WHAT'S IN A DRAFT ?
Keith, Anthony Freitas
Board Member at Tend The Garden. Inc. A California 501 (c) 3 Non Profit
Well ! Once again .... we lead by following our own tails. If history teaches us anything ? it's that we (LEARN NOTHING) !
Of course asking for comments regarding a proposed "Urban Conservation Mandate" is nothing new ! It's become a mandatory CYA political process that the SWB, and the Governors Office utilize, in the same manner ice cream trucks utilize their ice cream music loud speakers ......
Using "Tail Chasing Management Practice's" for a natural resource as finite as water is absurd ! We need to revamp the entire State Water Management System so that "WE THE PEOPLE", can begin to have confidence in our administrative government, it's leadership, and the failings of human competency. Mismanagement of duty, and allowing a resource misuse, and policy abuse has to stop. Defining this great state with the continued use of emergency draft resolutions is no way to manage a depleting capacity of human needs, when these basic needs should be defined by competent politicians, and administrators (both of whom owe a duty of custodial care and fair dealing to it's constituents).
The states failure to design a complete, abundant, and foresight water storage and distribution infrastructure is a "common core" flaw besieged upon an unsuspecting public that puts faith in it's leaders to manage a population growth profile that develop's based upon these core political and management competencies. To have leaders that allow "open boarders" to run unchecked, that allow green card visa programs to go un-managed, and to fail to build out core infrastructure storage and distribution projects to become such a burden on this state is nothing less than criminal. These politicians and administrators responsible for maintaining a core resources capability should be prosecuted like criminals when they fail at this most basic task.
Putting the public in a position to make public comment's about core incompetents that run our state, is like asking the kids to be in charge of the teachers in pre-school. Of course there needs to be conservation limit's in urban areas where water users not only residents but also visitors from other countries and states visit us; stay in our hotels, push demands against an already broken system, and have zero accountability for over use, misuse, abuse, and just outright waste of one of this states most valuable and precious resources. Case in point attached to this comment is a article that dates back to 1958 regarding a warning from the State Water Resources Director Harvey Banks. Mr. Banks foretold the future of water in this memo, and our recounting illustrates my claims of incompetence and why we learn nothing from a history that simply repeats itself.
Urban water use has become a multi-billion dollar trade deal ! Metropolitan Water District's and Private Water Companies generate cash flow from metered water sales. Why would a system built on models that generate billions see any need to conserve ? There is no motivation in a metropolis to conserve resources that generate such a abnormal portion to the metropolitan coffers ? especially when the managers of these "Obsessive Revenue Generating Machines" grow derive their paycheck's, their raises, their vacations, their pensions and their party time from these revenue stream's. Actually it's just the opposite of conservation ! It's a "free for all" mentality. And now the state is about to legalize medical cannabis grows and recreational pot grows within these urban areas adding to the abuse and misuse of the already underdeveloped water resources of this state. The game is to "rob peter to pay paul" , so now litigate food and fiber farmers who have made there investment in production infrastructure must suffer in order to accommodate a failed system.
Why doesn't it matter to anyone in these cities that washing cars, over watering lawns, taking long showers, washing dogs and cats, and basically abusing such a finite and precious resource has added insult to injury ? It is a human trait to "use it till you loose it" ! I think this is the direction of this state regarding the lack of competent leadership and system operators that use "replacement induces" as fish, and inland salt intrusion as the basis for shortages. If the environmental elite can lay claims to global warming and now science has proven that global warming is causing the sea levels to rise at unprecedented rates; at rates that threaten the entire delta eco-system, which no "I MEAN NO" known capability by man can stop ? Then how do these same environmental do-gooders not see the importance of heading a message from our most recent past ? a a place in time ! a warning by a competent director who warned us that a "systems failure" was inevitable ! with a warning that gave us ample time to respond, react, and design/build adequate storage and delivery systems ...... ? WOW. Being ashamed that we failed to heed this warning is an understatement, and I marvel at what others around the world must think of our "core incompetents". We have become a state where the tail wages the dog, and the fleas and ticks manage the host.
5/10/16 – Entry #77 – Harvey Banks visits Yuba County - State Department of Water Resources Director Harvey Banks came onto the Yuba County scene in February 1958—nine inches of rain were recorded at the Marysville gauge that month. Banks addressed an audience at Yuba College and gave an overview of the State’s top projects. Alameda County and the western San Joaquin Valley had more acute water problems than Southern California. Banks cited conditions arising from recent storms as evidence of the need for water projects. He reminded the audience that in 1931 there was no flow in the Sacramento River at Sacramento. Banks declared, “Flood control and water conservation go hand in hand. Nature does not wait for men to stop bickering.”NOTE: Seems to me there's still plenty of bickering going on in 2016 about California water...appears that history is repeating itself.
Board Member at Tend The Garden. Inc. A California 501 (c) 3 Non Profit
8 年City Brights: Peter Gleick California’s looming groundwater catastrophe Posted on Tuesday, July 14 at 12:40pm?|?By?Peter Gleick 0 PRINT California is one of the only states in the United States with almost completely unregulated groundwater use. Groundwater users are, with few exceptions, not required to report how much water they pump. Further, groundwater levels are irregularly and incompletely monitored, leaving these withdrawals unmeasured and policymakers in the dark. In part, this is a legacy from the old days when groundwater and surface water were considered separate. We have known for a long time, however, that they are connected, and that the use of one affects the availability of the other. Pretending that we only need to allocate and monitor surface water use and rights, while unlimited groundwater use is permitted, is a recipe for disaster. Some people like it this way. And these people do whatever they can to prevent any move to get the state to regulate, or even measure, groundwater use. If their groundwater use affects their neighbor’s well or a nearby stream, tough luck. This isn’t sustainable. Sooner or later, bad things happen when the use of common resources, such as air or water, is left completely unmanaged. For groundwater in California, bad things are already happening. Water Number: 60 million acre-feet. This is the amount of groundwater that anew study from the US Geological Survey?estimates has been lost in California’s Central Valley since 1961. Lost. Consumed and not replenished. In some places, groundwater levels have dropped 400 feet or more. The vast majority of this overpumping has been in the Tulare Basin, though the last few years of drought have led to significant increases in overdraft in the San Joaquin Basin as well. As a result of some overpumping, land subsides and compacts. Buildings and roads subside and crack. Drainage patterns change. And ironically, the California aqueduct systems run by the State and Federal governments may be damaged, threatening the delivery of water to other urban and agricultural users. The truth is, there is not enough surface water to satisfy Central Valley growers, and so they pump groundwater. In an average year in the Central Valley, groundwater provides nearly half of irrigation water demand. In a dry year, such as we’ve experienced for the past three years, some users pump even more groundwater and groundwater may provide 60% or more of irrigation demand. If this water is then replenished in wet years, groundwater use over time is sustainable – groundwater acts like any other reservoir (only without many of the adverse consequences of surface reservoirs). If not fully replenished, however, groundwater levels inevitably fall. The primary cost of using groundwater is to drill a well or to run a pump on an existing well – the water itself is not priced. The costs for drilling and running pumps, however, are beginning to rise. Costs for drilling new wells, especially given the depths to which groundwater has fallen, can be hundreds of thousands of dollars. The cost of electricity or diesel to run groundwater pumps is rising as well. Eventually, the damage caused by subsidence, or the conflict among users sharing the same aquifers, or the cost of pumping will increase to the point where pumping must decrease or even stop. And when that happens, our food supply may go the way of the Delta smelt and California’s salmon, and we will end up with neither fish?nor?farms. Let’s stop pretending that pumping groundwater without constraint is a reasonable use of our limited freshwater resources. In some areas of the state, local entities have formed groundwater management authorities to manage this important resource for the benefit of all users. This should be required everywhere, but especially in areas of severe overdraft. Anything less will mean growing confusion and chaos for California water and inevitably diminishing returns for California agriculture. Categories:?California Water,?Water Efficiency,?Water Policy