January 28, 2025

CHANGE IS EVERYWHERE:

UPDATE: And on the Eighth Day, Trump Said Let There Be Water. And Californians Saw That It Was Good.

A specific variety of bait fish about the size of your fingernail was getting pumped from the California Delta, just east of the Bay Area, into the California Aqueduct that services the rest of the state to the south, grinding up the fish in the pumping stations along the way. The Delta collects from both the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, and until 2007, all that fresh water was the primary water supply for all parts south of there – Bakersfield, Los Angeles, terminating into Lake Perris in the Inland Empire. All that Central Valley farmland used it to irrigate and grow crops, eventually feeding all of us, with plenty of water left over to service Southern California. Then this little fish was classified as an endangered species, and the pumps were shut down. The water literally stopped flowing, and the crops dried up. Southern California did not receive the water to which it was accustomed, and also lost out in the Colorado River sweepstakes to Nevada and Arizona. Instead of dealing with Californians honestly, Democratic leadership here blamed the sudden water shortage on climate change.

For 17 long years, farmers and ranchers in this state have been begging for common sense, rationality, and relief from the drought that didn’t need to be. Not one Democrat in this state lifted a finger to fight the bureaucracy on their behalf. It was deemed more environmentally friendly water policy to let all that water flow into the San Francisco Bay and out to sea. It was much more important to protect this freshwater anchovy. How much water, you ask?

An acre foot is the measurement for a vast amount of water. One acre foot is equivalent to 325,851 gallons. 30 million acre feet flow through the Delta every year on average, accounting for roughly half of the state’s snowpack and water run-off. That’s 97 trillion, 755 billion, 300 million gallons of water a year. Over 17 years, since the Delta Smelt being put on the Endangered Species list and turning the pumps off, that’s 1 quadrillion, 661 trillion, 840 billion, 100 million gallons of usable fresh water literally funnelled into the ocean.

Donald Trump just ended the madness.

He’s really standing up for California, instead of letting them stew in their blue juices.

Posted at 8:03 am by Glenn Reynolds