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Porsche928dude t1_jdrgr3w wrote

Reply to comment by amanamongbotss in California Snow Depth Visualized (Winter '22-'23) [OC] by plantboy97

Fair enough but from what I understand The whole point of all the damn structures you built was to help Control the water and mediate the highs and lows. So at least you have that I guess?

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Toothmouth7921 t1_jdtuot3 wrote

It’s complicated and certainly political, especially in the Central Valley where most of the water is used. Crops which are water intensive such as Rice , Cotton and yes Almonds are a huge user of water and building a bunch more little dams are not the answer. I am a 66 year old native and have lived in the Central Valley where some legacy( old timers) ranchers and farmers have almost bulletproof water rights, which means they can choose to grow crops which don’t make since in a semi arid place like California. There is a lot of cattle ranching, in central California and is extremely water intensive as well. Climate change is here to stay and the State is going to have to adapt. It can but will take time and $$

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amanamongbotss t1_jdrhd68 wrote

I hope so! I mean I’m definitely not rooting for the demise of CA, I like seeing them thrive economically and politically (even when it’s not all perfect).

My main concern is exactly that- I get have to basically be able to hold onto water for up to decades and it feels like no one in America, let alone California, is turning the boat fast enough to adjust our practices in the light of climate change.

My fear is all this freshwater just runs into the ocean and they’re in a severe drought again in 2-3 years, and this cycle keeps repeating…

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Porsche928dude t1_jdrput4 wrote

Well considering how low some of your Reservoirs and lakes are I would be very surprised if for nothing else the engineers and officials in charge of water management don’t use all that flood water to fill them back up some. But hey hopefully this isn’t a one off thing and the drought breaks some what. At the very least this should give CA some breathing room to organize better water management practices for the future. Assuming the politicians have the balls and the foresight to go through with it regardless of the short term grumbling.

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