California Drought Update
by Patrick Ruckert
May 7, 2015
Is anyone really using up the water? Is that why we have a shortage?
Water does not get used up. There is just as much water on Earth today as there was a hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago. Ignorant statements abound, and the ones about farmers using up all of California’s water is one frequently promulgated today. Or, an even stupider variant has been to blame the crisis on plants– if plants, like almonds or alfalfa, did not use so much water then we could have it.
Water evaporates from the ocean, from lakes, from the sidewalks; then it returns to Earth as precipitation. When on the land that water flows in streams and rivers; some of it percolates downward and becomes aquifers. Mankind and plants and animals use the water; plants put some of it back in the atmosphere through respiration; animals drink it and return it to the process of the water cycle by urination; mankind uses it for agriculture, drinking, showering and industrial processes– but all that used water is eventually returned to the ocean. It does not get used up.
Water, by man, is managed. The first farmer 5,000 years ago did so by using a stick to dig a shallow trench from a stream to his field. Today we dig wells, build dams, reservoirs, aqueducts and canals. We move water from where it is abundant to where it is needed. But, it does not get used up.
The California and Western States water crisis is exacerbated by the drought. By not acting on the policies that were planned fifty years ago, by that deliberate decision people like Jerry Brown created what could have been a mere blip of a problem due to the current drought into a real crisis.
As I have written before, this state does not have a one year’s supply of water in the reservoirs as repeatedly stated by both water managers and researchers– the reservoirs would be empty now if all the requirements for water were actually met. When the Central Valley farmers receive zero percent or 20 percent of the water they need, and thousands of wells have gone dry, and the urban areas must cut their consumption by 25 percent, then the state is out of water now.
So, what is to be done? As Jason Ross of the LaRouche PAC Science Team put it on May 4, continuing the discussion of how the water cycle on Earth is a product of galactic processes:
“….And then, when you go beyond that, to the galactic level, and the studies that have been done, and the experiments that are done, to show the correlations, the connections between cosmic radiation, the Sun {and} the Earth, altogether, in influencing precipitation, cloud cover, climate–you know, it is a galactic
system. And then using the insight from that to say, “Hey! If the galaxy’s doing this, we can do it.” If we can discover how it’s being done, we can control that principle and use it ourselves.
“So we don’t have to move our star through the galaxy somewhere to have enough water in California; we can create the effects of that motion with ionization systems, for example, understanding the process as a whole.” https://larouchepac.com/20150504/lpac-policy-committee-may-4-2015
The mastery of the desalination process is another example of how mankind can not only imitate nature’s process of evaporation, but can do it better, more effectively– in fact thousands of times more productively.
Master the galaxy if you want water tomorrow
Our report last week began with a summary of the presentation by Ben Deniston on the LaRouche PAC weekly webcast of April 23, and concluded with the following:
“But what we’re putting on the table, and what is really the challenge for those of us who choose to approach this crisis from the standpoint of being human, rather than animals, is that we now have insights into a higher level understanding of this system, and it’s not even just the Sun; it’s not even just the Solar System, but that the water cycle as we experience it, as we depend upon it, as we manage it, expresses the relationship between our Solar System and the galaxy more generally.”
The May 1, 2015 webcast again featured Deniston, who developed further the idea that the climate of the Earth and the planets water cycle are largely determined by both the Sun and our relationship to the galaxy. The video and transcript are here:
https://larouchepac.com/20150501/may-1-2015-larouchepac-friday-webcast-what-future-mankind
As both Deniston and Lyndon LaRouche presented this past week, it is mankind’s increasing understanding and mastery of this galactic principle that must be the focus if we as a species are to not only deal with phenomenon such as the drought, but it is only route that gives man a future. Just as man has adjusted the natural flow of surface water by building water management systems, such as dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, and, yes, the water pipes that delivers water to your home, the mastery of the galactic principles that determine the water cycle itself must be the next frontier of discovery.
And to deal with the drought we do not need Jerry Brown. As Mr. Larouche stated on May 2 referring to Brown, “Most of you guys are crap, especially Brown, and especially people like him. They’re crap! They don’t know what they’re talking about. They don’t care what they’re talking about! They’re just traitors to the nation, who are going to sell the people of California down the river, where there’s no water for the river to flow.”
Here are a few excerpts from the introduction to that webcast by Matthew Ogden, followed by excerpts from Ben Deniston’s presentation:
Mathew Ogden: The topics which you will hear tonight presented will be ideas which will challenge you, and will challenge what you think you know about the world around you. They might not be ideas that are necessarily popular, or which you are personally familiar with as of yet; but after going through the process of tonight’s proceedings, you will hopefully gain an apprehension, at least, of a universe beyond what you thought you knew before, and a reality beyond what you have previously accepted as self-evident experience. And in so doing, we intend to create in your imagination an image of the potential for the future which the options are available to us to create if we adopt those necessary actions.
Ben Deniston:
The water crisis in California -- first of all, there's clear levels to the crisis, it's not just one thing. On the first level, we have a drought. We have an immediate drought right now. You go to a deeper level, there's been no development in the state for water projects, these types of things, for nearly fifty years. For nearly fifty years, there's been no major investment in developing the water resources that we knew were needed. Desalination was put on the table -- it wasn't done. NAWAPA was put on the table -- it wasn't done. But there's another level, there's another aspect on the water crisis in California right now, which is the response of the Governor. He is another layer to the crisis. Governor Brown is a crisis in California. But, that aside, that done, as we want to really elaborate here today, we also need the positive solutions. We need to act human, we need to act creatively. We need to create new solutions, create in effect a new future condition which doesn't yet exist. Something which Jerry Brown either doesn't understand, or he doesn't want. So the only true real solutions, aside from taking out the garbage, getting rid of Jerry Brown, getting rid of his policy, the real solutions are for mankind to create the new conditions which don't yet exist. How do we develop new ways to manage the water system, to deal with the water cycle, using methods which night not even exist yet, or haven't existed yet, or, if they exist, they only exist in very preliminary phases. Here is a 52 minute video, “The Electric Sun- Documentary Svensmark Theory on Cloud Formation.” Henrik Svensmark is Head of the Center for Sun-Climate Research, DTU Space Technical University of Denmark. In this documentary Svensmark and scientists around the world demonstrate that the cause of climate change on the Earth is the interaction between the Sun and cosmic radiation producing cloud formation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ7IEUBUe4s Solutions As Deniston stated above, policies that would have prevented the current water crisis were on the table 50 years ago-- nuclear-powered desalination and the North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWAPA). There is no question that “solutions” are being presented almost everyday in the media coverage of the drought. Most of those presented are not worth the reportage, including William Schatner's scheme to built a pipeline from Seattle to Southern California. But the real policy authorized by the Congress in the 1960s, NAWAPA , has been getting some coverage, though in dismissal terms. on One that is worth mentioning is from the Vancouver Sun, in British Columbia, by Stephen Hume on April 27, 2015. Hume writes:
It (NAWAPA) proposed to create water security for the thirsty United States by diverting flows from the Yukon and Mackenzie river watersheds. The run-off would be stored behind a series of northern mega-dams and diverted into an immense 800-kilometer-long reservoir that would extend the entire length of British Columbia down the Rocky Mountain Trench, a mountain-flanked valley which runs uninterrupted and up to 13 kilometers wide from B.C.’s Liard River to Flathead Lake in Montana.
The plan called for water from the reservoir to feed into the Columbia, Missouri and Mississippi and Colorado River systems to carry northern water for irrigation to the dry western states, Southern California and arable parts of Mexico.
If all this it seems crazily grandiose, it was seriously discussed 50 years ago. New warnings that the U.S. might be entering a period of millennium-long mega-droughts has given the idea new life.
Hume then reports on conferences sponsored by LaRouche PAC in recent years as the action that has brought it back to life. The High Country News also covered Humes article.
Brownshirt’s California Water Board Lists Town-by-Town Mandates for Water Cuts Up to 36%
From a May 1, 2015 release by LaRouche PAC Bay Area leader Michael Steger:
With the fascist roots of environmentalism on parade in California, the time is critical to revive the Hamilton wing of American politics. No Missouri Compromises with green slavery and mass death. The mandate from Brown to cut 25% of water use, which was first binding for the water agencies, quickly moved to the individual residents and businesses, after it was exposed in an Orange County District Court that the tiered pricing levels, with behaviorist pricing models to control water use, were unconstitutional. Now residents are threatened with $10,000/day fines, with no additional water, or employment, anywhere in sight. Yet, the State Water Board made adjustments, since 25% seemed too much for certain cities. Which cities? The poor ones? No. Those cities which did not do enough to voluntarily reduce their water use last year, when Brown called for a voluntary reduction. So, to punish those who didn't reduce their water usage voluntarily, rich or poor, they have issued new requirements per water distributor. The effect is genocide. Here is a list of some cities which now face OVER 25% cuts. All of the bigger inland cities with massive unemployment are over 25%! Riverside 28% (e.g., 300,000 people total and over 20% in poverty) Sacramento 28% San Bernardino 28% Fresno 28% (e.g., 500,000 people and near 30% in poverty) Stockton 28% Bakersfield 36% These are small but major farm and food-processing towns in the Central Valley: Ceres 28% Manteca 32% Dinuba 32% Madera 32% Porterville 32% (This is ground zero for wells running dry! Thousands of household wells have already gone dry, with water shipped in by truck, in a town of 55,000.) Yuba 32% Turlock 32% Tulare 32% Oakdale 36% Lodi 36% Modesto 36% Merced 36% (e.g., 80,000 people and near 30% poverty) Ripon 36%
More terror from the Brownshirts
On May 6, the California State Water Resources Control Board adopted Governor Jerry Brown’s April 1 Executive Order as an emergency regulation, making official the above policy. The worst offenders (called water wasters) and agencies which do not meet the goals can be fined up to $10,000 per day. People who water their lawn on the wrong day, or the waiter who serves you a glass of water without you requesting it, can be fined $500 per violation.
The state Water Resources Control Board, also on May 6, “approved an amendment to the state’s Water Quality Control Plan for the Ocean Waters of California (Ocean Plan) to address effects associated with the construction and operation of seawater desalination facilities.”
As we should expect from the environmentalist Brownshirts, the regulations go way beyond what is either environmentally required, and economically possible for most proposed desalination facilities. Here is a section of the new plan:
“The amendment requires new or expanded seawater desalination plants to use the best available site, design, technology, and mitigation measures feasible to minimize intake and mortality of all forms of marine life. Based on the best available science, the amendments identify preferred technologies; however, alternative intake and disposal methods can be used if demonstrated to be as protective of marine life as the preferred technologies. Additionally, mitigation measures are required in order to address damage to marine life that occurs after the best available site, design, and technology feasible are used.”
More to come from the dictatorship These cuts in usage by 25 percent to 36 percent may just be an opener. During the drought of 1987-1992 at the beginning of 1991, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California briefly considered ordering a 50 percent reduction in water use. As we reported last week, the Governor issued an Executive Order increasing the fines for “wasting water” from $500 to $10,000. A question that is just beginning to be asked, is how can he do that-- there is no law passed by the State Assembly that would authorize such a fine? Well, don't worry about the Governor acting unlawfully to enforce his fascist policy. The drought emergency authorizes it. In other words, according to Brown, an emergency authorizes a dictatorship. Well now, if that does not go over so well, the Brownshirts in the Assembly are likely to pass enabling legislation by mid-June. And Brown does not forget to hit more farmers with more water cuts
More water curtailment notices this week to junior rights holders in the Sacramento River watershed and Delta region. The 2,700 individuals and entities are ordered to stop diversions of water and allow it to flow to more senior water-right holders, as required by state law. The same orders were issued in 2014. Last week over 1,600 junior water right holders in the San Joaquin River and Scott River watersheds were also cut-off. Junior water-right holders are those with permits, licenses, registrations and certificates issued after 1914 by the State Water Board. Senior water-right holders were those whose permit predates 1914. Last year, depending on the source, 400,000 or 1.7 million acres of the best farm land in the world was fallowed. This year could be double that. Brown also does not forget the farmers when it comes to fines for “wasting water.” Violators of this cut-off will be subject to fines up to $1,000 per day and $2,500 per acre-foot of water, with prosecution in court also threatened.
Jerry Brown: A lying fascist then, a lying fascist today
Prior to the current drought in California, the drought of 1976-1977 was the worst in the state’s history, with 1977 being the driest year on record. This drought began one year after Jerry Brown began his first term as Governor of the state and as he put the final nails in the coffin of the 1960s projects to build nuclear-powered desalination plants in California. Brown presided over the death of building any new nuclear plants in the state, as he helped to kill nuclear power throughout the nation. As today, then, Governor Brown blamed the drought on mankind for exceeding the carrying capacity of nature and that the only solutions was to cut-back the use of water.
On March 7, 1976, Brown was quoted in the California press saying, “The specter of drought has been gathering momentum not only in California but across the country.” He added, “this is an era of limits and there are very hard choices to make.”
Did Brown place the cause of the 1976-77 drought on mankind as he does today, claiming that the current drought is a result of man-caused global warming? No, in 1976, environmentalists and some scientists were warning that overpopulation and man’s destruction of the ozone layer through the release of aerosols into the atmosphere was resulting in global cooling.
As reported by Michael Bastasch in The Daily Caller on May 4, 2015:
“In 1976, the New York Times reported that climatologists ‘believe that the climate has moved into a cooling cycle, which means highly erratic weather for decades to come.’ Scientists worried that the world’s population had gotten so high that minor ‘shifts in climate could be catastrophic.’
“During the 1970s, some climate scientists were warning that the world was undergoing a cooling phase which could plummet the globe into another ice age. At the first Earth Day in 1970, ecologist Kenneth Watt warned that another ice age was on the way.
“Not all scientists, however, agreed with the theory the world was heading into another ice age. Scientists didn’t even agree that global cooling was causing droughts across the U.S. A ‘skeptical scientist’ told the New York Times in 1976 that ‘some of their stuff is right out of fantasyland’ regarding predictions that global cooling was going to make the weather more erratic.”
Brown and his Brownshirts were wrong then and they are wrong today.
Will the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth sue Mother Nature?
Widely reported this week is the growing catastrophic destruction of California’s forests, with as many as 12 million trees already dead in southern California alone– caused by the drought, according to a recent study by the U.S. Forest Service. It is not man that is the destroyer of the so-called environment, but mother nature herself. These trees have died because of the lack of water, and are in addition to the estimated destruction of 800,000 acres of trees killed by bark beetles, which infest California pines, weakened from years of drought.
The U.S. Forest Service study also reported that large trees are major storers of carbon from the atmosphere, provide food and habitat for many species and hold water in the ground, preventing flooding. In addition, the death of so many trees exacerbates dryness in the forests making the fire risk extreme.
Now, nature may repair the damage it does to itself over decades or even centuries, but it is only man that can both prevent the damage through water management programs and quickly repair the damage by the planting of trees and crops and insect eradication.
So, we must ask, will the environmentalists now sue mother nature?
