The last substantial storm, “Pineapple Express” that affected California was in mid-December of 2014(Fritz, 2014). Nobody knew whether the snowpack or the rainfall would proceed similarly to end the record three year natural, yet “man-made” drought. Costal elites of California invested of all their money and time to build dams, repositories, and trenches in the 1970s but the situation took a complete turn in the last four years. During the first year of the drought, fights about water were basically restricted to agriculturists and environmentalists. The environmentalists wanted all the water to be diverted to Delta restoration while the agriculturists wanted to divert water to the 500,000 acres of the farmlands. The politicians claimed that the climate change, global warming and agricultural water usage, not their own political regulations, had brought the current drought emergency on the Golden State of California. The main question looming is: Should people show some dominance over nature or nature should take dominance over humans?
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The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance also opposed the proposition by issuing the opposition statement with 14 reason against the proposition. According to the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, it would undermine the public doctrine trust by taxing water which is a public trust and should be free to use just like the air we breathe. It also undermines the doctrine of beneficiary pays by making the citizens pay instead of the beneficiary of the water projects. As taxpayers, citizens would have to pay $360 million in taxes per year up to 40 years to pay off the bond. It is economically irresponsible because the state of California is already in $777 billion debt and this would increase it. This $7.545 billion bond was passed on August 13, 2014 (“Proposition 1”,
After more than five years of drought in California, we are just now beginning to see an above-average precipitation,and this is leaving many to ask, "is the drought over?" This last drought was one of the worsts droughts California has experienced in history and it left many panicked and trying to come up with solutions. “Governor Jerry Brown even made one of the first cutback to farmers ' water rights since 1977, and ordered cities and towns to cut water use by as much as 36 percent ” (Zamora,et al..) Overall California has 39 million residents and on top of that California also grows an unbelievable amount of
In the his brief but effectual article “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water”, the author Michael Hiltzik presents to the reader “a guide to the wrong ways to think about California water, and the glimmer of a better way”(Hiltzik). In the short piece, Hiltzik argues that the current debate on how California should be spending its meager allowance of water during the current drought is being thoroughly misguided. Hiltzik writes that people should stop criticizing businesses that consume “large” amounts of water, rather, the water already being used should be utilized more efficiently and effectively. “The only lasting solutions include creating a better-functioning water market with transparent pricing and transfers, so that water
Californians are being heavily fined for using a certain amount of water a month, which impacts the daily lives of everyone. Water is a natural resource that is crucial to everyone’s survival. Whether if it’s being used for cooking, showering, gardening, washing your car or just simply drinking purposes; water is a necessity for everyone. Though the bill has not yet been passed by congress and officially has not become a law, the issue still remains on the table. The drought in California has taken a massive toll on agriculture, the environment and infrastructure. The drought is on its route to damage California’s climate change. In the past three consecutive years the average rain fall has drastically decreased, and the winter temperatures have increased. Since majority of California’s water comes from the Western Rocky Mountains, the water supply there is dropping resulting in more strict laws and regulations on how much water can be consumed by the average
California is entering its fourth year of a record-breaking drought. The combination of dryness and record warmnth have acted to produce the most severe drought conditions experienced in Califronia. The states drought affected Central Valley which is considered the richest food-producing region in the world, much of America's fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables are grown there. Due to the lack of water in California, there has been many argumentative decisions on water conservation such as fining people for overuse of water, bringing glaciers from the Arctic to California and building major water pipelines, but these ideas require much time and money which the governemnt isn't willing to risk.
The Summer of 2015 was an unprecedented period of time in the history of California’s water resources. A crippling drought had persisted for several years prior and showed no signs of relief in 2015. In an attempt to hold the State’s fragile water project together, a desperate State Water Resources Control Board (SWCRB) did something so extraordinary that it caused several irrigation districts in the Bay Area to essentially operate outside the law, resulting in subsequent court proceedings that established new case law.
Slowly overtime, to prevent any more bizarre events in the future, California shouldn’t take drought lightly. As of the recent drought, Government Brown taken action, have produced a restriction by 25% of decrease of water usage back in 2015, luckily in 9 months California was able to save 1.5 million acres-feet of water(Sanders). But farmers aren’t the only people with large lands, this also applies graveyards, golf courses, and more. Agriculture plays a big part of needing the water and if they can help cut down the portion of water used, so should the people in the city. So far, California haven’t prevented the drought from happening, but definitely not repeating the same mistakes from previous.
At some point of our lives we have been asked or have heard the question, what can we not live without?. Many of us will not hesitate to mention family, friends, food, water, and other living essential we find futile to our survival. If we place these living essentials in order of importance some of us may place family over water. If you then think about it, we can live without our family, but we cannot live without water. Water gives us life its in our fruits, foods, and drinks. Without water we would not be alive and healthy for the most part. The importance of water is substantial and California is currently experiencing one of its worst droughts in history. The planet itself is also undergoing global warming, which only contributes to a more severe drought occurring in California. Droughts in California’s history did not have the contributing factor of Global warming diminishing their severity. California’s drought and Global warming share a common link in the factor that would contribute to the severity of the drought we are currently experiencing in California and
Water is a precious resource. It is the lifeblood of every living thing on Earth. California is in the midst of a water crisis. Combined with a three (plus) year drought and many people moving into the state there is not enough water to support the crops the farmers need to grow. There is also a tiny little fish that is causing a mess in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Delta water pumps were turned off to prevent the extinction of the tiny little fish. Some farmers have to let their fields sit idle for the fall and spring planting season. This is causing a lot of problems in California. The pumps need to be turned back on. The needs of the people should come before that of a fish.
California has had along history of dealing with its most vital resource water. It is not uncommon for a state/country to experience a drought that is the fluidity of the earth. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to say when a drought will break for California it is vital that the state make breakthroughs in science and technology that can help us sustain a proper water supply that gives water to the masses. Exploring a section of California specifically in Santa Barbara, I will be looking at the history of water and finding innovative solutions for more sustainable practices within the county itself. Looking at past practices of water usage and the social, political, and current ideas of how drought has affected this area and the solutions for the enduring future.
Water resources in the state of California have deteriorated drastically as a result of the current drought event in the west coast of the United States. This has resulted in insufficient supplies of water to residents of southern California, as well as the devastation of wildlife and aquatic ecosystems that are characteristic of this area. This policy analysis will provide the context of the issue, as well as possible solutions, followed by a proposed policy plan to reach the policy goal of equitable and reliable water allocation in the state of California, drought resilience, as well as restoration of the destroyed ecosystems.
Due to the lack of rain in the past few years, and particularly in the last few months, California faces severe drought. This is the worst drought in more than one hundred years. The impact of California drought affects community, agriculture, organic ranchers, and dairy farmers. Because of these facts, the United States must rethink the way it uses water. Californians alone are asked to reduce their water usage by twenty percent to prevent water waste.
Yet, humans have limited control on natural events, so this only reinforces the importance of managing water wisely. Recently California’s government has begun to focus more on sustaining and restoring the water supply. Dale Kasler (2016) articulates in his article some of the steps they have decided to make to solve this serious issue. The government has made the following investments: “$415 million for watershed restoration and other environmental aid for Lake Tahoe; up to $335 million for two proposed reservoirs in California, including the Sites reservoir north of Sacramento; $880 million for flood-control projects on the American and Sacramento rivers in Sacramento; and $780 million for flood-control projects in West Sacramento” (para. 10). This could be the first step to restoring the water to California. But these
An issue of this magnitude is clear to see by many. Although, there are people who choose to believe that humans do not have an impact on the environment’s drastic changes, there are people who do choose to see our actions have led to this situation. Adam Sobel of CNN believes that the population of California has played some sort of a role in the drought they are experiencing. Sobel states that the human-induced climate change has increased the risk that a drought will occur, and it also forces the public to become aware of how we treat the environment. He points out that this is the first time in the state’s history that there has been a mandatory statewide restriction of water use. The system set in place for water consumption in the driest areas of the country does not make sense, and the restriction of water is the biggest acknowledgement of the issue. Sobel makes it clear that our contribution to climate change is not based on one single event attribution, but on statistics of large sets of weather events. This argument is important, because it reinforces the idea that we should be motivated to discover and implement better ways to control our water consumption, as well as prevent catastrophic flooding in areas that have a great chance of extreme weather events.
As you are fully aware, California has been in a drought for over four years and the declining water level is a growing issue. A water analysis performed by the City of Fresno clearly reveals that in the past 80 years,
In a discussion on the California drought, one controversial issue has been that if the people in California should be worried about relocating somewhere else. One the one hand, the drought not only affects the people, but animals, and crops too. On the other hand, some hope that the government will intervene and try to do something to prevent this disaster from escalating so people don’t have to move out of the area. The government should intervene and help find a solution to the problem so people, animals, and agricultural can continue to survive.