[tomder55]

At a briefing on Saturday, California Governor Gavin Newsom cited estimates that 22 to 25 trillion gallons of water had fallen in the past 16 to 17 days due to an unprecedented "stacking of these atmospheric rivers."

California braces for final burst of heavy snow and rain | Reuters

President Joe Biden on Saturday approved California's request for a disaster declaration, making federal funding available to assist recovery efforts in the three counties most impacted by the storms: Merced, Sacramento, and Santa Cruz.

Maybe some of the money wasted on things like high speed rail to nowhere could be better invested on building reservoirs ?Earlier this month, before the rain, the reporting was about the biggest drought in 1200 years . [that was climate change .... now the rains are blamed on climate change ]

But California was a desert before population moved in . They have always been dependent on water retention. It is mind boggling that they have neglected that for decades .

[Athos]

Earlier this month, before the rain, the reporting was about the biggest drought in 1200 years . [that was climate change .... now the rains are blamed on climate change

Of course both can be cited as climate change. You clearly don't understand the meaning of climate change.

[tomder55]

climate change means anything the left wants it to mean. Do you have an opinion on the neglegence of California of not spending on critical infrastructure like dams and reservoirs knowing how critical it is for their population ?

[Athos]

climate change means anything the left wants it to mean.

Typical BS from the far right.

Do you have an opinion on the neglegence of California of not spending on critical infrastructure like dams and reservoirs knowing how critical it is for their population ?

Sure, but you have to ask me nicely.

[tomder55]

Colonel Jessup if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to know if you have an opinion on the negligence of California of not spending on critical infrastructure like dams and reservoirs knowing how critical it is for their population ?

[Athos]

Colonel Jessup if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to know if you have an opinion on the negligence of California of not spending on critical infrastructure like dams and reservoirs knowing how critical it is for their population ?

Yes, I have an opinion.

Neglecting infrastructure is vary bad. Critical infrastructure, California, whatever...it's always bad. Spending tax dollars for infrastructure is not sexy (unlike reporting to a beautiful woman who outranks you - now, THAT'S sexy).

Politicians, whores that they often are, want to be paid by votes for their efforts. Infrastructure maintenance doesn't pay until it's far along the road to crumbling-ness. The root problem is the voter - too many are uninformed and uninterested.

The solution is simple: test every eligible voter once every election cycle on their knowledge of important issues. Those who pass get to vote. All others are summarily executed. If this is too harsh, an alternative can be exile - say, to northern Greenland or to Borneo where they can learn from the stone-age tribes living there and re-test every five years.

This solution will be bi-partisan, equally passed by right, left and neither.

Next question?

[tomder55]

California’s political leaders are obsessed with climate, so why don’t they prepare for droughts or deluges? The atmospheric rivers that are sweeping the parched Golden State should be a cause for relief, but they’ve instead given way to catastrophic floods and enormous water waste.
Scientists last fall forecast another warm and dry winter following three of California’s driest years on record. Yet storms this winter have already dropped tens of trillions of gallons of water across the state and more than a dozen feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Alas, little of the storm runoff is getting captured.

ne problem is the state’s lack of investment in public works, especially storage and flood control. Drought has recurred throughout California history, punctuated by wet winters like this one. Two seven-year droughts that started in the late 1920s and 1940s spurred the construction of a massive system of canals, dams and reservoirs.

But few large water projects have been built since the birth of the modern environmental movement in the 1970s. Species protections for salmon and the three-inch smelt limit how much water can be pumped south through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which receives runoff from rivers in the North and the Sierra mountains.

The amount of water surging into the Delta on Friday could have filled a reservoir the size of Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy almost every 24 hours. Instead, nearly 95% of the Delta’s storm water this year has flushed into the Pacific Ocean. Such waste occurs whenever there’s a deluge and is why some reservoirs south of the Delta remain low despite the storms.

Water Is a Terrible Thing for California to Waste - WSJ

[tomder55]

California is one of the few western states that gets sufficient rainfall for it's needs.

It is also part of the Colorado River compact ;tapping into the river's precious scarce supply. Lake Powell and Lake Mead are at historic lows. Meanwhile California let's the runoff from rain and snowpack rush out to the Pacific Ocean.

Even in drought years moisture runs into the state from the Pacific and crashes into the Sierra Mountains changing to rain and snow.

But California does a poor job of retaining the water . This is exasperated by the enviro-wackos who control the agenda in the state. This leaves the state leaders to make silly declarations in one of the wettest years in state history that the drought is not over.

Why California's drought won't really end, even though it's raining : NPR

In a 3 week period at the beginning of the year , 32 trillion gallons of water rained and snowed on the state California officials reduced pumping water into the state's aqueducts .Why ? To protect smelt fish and to flush out San Francisco bay nutrient levels caused by inefficient waste water treatment .

So 2 major infrastructure projects are needed state wide. The first is the construction of more water retaining reservoirs and aqueducts to move water to where it is needed. The 2nd one would be to upgrade water treatment /sewerage plants so the water discharged is actually clean. Those 2 projects would eliminate the need for California to tap into the precious supply of the Colorado River . They could even protect the bait fish they are so concerned about .