(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/20230216-California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report.pdf
A Note to Readers
There are several articles in this issue that I think go beyond simple news reporting. I have only included a few lines from each and the link. Here are the ones I call to your attention:
“Governor Newsom Pisses-off the Environmentalist Once Again”
“There Are Solutions to Water Deficits”
“California’s heavy rains deliver hope of a lifeline for one devastated industry – rice”
“Still More Studies and Forecasts that the Central Valley Will Lose Up To One Million Acres of Farm Land “
“Understanding California’s relationship with the Colorado River”
Some discussion:
There are just a few articles on the crisis on the Colorado River this week, since everyone is waiting for the Bureau of Reclamation to announce how reducing withdraws from the river by two to four million acre feet annually will be done. Recall, that six states (Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico) have agreed on one plan, while California has put forth its own proposals. Therein lies the conflict, with California seen by the others as the villain, as it continues to insist on a plan that does not violate the legal water rights of especially the farmers in the Imperial Valley. The other states respond that the “Law of the River” no longer can be the sole criteria with the destruction of the water system that serves 40 million people.
Most likely, the Bureau will take both plans, merge them with its own, and present by fiat how the reduction in withdraws will be accomplished.
Other items included this week include The U.S. Drought Monitor map, showing the state is still deep in the drought with 84% of the land area in Moderate and Severe drought.
A look at water supply conditions across California, showing a significant improvement, but also a warning that the rest of the winter could be dry.
Klamath County, Oregon is most likely to see severe water restrictions on some of the farms and ranches there.
Under the title, “The Damage From Extensive Drought Is Not Just to Agriculture,” studies show massive die-off to the forests of the northwest states and California due to the drought.
There are a couple of articles under the title “It Is Not Quite Nasty Yet, but the California Water Wars are Intensifying,” that focus on the Colorado River and the Los Angeles Aqueduct.
Finally, I noted this article in my recommended reads, but a few words about it here are in order. The article begins by noting that a $800 billion defense budget should be able to provide all the military needs. But, as the author notes, money makes no difference when the industrial and skilled labor capacity of the U.S. economy has been all but destroyed. He provides numerous examples of how the Navy is cannibalizing some ships to keep others afloat, and the same is true of the Air Force with its planes, mentioning, that in a war we will run out of pilots before planes. It is the decades of deindustrialization that wrecked the ability to spend the money to ensure an up to date and fully functional military.
