"In his 16-minute speech, Governor Jerry Brown was playful and jaunty, as befitting an incumbent with a huge campaign bankroll facing no well-funded or well-known opponent. The speech was as much a cautionary note as a celebration of the state’s good news. Brown took note of the drought that has gripped California, warning that he expected it to get worse given changes in the climate. Brown also pointed out the huge debts the state faces."
Looks like he won't be hurting for a glass of water.
And he is a good Democrat, something the article by the New York Times seemed to miss or omit. Interesting.
"Drought in the West emptying reservoirs" by Adam Nagourney | New York Times, February 02, 2014
LOS ANGELES — The punishing drought that has swept much of the West is confronting authorities with the worst water shortage the region has faced in more than a century, with near-empty reservoirs, parched fields, starving livestock, clouds of smog, and outbreaks of wildfires.
With no sign of significant rain, 17 rural communities in California that provide water to 40,000 people are in danger of running out of water within 60 to 120 days.
California authorities announced Friday that they had no water left in the State Water Project, the main municipal water distribution system, to supplement the dwindling supplies of local agencies that serve 25 million people. It is the first time the project has turned off its spigot in its 54-year history.
“We are on track for having the worst drought in 500 years,” said B. Lynn Ingram, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California Berkeley.
State officials said that in the worst scenario, they would truck drinking water into parched communities and drill additional wells to draw on ground water.
And what will come up, tracked-up firewater?
Why weren't these wells drilled already anyway? WTF is this, another resource grab by the wealthy? "Chinatown" come real?
The deteriorating situation is likely to mean imposition of mandatory water conservation measures for homeowners and businesses, who have already been asked to voluntarily reduce their water use by 20 percent.
Another compliance drill for the docile Amurkn people?
The drought, technically in its third year, is forcing big shifts in behavior. Farmers in rural Nevada said they had even given up on planting, while ranchers in Northern California and New Mexico said they were being forced to sell off cattle as fields that should be 4 feet high in grass are blankets of brown and stunted stalks.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Rancher Rodeo
“I have experienced a really long career in this area, and my worry meter has never been this high,” said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, a statewide coalition. “We are talking historical drought conditions, no supplies of water in many parts of the state.
--more--"
"Facing intense drought, Calif. declares state of emergency; Officials restrict water use; farmers delay planting" by Norimitsu Onishi and Malia Wollan | New York Times, January 18, 2014
NORDEN, Calif. — This winter is so unusual that California cattle ranchers have had to sell portions of their herd for lack of water. Sacramento and other municipalities have imposed severe water restrictions. Wildfires erupted this week in forests that are usually too wet to ignite. Ski resorts that normally open in December remain closed; at one here in the Sierra Nevada that is actually open, a bear wandered onto a slope full of skiers last week, apparently refusing to hibernate because of the balmy weather.
Then he should migrate to the rest of the country.
On Friday, Governor Jerry Brown made it official: California is suffering from a drought, perhaps one for the record books. The water shortage has Californians trying to deal with problems that usually arise midsummer. With little snow in the forecast, experts are warning that this drought, after one of the driest years on record last year, could be as disruptive as the severe droughts of the 1970s.
Under state law, that would allow the governor to “waive laws or regulations and expedite some funding,” said Jeanine Jones, deputy drought manager for the state Department of Water Resources. “It does not create a new large pot of money for drought response or make federal funding available.”
Signs of drought affect vast sectors of the economy. A sense of dread is building among farmers, many of whom have let fields go fallow.
And watch the price of food soar into an economic collapse. No wonder government has been so busy upping the tyranny.
Without more water, an estimated 200,000 acres of prime agriculture land will go unplanted in Fresno County, according to Westlands Water District officials. Cattle ranchers accustomed to letting cows graze on rain-fed grass have had to rely on bought hay or have winnowed herds.
Then the price of beef should come down.
Clergy of all faiths have been exhorting the faithful to pray for rain. “May God open the heavens, and let his mercy rain down upon our fields and mountains,” Bishop Jaime Soto, the state’s Roman Catholic conference president, said last week. The Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations followed suit by announcing that area mosques would offer the traditional rain prayer, Salatul Istisqa.
California gets much of its water from the snowpack of the Sierra Nevada, so towns such as Norden have a front-row view of the problem. The base at Donner Ski Ranch, a family-owned resort with limited snow-making capacity, was less than a foot of snow this week. Usually, it would be several feet deep in January, like at other resorts in the Sierras.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Lincoln Kauffman, 55, the resort’s general manager, who has been skiing in these mountains since the early 1970s. “I think 1976 and 1977 were comparable to this — that was a really tough one. I remember the restrictions on showers and flushing toilets.”
Uh-oh!
Near Sacramento, the Folsom Lake water reservoir has shriveled so much that remnants of a Gold Rush-era ghost town are visible....
It will be with unflushed toilets all over the place!
--more--"
Time to get to work:
Calif. drought a cruel blow for laborers; Driest year on record has small towns bracing for effects on farm workers" by Scott Smith | Associated Press, February 03, 2014
MENDOTA, Calif. — After California’s driest year on record, the nation’s leading agricultural region is locked in drought and bracing for unemployment to soar, sending farm workers to food lines in a place famous for its abundance.
And if that is happening there.... remember all those movies and photos from history books showing the Great Depression food lines? They're baaaaaack!
One-third of the Central Valley’s jobs are related to farming. Strains on water supplies are expected to force farmers to leave fields unplanted, creating a ripple effect on workers at food-processing plants, truck drivers, and those who sell fertilizer, irrigation equipment, and tractors.
No place may be harder hit than Mendota....
It's the ‘‘cantaloupe capital of the world.’’
Residents of Mendota late last year began seeing tough times on the horizon when little rain fell in the valley and snow did not blanket the High Sierra. This marks the third consecutive dry year for California, and Governor Jerry Brown has declared a drought emergency.
It is not for a certain sector of people, and they are really all that matter, because the wealthiest philanthropists did not give as much in 2013 as they gave before the Great Recession, even as a strong stock market and better business climate have continued to concentrate American wealth in the top 1 percent of earners.
I suppose it's all funny to some.
In the past week, the snowpack’s water content was measured at 12 percent of normal. State officials announced that they would not be sending water to California’s agricultural customers. US officials are expected in late February to announce they will allot only a fraction of the federally controlled water that farmers want, if any.
If that scenario plays out, Mayor Robert Silva estimates the lines they saw outside a Mendota food bank five years ago could run three times as long this year....
Officials at Mendota’s City Hall are not the only uneasy ones. Steve Malanca, general manager at Thomason Tractor in Firebaugh, said farmers have already told him that digging deeper wells and buying irrigation water are higher priorities in 2014 than investing in new farm equipment from him. With reduced work in the fields, Malanca said it is clear he will have to lay off some of his 49 employees.
The ripple effect of drought extends to the trucking companies that haul crops, tire companies that outfit the big rigs, and fuel suppliers who provide diesel, he said.
Insulting irony, isn't it? Saying ripple effect in the midst of a drought is like waving a bottle of water at a man dying of thirst. I love my insulting journalistic style so much!
Employees at John Deere world headquarters in Moline, Ill., will feel repercussions from drought in California, the biggest agricultural producer, he said. So will the businesses that make cardboard boxes to hold cantaloupes and the wooden pallets for stacking the boxes, Malanca said. The list goes on....
Felicia Grant, a lieutenant at the Salvation Army, fears that the drought will be so severe that middle-class families will need free food along with the farm workers.
Yes, heaven help us if former middle class citizens need to take food from likely illegal immigrants.
See how they get you at each others throats over crumbs from the top table?
She hopes that they are not afraid to ask for help when the time comes while praying for a miracle....
As she does a rain dance!
Where, God, is this protective and loving good government that I heard so much about?
--more--"
Even worse, how are they going to fight the fires now and in the spring?
Related: Bay Area getting some rain, finally
Still not enough.
"TOPSY-TURVY -- Jacob Melville, 4, held an umbrella for his mother at the farmer's market in Laguna Hills, Calif., Friday. Rain led to flooding in parts of California (Boston Globe November 23 2013)."
Have you ever not seen the rain coming down on the Globe website?
Also see: 20 years after Los Angeles quake, communities still at risk
Hardly worried about that right now.
I'm kind of drained myself. I might be back, but then again, I might not!
Even worse, how are they going to fight the fires now and in the spring?
Related: Bay Area getting some rain, finally
Still not enough.
"TOPSY-TURVY -- Jacob Melville, 4, held an umbrella for his mother at the farmer's market in Laguna Hills, Calif., Friday. Rain led to flooding in parts of California (Boston Globe November 23 2013)."
Have you ever not seen the rain coming down on the Globe website?
Also see: 20 years after Los Angeles quake, communities still at risk
Hardly worried about that right now.
I'm kind of drained myself. I might be back, but then again, I might not!
