water Board has rejected those proposals out of hand while continuing to preach a preference for voluntary settlements.”
“The truth is, the board will never be happy until it gets our water – no matter the consequence to our economy or our drinking water supplies,” Gray added.
California’s residents, farmers and ranchers find themselves in this untenable situation once again.
California’s water supply infrastructure was designed to provide a 5 year supply of water for how many 10s of millions less people?
You could claim 25-30 million people originally but then you’d need to adjust for a presumed much higher usage as defined by Mulholland’s quote “There it is. Take it.”
There are problems like cotton. If cotton fields were treated like industrial plants they’d be shut down as toxic waste polluters.
Water Use in California
“Statewide, average water use is roughly 50% environmental, 40% agricultural, and 10% urban”
https://www.ppic.org/publication/water-use-in-california/
And California is large exporter of food.Or not related to number of people living in California. Though with growing population as an
as likely since world population is growing for at least decades, and even number people currently living in California don’t children. the State population will probably grow- due rest of US and the whole world.
So government should be doing things that allow for more farming and more people in the future, and/or should find ways to use less water related to environmental use.
At least temporarily, California has lost a house representative for the first time due to population decline.
https://apnews.com/article/census-2020-government-and-politics-california-dd4a4f3ce3070231b0aecdc1cac3e97b
Technically, it’s just relative population decline compared to TX and FL relative gains.
As the N. Hemisphere got out of the last throws of the LIA in the 1870s and temperature slowly went up, both the north and south California’s precipitation went on the gradual decline.
“Throes.”
The Delta Smelt fish species must be preserved. There are many Homo Sapiens elsewhere.
But no-one has seen a Delta Smelt for years!
People… persons, second. A dark sarcasm. Unfortunately, 50 shades of speaking facts to truth.
Anchovies are preserved in brine. Not sure there are enough Delta Smelt to make it worthwhile.
They do farm some at UC Davis for research purposes. They make great bait for the non-native bass.
As I recall, the delta smelt was introduced into the NorCal delta system as a bait fish from elsewhere. The little darlings became nummies for the salmon and stripped bass and friends dashing in and out of these waters. Enter the do-gooder enviro types to preserve what was and the delta smelt became an indicator of Delta health and their preservation reason for dumping good Sierran snow melt into the sea. Go figure – San Joaquin & Sacramento valleys feed a lot of the nation. Not so much any more.
As usual, bureaucrats much prefer to boss people around than produce effective, multibenefical policies in a casr like California.
I’m no hydrologist, but just looking at effective uses of rainwater it’s easy to find many watersheds, such as the Mississippi(central US) that recycles the waterflow at least 4-5 times between northern Minnesota and the Gulf. Snow, rain, thunderstorms, even tornadoes, much as in tropical oceans, evaporate, condense, and slow the flow of the water so much of it is recycled multiple times on it’s way to the sea.
Rename it the California-New Orleans Levee Board and remember to charge the US taxpayer when things go horribly wrong.
One week of excess water release equals 10,000 excess moving vans and a goldmine of produce price increases.
Does California have a Governor these days?
California hasn’t functioned positively in a very long time. The coastal high population urban area, is at odds on almost everything from the more rural, desert, low population area. The interior people are outvoted, trapped, and angry.
Make it worse, and build low income housing ocean settlements on California’s continental shelf.
Thank you, Charles for writing this. I would like someone (our so called journalists are too busy) to publish the daily inflows and outflows from our reservoirs … and show the public what the global warmists ruining our State are doing to us!!
And if PEOPLE can survive a drought… then why not fish or fishermen? How did all the salmon survive droughts before dams were built? As IF the fish have always enjoyed a constant flow of fresh water? That’s insane!
Kenji, as you know, salmon have up and down years. That is why Nature has them produce so many spawn. Some will always make it even in bad years. Natural selection is exquisitely tuned by trial and error to the prevailing environment and its ‘short term’ natural variations.
As a further thought, sometimes the prevailing environment changes suddenly and drastically, leading to mass extinctions. The Chixulub impact being the most recent. Bad for dinosaurs, good for mammals, hohum for crocodilians.
Alarmists would have us believe anthropogenic global warming is such a sudden drastic event. It isn’t—and never could be, as the past few glacials/interglacials have shown. The ‘sudden drastic’ necessary core belief explains their never ending search for future tipping points, thus far all easily refuted.
In a related story … The COVID pandemic (could) KILL 30 MILLION Americans!! But turns out it was 99.8% survivable.
Speaking of dire tipping points … if we don’t all OBEY
Looking at Lake Oroville and Folsom water levels … it is apparent that NONE of this year’s rainfall or snowmelt was retained in our reservoirs. NONE.
Again … check the record of inflow and outflow (it’s posted hourly … or at least it used to be). Where is the “journalist” looking up this rainy season’s net inflow and outflow? It will reveal (I’m certain) that NONE of this season’s inflow has been retained. NONE.
That… my friends … is called DUMPING our reservoirs. Why? To make some political statement about “global warming”? To “save” a baitfish from salt water intrusion?
We are being governed by SICK SICK individuals in CA. They will dispose of our water for a “shocking” photo op of reservoir levels … and imply it’s because you water your lawn too much … and need your water rates jacked up again, and again, and again (thanks EBMUD). The cynicism of our State politicians and bureaucrats is frightening.
Referring to Lake Oroville, in the summer of 2019 it reached its maximum level of 895′ (full pool 900′) at the end of May inflow has been as high as ~20,000cfs, outflow ~12,000cfs. By that time the seasonal rainfall had reached 47″ (the max for the year), after that period the evaporation rose to ~150cfs. This was the highest level since the repair to the damaged spillway. Usual operation through the dry season led to a drop of ~150′ (certain flows have to be maintained through the agricultural region downstream). By the end of November when the rain restarted the level dropped to 775′ (the minimum), By the end of May 2020 the level had only reached 820′ after only 18″ of rainfall (highest inflow ~6,000cfs), by the end of November the level dropped to 707′. Inflow through the next rainy season rarely rose above 2,000′ (rainfall 16″), not enough to raise the level more than about 20′, it’s now dropped to 702′. Over the last two years there has been insufficient inflow to fill the reservoir with even the minimum outflow. There’s unlikely to be any more rainfall until November. The difference this year has been the lack of inflow, not unusually high outflow.
https://cdec.water.ca.gov/dynamicapp/QueryDaily?s=ORO&end=2021-06-13&span=2months
Very interesting.
However, all that establishes is that normal outflow is too high, likely due to a large percentage being flushed out to sea, and is not being held in reserve for water shortages.
Oroville has a major role of flood prevention, the way the level is managed is to get close to the full pool level at the end of the rainy season. By the end of the dry season it needs to be about 150′ down to accommodate the next rainy season. That is done while generating electricity and providing water to agriculture and southern californian cities. Federal flood control requires that by October each year the lake’s storage must be reduced to between 750,000 acre-feet and 375,000 acre-feet.
The total rainfall of the last two years is about 34″ compared with 2019 which had 48″.
Oy, I know you’re going to chase minutia in order to find a hole, but if half. or more of the water is being flushed out to sea, the water is not being managed properly.
If the Fed requires outflow, send to the Central Valley for farming, thus allowing non-flood control reservoirs to retain storage. The system was filled to the brim two years ago and is designed for five year supply with zero rainfall. Add in the additional urban population and maybe it’s a 4.5 year supply.
If the farms don’t need the water, divert to ground water charging ponds.
None of this is complicated. Water in California is not being managed in a sane way. It’s being controlled by people living in a pseudo-reality where intentions mean more than results.
Oroville is not designed to store a five year supply, what part of flood control don’t you understand?
“Diener also asks, “How can this year be the driest year on record when it has more than 7 months left? That’s just fake news and crisis creation.””
As far as Oroville is concerned the precipitation year starts on Oct 1st so there are only 4 months left and most years rain ends about now. The last two years are the lowest rainfall years of the last ten.
Perhaps you mistook the word system for Oroville.
Not at all, I was replying to:
Kenji
“Reply to
Rud Istvan
June 13, 2021 7:43 pm
Looking at Lake Oroville and Folsom water levels … it is apparent that NONE of this year’s rainfall or snowmelt was retained in our reservoirs. NONE.”
Even if talking about the ‘system’, Oroville is the 2nd largest reservoir in California.
My apologies. My points still stand.
They do all over the west, to accommodate the incoming rain fall and snow melt flows that is expected to refill the reservoirs.
If there is a bad single year drought, they will discharge less to keep the levels up to deal with the multi-year droughts that might come in additional years.
This has been known for a long time now, it has become standard practice.
From the article…
$200 million will go to habitat restoration (yet again!), supporting tidal wetland, floodplains, and multi-benefit flood-risk reduction projects. Seriously?? A drought package with funding for floods? This is about recreating flood plains so when they demolish our dams, the water has someplace to go.
This does not make any sense to me.
Welcome to California
If it made sense, then it could be resisted. I hope people wise up to the fact that broadcasting systemic ‘nonsense’ is even more effective for controlling masses than martial power.
When do they tap their water rights holdings in Nevada to supply the oceans?
Ha!
A condition that happens in a majority of years is, by definition, not a drought. It is a failure to build enough dams. I don’t believe California has started a new one since 50 years ago, when they canceled the Auburn Dam. The voters must insist they begin by building that.
The EU mandated no water storage projects several years ago due to Globul Warming policies, no new reservoirs were to be built/created especially in the UK, (They really do detest we Brits, who along with our noble allies from the Virginian Colonies, helped prevent them from speaking German as an international language a few years back during WW11!!! Such is life I suppose!!! Less face it, this democracy crap that so many laid down their lives to achieve & protect, isn’t really worth it, surely???) Sarc off!
What is their argument against water storage projects? I don’t see a connection to the supposed global warming.
Flooded reservoirs release methane. Been a bunch of papers on that. Same argument as banning beef.
Some more than others.
Hydro reservoirs were often not cleared of trees. The result was a thick layer of black, sludgy, anaerobically decomposing vegetable matter on the bottom of the reservoir => lots of methane. (You need anaerobic conditions for methane generation.)
Water supply reservoirs were invariably cleared of vegetation => not so bad.
Many water reservoirs were also fitted with destratification bubble blowers rather like a fish tank => least methane.
Some low rainfall parts of India have made considerable improvements in their water supplies, especially for farming, by building many private farm ponds to capture and hold what little rain does fall. This has revitalized many communities, refilled the water tables, improved agriculture, attracted a large and diverse wild plant and animal biosphere, and raised the living standard in many places. Many small ponds turn out to be markedly cheaper than one large dam and no one has to abandon their land.
These ponds, if I understood correctly, are usually about 1 to 3 acres each and the improvement in crop yields more than make up for the acreage lost to tillage. They are designed into the lay of the land to maximize water collection. Some are lined, some are not, both approaches seem to work well. There are quite a few YouTube videos about them. I suspect the idiots in charge of California and national politics would prefer to have everyone carrying assault rifles everywhere rather than have a rational water supply system, if those were their only two choices.
Interesting. On my Wisconsin dairy farm, we constructed on the north forty a simple (nothing is simple in Wisconsin) earthen stock water pond capturing the higher neighbor’s field run off. About one acre pond surface, only about eight feet total dam depth including the manual mechanical pond drain to periodically spring flood desilt it by sluicing. Significantly greened the surrounding forests and 26 acres of fields, because on average it also raised their underlying summer water table by 8 feet.
And the EPA didnt say anything to you? Remarkable.
In Oregon the state owns all water runoff and you can’t build a catch pond without their permission. In the strictest interpretation you are not even allowed to put a water barrel under your down spout without permission. I didn’t know this until the state sued a land owner for putting in a small pond on his property <1 acre to catch run off and refused to remove it when ordered. He lost the case of course, state has all the rights to your
CA 2 most recent dams are Diamond Valley Lake Dam and the Seven Oaks Dam. Diamond Valley Lake was completed in 2003 and Seven Oaks was completed in 2000. Diamond Valley Lake holds water from the CO River while Seven Oaks is mainly for flood control. However, Seven Oaks is used for some groundwater recharge with proposals to use it even more for this purpose.
I was going to write to you about this. But you beat me to it.
Self-sabotage during a predictable La Nina event – and then blame “climate-change”.
And not just California, but Lake Mead as well. Lake Mead Water Level (uslakes.info)
The Feds must be involved.
Always amusing when Ayn Rand’s concepts outlined in Atlas Shrugged come to life in the news.
The level of shortsightedness runs deep. These low reservoirs are a clear opportunity to de-silt and make money selling the truckloads to Central Valley farmers to help with their metals contamination and land subsidence issues.
Other no brainers. Line the Aqueduct. Cover the Aqueduct with evaporative solar structures.
Don’t get me started on “will serve” letters.
I did a bit of research just now on CR’s post, to get some numbers.
Since 1989, CA has added about 1 million acre feet of storage (1000kaf). As of YE 2019, the ‘full’ capacity (less than total storage because of the allowance for flood control) for the top 46 reservoirs (out of a total of about 287) was ~27330kaf. So in the past 30 years, CA added something less than 4% water reservoir storage. Makes sense, because all the good big locations were used up long before (like Hetch Hetchy and Oroville).
During that same period, CA population grew 33% (from 29.8 to 39.5 million). Now, even IF population is only 10% of water use, CA is treading water since population demand grew the equivalent of 3.3% more water needed. As the farmer pointed out, the current problem has been ‘green’ environmental releases (the delta smelt) jeopardizing the five year average of dry/wet years water storage ‘design’ ridethru.
In spring 2017, Oroville was filled to overflowing and was almost lost when the spillway collapsed under heavy use. A mere 4 years later, it is down to 42% of capacity. That is mismanagement thanks to ‘environmental’ water use. To save the smelt, kill state agriculture. How very green.
Given that hydro provides a major percentage of grid stability in California, I think this is going to be very rough Fall blackout season as well as an extreme fire season.
Good point. Had not thought about it. Neither wind nor solar provide any grid inertia.
Note the graph which shows CA’s load and some major sources in 2020 per hour.
They will just import the electricity. They buy it on the spot market, dontcha know. That’s what I call long term planning.
Large hydro, which is not counted as renewables, is only a small part of their energy mix. Note they import 92% of their natural gas.
That state is screwed.
But, they voted for it.
My concern is that whatever portion of that imported electricity comes from hydro may not be as available this year.
California operates on the knife-edge. There’s not a lot of margin for maintenance or power plants going offline.
CR, since you no longer live there, perhaps if that happens it will be a good thing (except for AW and WE). CA vociferously volunteered as a crash test dummy. Let’s have a crash.
Totally. CA, as with Germany , the UK and Australia can serve humanity as classic “object lessons”
The Delta Smelt has not been seen in 5 years. The last time was in 2015 when only 6 were found in the delta survey.
But never fear. The new environmental poster fish is the Tidewater Goby.
No updates anywhere on whether guppies are endangered or not.
I thought you were kidding. Nope. The Delta Smelt is ‘functionally extinct’, so newly it is the broader distribution Tidewater Goby that is critically endangered per the US FWS.
Just in: conflict of interest. It turns out that a majority of the CA State Water Board are Gobies.
Seriously, the level of scientific quackery associated with the Delta Smelt should not go unpunished. The impact reminds one of the Spotted Owl Hoax.
In 1994 Bill Clinton and Al Gore shut down all harvest on Federal forests from Nor Cal to Canada in order to “save” the Spotted Owl. This shut down 1,500 saw mills and caused 150,000 people to lose their jobs. The cost to Oregon alone of lost wages has been $10 billion per year for nearly 30 years. And the Spotted Owl population has declined by 90%.
$300 billion lost for nothing! That’s some expensive quackery.
The same thing happened with the Delta Smelt and now the T. Gobie. The “experts” insisted that $tens of billions in water should be flushed away to “save” these creatures. The Plan has failed miserably, catastrophically, and tragically for the citizenry who paid for it.
The quacks who perped these frauds should not skip. A “Whoops!” does not satisfy justice. The fraudsters should be stripped of all their possessions, tied to posts in the Capitol Rotunda, and horse whipped to within an inch of their lives. There must be consequences for multi-billion dollar mistakes, especially when they result from deliberate deceptions.
See my notes, above. I am certain that 0% of the water collected from this past rainy/snow season has been STORED in our reservoirs. The State and the Media have been crying “drought” since Dec. 2020. If they anticipated a low precipitation total this year … then WHY would they drain our reservoirs? Who the hell is in charge? And what is their game?
What kind of a person DUMPS vital water … just for a global warming photo op next to an abnormally … unnaturally … low reservoir? What kind of a State DUMPS vital water just so they can whine about boat ramps being closed … for the FIRST TIME EVER!?
Hi Kenji,
There is a very good documentary about this:
DEAD HARVEST (~38 mins)
California’s central valley produces a quarter of America’s food, yet nearly a million acres have been forced out of production by federal laws and environmental lawsuits, costing thousands of jobs, with more to follow. When protecting species, should the human species be part of the balance? Take action at NAER.INFO
https://youtu.be/VSrRyAYgw34?t=449
As I posted above, two years ago Oroville was full, since then two very poor rainfall seasons, regarding agriculture its outflow passes through about 5 million acres of farmland.
Let’s see… What if these policies cause lots of farmers to go bust?
Can anyone think of some people who might be interested in picking up prime California agricultural land for pennies on the dollar?
I’m just spitballing reasons for a State Water Board to empty the reservoirs against all reason.
(If I were a farmer forced off my land due to bankruptcy from such policies, I’d salt the land before leaving. But hey, that’s just me. YMMV.)
Who on the board is responsible for failure? Not board members.
The state will eventually begin condemning farm land in order to confiscate it under eminent domain. It will be deeded over to large corporate farming with “tax breaks” and “incentives” to produce less than half of what privately owned land can, but with guaranteed profit for a few stockholders.
watch Chinatown with Jack Nicholson
Go check out the tags on this story.
“Can anyone think of some people who might be interested in picking up prime California agricultural land for pennies on the dollar?”
Bill Gates?
With the exploding LA/SoCal population, a population boom fueled by illegal immigration pushed by Libtards supported by adulterer Gates, there will never be enough water for those Bakersfield agri-fields again.
Not just water, Cal’s water board is helping to speed-up the outflow of residents as well.
Drought is caused by a cold planet, not a warm one.
All that ice locked up at the poles should be circulating the planet and raining on us everywhere.
The present climate is hazardous to humanity, not the future climate (assuming the Milankovich cycle and the Sun don’t direct us toward another ice age).
Regional geophysical patterns matter. The Sahara Desert, the Gobi Desert, the SW USA Desert, the Kahlahari-Nambi Desert, the Australian Outback, the SA Atacama Desert… all a consequence of the descending arm of the hemispehric Hadley cell circulation.
“You’re looking at our largest reservoirs less than two years ago. They were absolutely teeming with water from 107% to 145% of average!” Diener says. “Our reservoirs held enough water for everyone who relies on them for their water supply, for 7 years. We are barely into our second dry year. WHERE DID IT GO?”
Marijuana farms (in part)?
The water was DUMPED to provide a “global warming” photo op next to drained reservoirs and boat ramps closed for THE FIRST TIME EVER!!! What a crock of shit. I lived through the late 70’s drought … and that drought was no 2-years of slightly below average rain/snowfall … there’s no way that if those boat ramps weren’t closed in 1977 … that they’re closed now.
We are being LIED TO … and screwed by the numbskulls we have elected and appointed, and hired to operate bureaucratic malfeasance.
There is no need to worry. All of California’s problems will be solved as soon as the high speed rail service is put into operation between Fresno and Bakersfield. Apparently what the liberal rulers want is to turn the entire state into a wild life sanctuary devoid of any human inhabitants. What the rulers of the state seem to forget is that much of the state is semi arid to desert and the drought years are really average rainfall years. The wild fires that we have are really standard with some plants requiring wildfires to germinate.
We’ve seen this movie before. Chinatown.
It’s not an accident. It is enemy action.
All this adds grist to the ‘Water is not a Human Right’ statement of a dodgy Swiss CEO of a Water Company a few years ago.
This story reads like a deliberate attempt to destroy 30 million plus lives through lack of access to fresh drinking water.
If that isn’t planned, wilful genocide, what is??
Deliberate water shortage ? Some very rich people are buying farm land and forests all over the place. Seems to be an efficient strategy in order to drive farmers out of business, which then allows them to buy the land off cheap…
As usual, follow the money…
Really easy solution (as a Ventura resident):
Really not hard at all.
let lawns turn brown and landscaping die
And let your HOA fine you for following the State’s recommendations.
As for the main issue here: If there isn’t a crisis to keep the people in a panic, just create one.
And they’ve only been able to find EIGHT Delta Smelt since 2018!
Until the state gets control over non-native bass, there will never be a restoration of native fish species, such as the delta smelt and salmon. The young fish are food for bass. Naturally, the state doesn’t acknowledge what is going on, because it wants to take water away from farmers and valley cities. Why? To crush the independent farmers who are typically not Democrats, and to put pressure on municipalities and assert State control over them. The State took groundwater basins without public consent or compensation.
Here is simply another example of California Democrat tyranny. Recalling Newsom is just the first step. Recall them all, and never let them be in charge of even a lemonade stand.
Are the WP plugin people literate? If products of K12 in the US, especially California, they probably are not. My post is “Awaiting for approval”. Really? How does that work? I could understand either “Waiting for approval”, or “Awaiting approval”. No doubt someone has already griped about this issue.
It’s like one of my favorite peeves, the typically Germans who say, “this is how the data look like”. Painful. Hey, my euro-friends, it’s “how the data look”, or “what the data look like”.
This article mostly made sense to me, except for a big turnoff: The thing about watering lawns. In a state where water shortages are mostly routine and would only be partially corrected by not excessively draining a reservoir, why should there be lawns with grass that needs watering?
“why should there be lawns with grass that needs watering?”
HOAs and/or local (i.e. city codes & code enforcement)