California needs to store water in permeable ponds upland in the watershed and restore the small water cycle. It would improve aquifer recharge, drought resistance, fire risk and decrease irrigation demand lower in the watershed
There, there... where is the glory in this project for our "great leaders"? They would rather build the bullet train through San Joaquin Valley (that nobody really needs), and benefit their contractor friends, then get nice kickbacks and so on...
California's water system was regulated, in the past, by snow. Snow was falling over winter in the high sierra, then melting away slowly over the summer, providing a steady flow of water. With weather warming up, a lot less snow and a lot more rain falls during winter in the high sierra. That causes a lot of water to be available during winter and early spring, and a lot less water coming down from the mountains during summer and early autumn, before rains start again. The huge amount that water that can be stored in snow for many months is impossible to compensate by man-made ponds. What California can - and needs to - do is improve the efficiency of water use. California's agriculture must start using water a lot more economically. Turf grass and lawns need to be outlawed. California's farmers can go learn from Israel, which manages to literally grow crops in the desert with incredibly little water use - and doing so at competitive costs. That could bring down water use to less than 10% of what's used today. That, in turn, should allow California to withstand increasingly bad summer droughts.
In my book, California gets a grade of F for water storage planning, The last reservoir construction of major size was New Melones Reservoir near Sonora CA. It was competed over 40 years ago, and in that time the population of the state has doubled.
Building dams and impounding water isn't NATURAL! So of COURSE we don't want to build more! And environmentalists are busily working to dig up dams that have already been built and operating, because nothing is more NATURAL than water flowing unobstructed to the sea! In Washington State, environmentalists are working busily in court to get four huge damns on the Snake River dug up. This would destroy shipping that uses dam locks that can ship grain and other cargoes from the ocean to Lewiston, Idaho, and generates huge amounts of electricity. That electricity can replace renewable power when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. But environmentalists prefer digging up these dams and then building and charging BATTERIES to supplement renewable power! Makes perfect sense doesn't it?
LOL, in California with all the environmental Fanatics it is near impossible to start a new Reservoir 1:03 however they're going to start a new Reservoir North of Highway 20 in the Foothills toward the coast and if you paid attention you would know about that and a few other reservoirs that they're looking at
@@SeattlePioneerCalifornia environmentalists have made making new reservoirs near impossible.! And if you were really paying attention you'd learn that they're going to do a large Reservoir North of Highway 20 in this in the foothills of the coast rain
The number of people living in California is irrelevant to water use all the resident together only use 10% of the water and homes are now much more water efficient. So residents don’t use the water. The problem is agricultural they use 80% of the water and because it is in most cases free they don’t conserve. Charge all water users the same rates residents pay and we will have a glut of water.
Had a friend who lives in Anaheim Hills. I asked her what the city plan was regarding drought and water supply several years ago. She said we won't ever have issues because the city uses wells. I tried hard not to laugh. Doesn't take much for ground water to fall below well pumping level and then the city is dry. And ground water is being exhumed at a ridiculous rate during these dry years.
Santa Ana is famous for treating wastewater and pumping the result into the aquafer. It's likely that your friend has been drinking some of that treated water. Not that there's anything wrong with that. LOL!
Anaheim hills and most of the surrounding communities have the most advanced underground water system in the world. I remember watching a program about it a long time ago that went into depth about how they developed and manage the system. To summarize it, they pretty much have a method that recycles water through the use of aquifers. Their geographic location gives them certain advantages as well that allows them to collect rainfall and river flows, and I believe they even pump a certain amount of ocean water and are able to use natural desalination. It's also worth noting that these are mature communities, meaning there is no new land development where new housing are being built and population continues to grow, which allows them to have a sustainable ground water source. It's one of the reasons why some of these areas have not had cut back water usage, while other cities have had to implement restrictions on water usage for things like watering your lawn.
Here in CA we're trying to drain our aquifers as quickly as we can. We actually grow rice in the desert! Some little towns had their wells run dry during the 2 worst years of the drought.
Really enjoy these updates, thank you. Think I learned more in those nine minutes than I've managed reading a half dozen news articles about the drought. And it's great to hear such good news for once!
Someone commented California's large reservoirs were built with a much lower population. California would do well to watch Andrew Millison and learn how to recharge ground water supplies with thousands of small reservoirs. These could be constructed in both north & south, filling up whenever it does rain. Slow down rivers and allowing for more wetlands around them.
I have read in old hunting books and magazines that the state from Bakersfield to Sacramento's central valley was all marshland or wetlands in 1900. It was all drained to create farmland. It was an aquifer. Last time I checked was over 25 years ago and there was only 5% of those original wetlands left and developers were trying to get the protection removed so they could drain and build. I recall they got some in the by area. As the farmers have to drill deeper and deeper for their water this always comes to mind.
Little known fact: The loss of habitat and over-hunting by a rapidly growing human population led to their complete extinction of the California Grizzly by the 1920s... So, after they killed it off, they placed the California Grizzly on their "Peoples Republic of Commifornia" state flag. What a bunch of Environ-mental Hypocrites!
@@johnthomas2485 - Without homes you freeze. The overconsumption of profligate farming has caused the problems with aquifers and wetland disappearance. Those who hysterically rail against new houses are always those who have already sacrificed wetlands and farmlands to purchase their homes.
Deep water aquifers take 10,000 years to recharge. So to replenish, California will have to stop pulling water for next 10,000 years. When will California democrats ban water usage for 10,000 years? I know the idiots want to ban gas stoves.
Very informative video! I lived in SoCal for thirty years until about five years ago, just before the droughts got really bad. It's kind of sad that they haven't figure out a way to capture almost every drop they can in times of plenty.
It’s a complicated work in progress. One thing that isn’t mentioned here, surprisingly, is all the work LA is doing to recycle wastewater and use it for groundwater recharge. Doing so means that, by 2030, the vast majority of LA’s water supply will come from *inside* LA. Given that much of our storm sewer infrastructure is combined with wastewater, this means a lot of storm water runoff will also be collected and used for recharge. Does more need to be done? Totally! But we’re doing a lot more that people realize - particularly since it’s on the local level, and not the State level, and thus less discoverable nor well known.
> I suggest that the BIGGEST consumers of water in California are not industry or agriculture, but ENVIRONMENTALISTS! They control 2/3rds of California's water and use it to let it run to the ocean through their political programs and power.
I lived there for 50 years and watched them cement wall the old washes. Along the base of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mtns are lots of abandoned rock quarries that I'm surprised hasnt been utilized. IE make them into small lakes from rainwater that currently being channeled to the ocean. If nothing else it would provide water to fight the yearly fires.
I drove through Pacheco Pass several months ago, and was quite amazed to see the San Luis Reservoir FULL for the first time in I can't even remember how long!
Really good news. The latest two Drought Monitor reports are even better. There are no areas of D2 or worse, and D1 only covers 1.35%. D0 + D1 is only 6.65% (with D0 meaning "abnormally dry" and NOT a "drought").
@@inyobill Agree, and global warming means that last winter was a fluke in California. Look at what's happened over the past year+ down in South America. Major drought in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay and southern Brazil. Some parts of northern Argentina have had 100F days in mid-winter (30-40F degrees above average). The snowpack in the central Andes Mtns. is gone, the vineyards in Mendoza area are being decimated. Crops are have failed over a huge area. Expect even more unprecedented weather events, with insurance companies bailing out of impacted regions. More climate migrants on the run. Even so, the climate change deniers are loud as ever.
During the El Nino event of the Early 2000's in Australia (a ten year period in all) our reservoirs were down to 22% capacity, in my state of Victoria. It was the longest drought period in my life time and I am now 64. We have been lucky since it broke about 14 years ago, but we can expect those conditions to come again in the future as the old timers tell us...we are a land of drought and flooding rains. Not much we can do about it except adapt.
Here in Nova Scotia, if I run the hose on the yard (or garden, or adjacent forest), the water almost immediately disappears underground. Only the most intense rain events would cause water to run across the ground, which actually happened quite recently. Our underground aquifers are presumably brimming most of the time.
or, like here in BC, the soil has enough sand and gravel that water drains from it easily into rivers, streams and down to the sea. In my 58 years here, there has only been 1 flood event that destroyed roads here in BC, minor flooding in low areas yeah but sections of highway ripped away, just the 1. We get the dry season fires like California but have better water sources.
Here in south east Texas, water can pool on soil and sit for several days before it finally percolates in any significant amount. The clay content is probably like 100%
I’ve never seen water disappear into the ground the way it does in NS. A major rain storm passes through pouring rain for an hour and 15 minutes later the ground is basically dry again with hardly a puddle to be seen anywhere.
From what I heard, the dam on Trinity lake was undergoing turbine maintenance this winter and had many delays, forcing them to keep the storage level below the turbine intake.
@@daniellewis1789yes, if we kick out all the foreigners who don't belong here. They will be the first ones to leave when they perceive an easier time somewhere else. Why cater to their needs now? They don't give a damn about us, our state or country.
what your bonus (rainy season) is, you can't control. What you spend (agricultural usage, industrial usage) you can control. Just because you win the lotto doesn't mean you can spend like crazy. It's great that the reservoirs are filling up - but sensible water management will always be a prime concern.
@@cw6043 But who decides that with the current water laws? I mean, the 1st rights holders actually have more power than the states or federal Govt. Proof of that is the fact that when states bring lawsuits(or even the 1st rights holders themselves), the 1st rights holders almost always win those suits.
Good job, well spoken. I live on the East Coast and for some strange reason I worry about the water supply in California and Lake Mead. Yes, please refill the Aquifers as a top priority.
Native Californian here. California hasn't built any new reservoirs since the 70s. Though the existing reservoirs may be full, there aren't enough of them to supply a population that is magnitudes larger than it was 50 years ago, so we'll be in a drought situation again in a year or so. California's droughts are man-made and permanent because they're a great way for the state government to extort more money from us in the form of over usage fines. If California does one thing well, it's the shakedown.
Yep, Sacramento, here. At least we got some good news, this year, instead of the Climate Change Cult drivel, we've had to put up with. I enjoyed having winter, again. We didn't have, half as many fires last summer, as the previous 5 years ,before. I'm thinking the Climate Cult, were lighting the fires, just to push their agenda. We haven't had, hardly any fires again, this year, so, if we have winter again, you know the droughts were because of the fires. The save the spotted owl, bullshit, has killed more critters, as in, bears, deer, raccoons, squirrels and fish, than what it was worth. Isn't that something, how we make sure, you can't burn firewood, in the winter, but it all gets burned up in the summer. What a joke.
New major reservoirs are not being built because the best sites are being used and the state would have to spend billions to acquire what is now mostly private land to create new reservoirs. Since the days of Prop 13, there has been a significant demand from many taxpayers for "no new taxes!" Environmentalists are interested in restoring many wetlands/riparian areas to their natural state and California has removed several old dams. So which is it going to be? You can't have it both ways.
@@AbigailKort-r8v In 2014, Californians approved Prop 1, which was basically a tax hike for the sole purpose of funding new reservoirs. The state has collected billions of dollars, but has built nothing. Again, the shakedown. And I bet you didn't know that those dams were removed so the salmon would be happier. We've been in a "drought" for decades, California is making bank off of it, and nothing has changed.
@@AbigailKort-r8vno new taxes while they continue to vote for the same people who have raised their taxes and are giving a large amount the tax money away. It is the least intelligent action in modern times. P.S. California governor’s budget had a $15 billion surplus(haha). That would dig a lot of holes if your voted for representatives spent it wisely.
They need to restore wetlands upstream, not build more reservoirs. Wetlands store water, buffer flood waters, rechange aquifers, and feed rivers through dry periods.
Much schadenfreude was expressed from the destruction Hilary wrought but California has water to manage where before we were in an alarming drought. It rained in South Lake Tahoe yesterday this feels promising because aquifers have a chance to fill and we have time to manage water which ends up, eventually, feeding a nation. 🐟🦋🌱
@@r.paulcooper5195 It's not as big as I think? Why would you make this about me and what I think? People are leaving California. From MoveBudha: "CA is seeing the biggest outflow in the country with a move ratio of only 51 moves in for every 100 out. According to the U.S. Census, California lost the 2nd most residents in the country April 2020-July 2021 population estimates (only behind New York)." By the way, what propaganda are you talking about? I look for numbers and facts. I don't buy into Barney's techniques. I'm too familiar with it.
@@TheAnimeist Well great then :) !!! Sounds like the plan to divert Colorado water eastward should go forward then . Cuz it's a sad day down here in Louisiana and Mississippi having a ban on Labor day barbequing due to drought conditions causing underbrush fires . I think about 20 million acre ft a year ought to do it ;)
@@r.paulcooper5195 The number is roughly 800K down since the 2020 census...which is concerning, but not alarming. Currently 38.9 million residents in CA. The drought and wildfires provided some impetus for some folks to cash out while real estate/rental prices have remained relatively steady, after decades of steady escalation. The people still moving into California are mostly from overseas, lots of brain drain from Asia in particular. California is in good shape, especially if you compare it to states such as Illinois, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Oregon. Losing population is not necessarily a bad thing, what's worse is if smart people and good jobs are leaving, and California businesses are creating good jobs at a decent rate, and along with a lot of smart folks from Asia moving in, it it balances things. www.ppic.org/blog/large-cities-lose-population-even-as-they-add-new-housing/
This is awesome but this also hurts my soul. Why not pump more of the leftover water inland...? Many states struggling with the heat. Could use it to reclaim or reforest drier areas.
In the last few years, Eastern Australia was repeatedly flooded worse than ever in living memory due the the multiple sequential La Ninas. At the same time California had repeated drought years. Now, due to the El Nino, California's drought is gone whilst Australia will be dry this year. When it rains in Australia, California has drought, and conversely too.
Would like to see a video about how cities, particularly CA, are not (or are) doing a good job of capturing rainwater. Also curious if there are any cities that do a good job of collecting rainwater. Thanks for the videos!
San Francisco just completed a massive fresh water storage facility. It's a pretty remarkable structure as it was built on a "floating" base in order too withstand earthquakes. The fresh water storage is supposed to be a billion gallons, at full capacity, achieved in stages. It has several monitoring systems as well as a specialized maintenance dive team. The facility location isn't publicly disclosed for security, however, my being a bay area native I'd say it is somewhere by the defunct ship yards in S San Francisco. I only know of this structure because I happened to catch a segment of a underground city type of program, the host toured it right before stage 1 of filling began. If your interested you could probably find it by searching San Francisco underground water storage, like I said I stumbled on the segment by accident on RUclips, but it, the structure, was pretty impressive and the cost was also.
Looking in from the West of Scotland - what's a drought?? Only joking, it has been "dry" here occasionally - usually when the pubs are shut!. I have been following the Lake Mead story which I guess is reflective of the problems in various reservoirs in California, and find it interesting to hear that so much groundwater is pumped - surely at any percentage that's akin to selling the family silver? While I understand some is replenished I would have thought there's a huge cost to that, never mind the potential for flushing various minerals into a previously low contamination system. All fascinating stuff, thank you for the explainer.
If I remember correctly, officials at Trinity also acknowledge that they might have release too much water from Trinity early on this winter and will consider changes in the future.
In the past California had droughts lasting Two hundred years so the recent drought was very short. The. Main issue is there are too many people in California using too much water.
Very good news for those of us here in Colorado. We were being forced to release water from our reservoirs for California’s use (via the Colorado River) due to water treaties from the 1920s. We too were suffering from drought conditions but California legally has a claim on our water and take their full allocation every year. Our reservoirs were below 35% even after a good snow pack. Fortunately after two very good snow packs we are at 85% capacity in our local reservoir. Note though outflows haven’t changed! California is still taking their full allocation. Please manage your water better and invest in your water catchment and storage infrastructure. The Colorado River remains at risk.
As a Californian I am in complete sympathy with you. These water treaties where just scams created to steal natural resources. They should all be abrogated and a new set of all encompassing water ownership laws be created. Any perception that falls on your property is the property of the owner. All perception that falls on public lands belongs to the entire public and is used in the public interest including a free market system to sell the excess not needed to maintain public lands, lakes, rivers, and streams. Ground water is public as well and all water pumped from the ground is regulated for the public interest including maintaining the ground water level and spring flows. Spring flow on private and public property should be treated like precipitation. US water laws are about as corrupt as it gets in resource allocation.
Colorado gets ample precipitation because of the altitude in most of its areas. Colorado likely will never lack water. California should get a lions share of that water.
@@Malibukennnot at all. Due to archaic agreements made a century ago California and Californians continue to ignore their own water usage and needs while the population climbs and the problem worsens. When California runs out of water it will be their own fault. It makes no sense for California to lay claim to water that falls in Colorado because California can’t be bothered to manage its own needs.
Precisely. And with global warming, groundwater reserves aren't likely to ever reach desirable levels. Which is one of the reasons we need a nationwide stormwater (or fresh water) management system. One that would divert floodwater to reservoirs strategically placed around the country, and can then be pumped to areas where groundwater is inadequate, and areas prone to droughts and wildfires. It would also stop the current process of dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of freshwater into the ocean every year due, again, to inadequate measures to deal with excess fresh water.
@@oso9809 because it may be less expensive to live in the desert. And I agree about wasting water. Anytime. But neither of those steps is going to solve this country's water shortage issues. A nationwide water management system is the only reasonable solution, to several related problems. And on top of the other benefits, such a system would create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
@@trudyisaacs840and Last year, "experts" said we'd need decades to refill these reservoirs and in one season they're full. This despite the states best efforts to prevent adequate water storage. I suspect most of these "experts" also believe in anthropogenic climate change as well.
Build aquifers not reservoirs. California has mismanaged water for almost 200 years. Most of California's water policies lead to desertification. The reservoirs go up but people have to drill deeper and deeper wells. California drain the 10th largest lake in the U.S. and pump the aquifer so much land sunk by 35 feet. A collapsed aquifer never holds as much water as before. Then people complained when it filled back up. California sends more water into the ocean than it uses. California has not been in a drought. A Mediterranean climate don't get much water. So what people call a drought is regular amount of rain for the climate.
Geologist here… you don’t “build” aquifers. Aquifers are simply the natural subsurface rock layers like sandstone that have high porosity and permeability to store water. Those rock layers need to be recharged in wet years (like this year) after a hundred years of pumping out their water.
What gets me is, we get too much rain and everything gets flooded, because of global warming. Then we get drought and that’s because of global warming. Then, here in Ireland, we got a few weeks at the start of summer that were a bit warmer than usual, because of global warming. Then we had our coldest wettest summer in over a decade, because of… well you get the picture. No matter what weather we’re getting, if we don’t like it, it’s because of global warming. Everyone is very quiet when we do get weather we like, but it doesn’t last very long and then the climate crisis is to blame for whatever ails us, once again. This has always been the way and there have always been apocalypse forecasters with soap boxes and placards. What’s different nowadays is, they have a bigger, better placard that comes right into everyone’s homes and is much harder to ignore. But that doesn’t make them any more likely to be right than the guy standing on the soapbox in 1901, shouting about how the end is nigh. Weather has always happened and will always happen. There will be good years and bad years. There will be famines and floods and droughts, disease and pestilence. We need to prepare for all these things, as best we can, but expecting the world to unite in a way that can make a meaningful difference to when/if they happen is a utopian pipe dream. Sometimes it’s hot because it’s sunny. Sometimes it’s wet because the rain is falling. Get used to it. That’s how it’s been for millennia and that’s how it will be long after the last human has rotted away.
Yes, funny. But the average temperature for the world has really been rising, if the measurements are accurate. And glaciers and permafrost really have been melting. (On a side note, we are actually supposed to be heading for another ice age, according to historians. So the global warming may have staved off that disaster.)
Umm, the term changed to “climate change” a long time ago. Although the overall global temperature is rising, the actual impact on the climate is that there are more extremes-stronger storms during hurricane seasons, higher temperatures during dry seasons, colder winters, with deep freezes. Rising sea levels, with more erosion in coastal areas. That has all been happening. Yes, we get the picture, because we’ve been paying attention to the overall situation, not just selectively picking events. What “gets us” is how people like you don’t “ get it.” And it’s not some nut on the sidewalk. That’s you. These are recorded, historical records we’re looking at.
Unfortunately California's water issues are due to both drought AND to mismanagement by the State government. Proof of this can be seen simply by monitoring the amount of water released through dams as the state ESTIMATES the amount of space needed for run-off. More often than not these estimates are only marginally close to being accurate. And in the south, we just recently watched huge volumes of water flowing to the ocean through the "Los Angeles River" aka the San Fernando valley storm drains. Way back when I was in high school, the LA River ran right next to my high school. In all the years I lived there I cannot remember a single time when there was more than a few inches of water in that storm drain. Sadly government organizations focused more on how many people they could cram within each square mile rather than how many people could they adequately sustain given limited water sources.
Excellent point. The greater Southern California metropolitan area receives 10-18 inches of rain annually, yet has almost ZERO local capture and storage. I wonder about why not.... water quality issues ? generally horrible public infrastructure (fact)? not price competitive with purchases from NorCal/Colorado River?
@@Bouncer-id1rh The USGS also claims that the state withdraws around 38 BILLION gallons of water per DAY. According to Gavin #HairGel Newsom, Californians are not meeting his 15% water reduction target (predominantly Southern Californians). And, as such, he has further increased water use restrictions. So if potable water is only 15% of available water, why the continued emphasis on residential water users? Why not focus the vast majority of restrictions on business and agriculture? Does he not want to negatively impact his side hustle, "Plumpjack Winery"?
California needs to build more Reservoirs to capture water and to pump water back into aquafers in their own state and not rely so much on other states to supply all their water needs.
This country needs a national stormwater management system. A system that will capture water that normally causes flooding, and pumps the water to strategically placed reservoirs around the country. Those reservoirs would then pump water to drought prone areas around the country greatly reducing drought/wildfire and flooding damages nationwide, as well as saving thousands of human lives every year. It would also reduce domestic and wild animal injuries and deaths. A network of waterways, reservoirs, pumping and filtration stations which, with the strategic placement of hydro turbines, wind turbines, and solar farms, would not only power itself, but provide power to much of the nation. Anyone who thinks it can't be done, should take a look at the network of gas and oil pipelines in this country. At our system of roadways, and railways. The construction and maintenance of such a system would provide hundreds of thousands of jobs. And save billions in cleanup and reconstruction costs this country incurs every year due to droughts, wildfires, and floods. There is no reasonable explanation as to why this hasn't already been in the works for decades. And there is no reasonable excuse for not beginning the design, construction, and implementation of such a system immediately. We are at the point where we absolutely must address our responsibility for climate change which is already having devastating and irreversible affects on our planet. A well designed national stormwater management system would be a huge step in the right direction.
Pumping water long distances is not practical and is energy intensive. (the predictions of wind and solar have not been realized) California should/could have addressed it's own infrastructure water needs but did not. (they can't even build a railroad) So the proposal is to have the rest of the nation bail California out of it's poor planning? Like they have to import electricity and gasoline now.
@@frosty3693 pumping water long distances is no less practical or energy intensive than pumping oil and gas. AND water leaks aren't toxic, won't ignite or explode, killing and contaminating everything and everyone in the vicinity, and won't cost billions of dollars to mitigate. I have no doubt that there were plenty of people who thought pumping oil and gas across the country wasn't practical and was too energy intensive too. Same for railroads, and roadways. And yet, here we are. With all of them. The predictions of wind and solar energy may not have been realized here, but several other countries are using them, and have been for quite some time in order to reduce the use of fossil fuels which, again, are toxic to the environment. As for my proposal's purpose, it wasn't about California. It was about the nation as a whole. Every single year drought and wildfires across the country decimate crops, take lives, damage property, and costs billions of dollars. As do floods in flood prone areas. And because the country lacks a stormwater management system, hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water from storms and snowmelt are dumped into the ocean every year. The only reason I can see that a nationwide stormwater management system hasn't already been in the works for a long time, is the influence of the fossil fuel industry on congress. The same way people in this country die every day because they can't afford life saving medicines and treatments, due to Big Pharma's influence on legislators. And on the Supreme Court. No more evident than in the case of Citizen's United, which has turned our legislative process into a quid pro quo with corporate America. Corporations aren't people. They don't vote, and shouldn't be able to make political contributions. But corruption in the Supreme Court led to a ridiculously blatant abuse of power. So corporations are basically writing their own, self-serving legislation, and people like Clarence Thomas (I refuse to call him a Justice, as he absolutely isn't just) have paved the way for them. Living a life of luxury in exchange. And absolutely nothing is done about it. Despite the recent exposure of Clarence and his wife's acceptance of luxury gifts - unethical at the very least - he is still firmly seated on the highest court in the land. But too many people in this country are willfully ignorant, and believe whatever their political party tells them. Even when faced with unequivocal, irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Often because their party plays upon their bigotries. One more item of note: while I wasn't speaking specifically of any state, but the country as a whole, it is true that California, and Texas - another problematic state - absolutely would benefit as much, or more, than the rest of the states. And I have no problem with that. After all, we are all citizens of the Unites States of America. Aren't we? Have a nice day, frosty. 😉😁
@@trudyisaacs840 I refer you to Peter Zeihan. In his book "The End of the World is Just the Beginning" he explains resource location better than I, he is an expert after all. I wonder the volume differences needed between water and oil?
@@frosty3693 "he is an expert after all" I can't tell if you're being serious or if this is a joke because he frequently refers to himself as an expert. Regardless, even Zeihan only refers to himself as an "expert" in the field of politics. The kinds of experts we should be listening to on this topic need to be experts in natural resources administration with work experience in water management like at a Department of Water Resources or with a state Watermaster.
Best updates online, i find some sites updates confusing or they are all over the place. I think it's good some water gets released, helps with salmon runs etc. Great video, thanks :)
The good news. We got a lot of water this year. The bad news, Newsom sat on projects for years that may have helped store more water. He eventually approved some and then immediately had to cut the project budgets because of the state budget shortfall. Imagine how much more water we could have had if he had not sent out rebate checks a couple of years ago and instead had invested in water storage. His single approach of conservation was not right. We need to conserve and store water. This is not a democrat versus republican statement. It is a failure of policies that were in place for years and now hopefully have been corrected.
California needs to follow what Bermuda does. Plus you can't rely on a single season of snowpack & a freaky tropical system. All that did was put a band aid on the problem.
The travails of California are lessons that should be learned by other states, here in the Mid-Atlantic/Southeast our fresh water supplies are just as fragile, the key differentiators would seem to be our overall lower population, and lower agricultural needs.
Whenever I visited the Bay Area, the trees were green and ground brown. I just got back from a visit and everything was green. It was great to look at.
How in the name of all did you pass the youtube video screening process where you must scream and declare that aliens are the cause of the drought. Wonderful and highly informative video without any cringe moments. I didn't know that there was an aquifer pumping system to recharge ground water. What do you know? I learned something.
Thanks for the good news! Agriculture still needs to use water more efficiently. That includes growing crops that use water. It takes *ten* gallons of water to make a single almond. Not going to miss them from my diet!
Yep, agricultural land typically uses 10x as much water per acre as residential property. CA Central Valley is the bread basket of the west but crop selection, water storage and irrigation need to be done wisely to avoid creating drought in dry years.
Yep, agricultural land typically uses 10x as much water per acre as residential property. CA Central Valley is the bread basket of the west but crop selection, water storage and irrigation need to be done wisely to avoid creating drought in dry years.
@@Cajundaddydave Actually, the growing districts of the Colorado have now surpassed Calif's central valley as the break basket of the west in terms of hectares.
@@Bouncer-id1rh Well, I guess it depends on who you talk to: "The San Joaquin Valley is the most productive agricultural region in the world, cultivating more than 250 crops."
@@Cajundaddydave Well, yes. The varieties produced in the central valley is unlike anywhere in the world. We may be splitting hairs, I was just stating the districts of the Colorado have over taken the central valley in terms of scale of production.
Great video! But acre-ft had to be one of the most obscure volume measurements. It reminds me of Grandpa Simpson: "The metric system? MY car gets 40 rods to the hog's head, and that's the way I likes it!"
Same in Australia. We have pretty big cycles Right now, everything is full. Problem is, when the summer wet season comes around. Excess water can’t be contained. No choice but to prepare for floods. 👍
The water table in the California central valley has depleted the ground water table to very low levels, it is going to take years of good snow packs to replenish the ground water.
Yes the more water that can be captured and reserved the better it will be in the long term. A lot more reservoirs would obviously help as these weather cycles can change dramatically over just five years.
Bro, i commute between SF & LA & use the 152 Los Banos/ Gilroy. San Luis is dearest to my heart & so glad it's back to normal. 2013/15 was bad; but 2018-22 was the worst
We feed the nation from California. It rained yesterday and today here where I am in California. We have driven past Folsom and seen them letting water out of the dam, which doesn’t usually happen.
California needs to store water in permeable ponds upland in the watershed and restore the small water cycle. It would improve aquifer recharge, drought resistance, fire risk and decrease irrigation demand lower in the watershed
There, there... where is the glory in this project for our "great leaders"?
They would rather build the bullet train through San Joaquin Valley (that nobody really needs), and benefit their contractor friends, then get nice kickbacks and so on...
California's water system was regulated, in the past, by snow. Snow was falling over winter in the high sierra, then melting away slowly over the summer, providing a steady flow of water. With weather warming up, a lot less snow and a lot more rain falls during winter in the high sierra. That causes a lot of water to be available during winter and early spring, and a lot less water coming down from the mountains during summer and early autumn, before rains start again. The huge amount that water that can be stored in snow for many months is impossible to compensate by man-made ponds.
What California can - and needs to - do is improve the efficiency of water use. California's agriculture must start using water a lot more economically. Turf grass and lawns need to be outlawed. California's farmers can go learn from Israel, which manages to literally grow crops in the desert with incredibly little water use - and doing so at competitive costs. That could bring down water use to less than 10% of what's used today. That, in turn, should allow California to withstand increasingly bad summer droughts.
We have a huge pond called the Pacific Ocean
That would affect the environment. You are not allowed to do that anymore. no matter how much it makes sense.
@@saxplayingcompnerd That would affect the environment in a positive way.
In my book, California gets a grade of F for water storage planning, The last reservoir construction of major size was New Melones Reservoir near Sonora CA. It was competed over 40 years ago, and in that time the population of the state has doubled.
Building dams and impounding water isn't NATURAL! So of COURSE we don't want to build more!
And environmentalists are busily working to dig up dams that have already been built and operating, because nothing is more NATURAL than water flowing unobstructed to the sea!
In Washington State, environmentalists are working busily in court to get four huge damns on the Snake River dug up. This would destroy shipping that uses dam locks that can ship grain and other cargoes from the ocean to Lewiston, Idaho, and generates huge amounts of electricity.
That electricity can replace renewable power when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. But environmentalists prefer digging up these dams and then building and charging BATTERIES to supplement renewable power!
Makes perfect sense doesn't it?
Exactly!@@SeattlePioneer
LOL, in California with all the environmental Fanatics it is near impossible to start a new Reservoir 1:03 however they're going to start a new Reservoir North of Highway 20 in the Foothills toward the coast and if you paid attention you would know about that and a few other reservoirs that they're looking at
@@SeattlePioneerCalifornia environmentalists have made making new reservoirs near impossible.! And if you were really paying attention you'd learn that they're going to do a large Reservoir North of Highway 20 in this in the foothills of the coast rain
The number of people living in California is irrelevant to water use all the resident together only use 10% of the water and homes are now much more water efficient. So residents don’t use the water. The problem is agricultural they use 80% of the water and because it is in most cases free they don’t conserve. Charge all water users the same rates residents pay and we will have a glut of water.
Finally! A California Reservoir report that's concise and informative. Thank you! (subscribed!)
Had a friend who lives in Anaheim Hills. I asked her what the city plan was regarding drought and water supply several years ago. She said we won't ever have issues because the city uses wells. I tried hard not to laugh. Doesn't take much for ground water to fall below well pumping level and then the city is dry. And ground water is being exhumed at a ridiculous rate during these dry years.
Santa Ana is famous for treating wastewater and pumping the result into the aquafer. It's likely that your friend has been drinking some of that treated water. Not that there's anything wrong with that. LOL!
Anaheim hills and most of the surrounding communities have the most advanced underground water system in the world. I remember watching a program about it a long time ago that went into depth about how they developed and manage the system. To summarize it, they pretty much have a method that recycles water through the use of aquifers. Their geographic location gives them certain advantages as well that allows them to collect rainfall and river flows, and I believe they even pump a certain amount of ocean water and are able to use natural desalination.
It's also worth noting that these are mature communities, meaning there is no new land development where new housing are being built and population continues to grow, which allows them to have a sustainable ground water source. It's one of the reasons why some of these areas have not had cut back water usage, while other cities have had to implement restrictions on water usage for things like watering your lawn.
Here in CA we're trying to drain our aquifers as quickly as we can. We actually grow rice in the desert! Some little towns had their wells run dry during the 2 worst years of the drought.
Don't forget it can easily get contaminated lol
Blows my mind how much the San Fernando valley floor has dropped due to water extraction. It can't go on forever.
Really enjoy these updates, thank you. Think I learned more in those nine minutes than I've managed reading a half dozen news articles about the drought. And it's great to hear such good news for once!
I also find that watching this, interesting videos are suggested to me, increasing what I learn.
Someone commented California's large reservoirs were built with a much lower population. California would do well to watch Andrew Millison and learn how to recharge ground water supplies with thousands of small reservoirs. These could be constructed in both north & south, filling up whenever it does rain. Slow down rivers and allowing for more wetlands around them.
Sounds good to me… get your local politician to start the process moving…
I ancient times they used huge underground cisterns which eliminated evaporation and captured flood waters. Japan does this today.
Na they'll just drain the Mississippi with a big pipe so LA can keep their avocados.
Stop the reproduction it's simple.
If only there was some kind of small mammal that could do this by itself.
I have read in old hunting books and magazines that the state from Bakersfield to Sacramento's central valley was all marshland or wetlands in 1900. It was all drained to create farmland. It was an aquifer. Last time I checked was over 25 years ago and there was only 5% of those original wetlands left and developers were trying to get the protection removed so they could drain and build. I recall they got some in the by area. As the farmers have to drill deeper and deeper for their water this always comes to mind.
Little known fact: The loss of habitat and over-hunting by a rapidly growing human population led to their complete extinction of the California Grizzly by the 1920s...
So, after they killed it off, they placed the California Grizzly on their "Peoples Republic of Commifornia" state flag. What a bunch of Environ-mental Hypocrites!
Farms and farming are the cause of wetlands and aquifer depletion. Farmlands use approximately 10-12x per acre than does housing.
Not to mention Los Angeles stealing water from other parts of the state.
@@donquijote6030You realize without farms, you starve, right?
@@johnthomas2485 - Without homes you freeze. The overconsumption of profligate farming has caused the problems with aquifers and wetland disappearance. Those who hysterically rail against new houses are always those who have already sacrificed wetlands and farmlands to purchase their homes.
Thanks for covering the aquifer situation which often gets overlooked by the media. Drought is only over once the groundwater is replenished.
Deep water aquifers take 10,000 years to recharge. So to replenish, California will have to stop pulling water for next 10,000 years. When will California democrats ban water usage for 10,000 years? I know the idiots want to ban gas stoves.
Government officials don’t think that deeply.😂
Very informative video! I lived in SoCal for thirty years until about five years ago, just before the droughts got really bad. It's kind of sad that they haven't figure out a way to capture almost every drop they can in times of plenty.
It’s a complicated work in progress. One thing that isn’t mentioned here, surprisingly, is all the work LA is doing to recycle wastewater and use it for groundwater recharge. Doing so means that, by 2030, the vast majority of LA’s water supply will come from *inside* LA.
Given that much of our storm sewer infrastructure is combined with wastewater, this means a lot of storm water runoff will also be collected and used for recharge.
Does more need to be done? Totally! But we’re doing a lot more that people realize - particularly since it’s on the local level, and not the State level, and thus less discoverable nor well known.
>
I suggest that the BIGGEST consumers of water in California are not industry or agriculture, but ENVIRONMENTALISTS!
They control 2/3rds of California's water and use it to let it run to the ocean through their political programs and power.
Recently Newsom initiated some really proactive projects: reservoirs, ground water replenishment, and reclamation facility updates.
I lived there for 50 years and watched them cement wall the old washes. Along the base of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mtns are lots of abandoned rock quarries that I'm surprised hasnt been utilized. IE make them into small lakes from rainwater that currently being channeled to the ocean. If nothing else it would provide water to fight the yearly fires.
@@jeffatkinson3288 exactly! And this is exactly the type of forward thinking that that will make a national freshwater management system work.
I drove through Pacheco Pass several months ago, and was quite amazed to see the San Luis Reservoir FULL for the first time in I can't even remember how long!
Meanwhile I'm sitting on my Avocado Orchard and paying an arm and leg to Rancho Water. The system is so corrupt it's nauseating.
So corrupt it is criminal
Very informative report! Very happy that the reservoirs are in much better state!
Really good news. The latest two Drought Monitor reports are even better. There are no areas of D2 or worse, and D1 only covers 1.35%. D0 + D1 is only 6.65% (with D0 meaning "abnormally dry" and NOT a "drought").
It’s nice to hear about this! The water in our reservoirs lasts a long time, but hopefully we’ll also have rain between now and the next 20 years.
I'm hoping we get a great snow pack accumulation, cause thats the real store of water for California, the sierra snowpack.
History is not with us.
@@inyobill Agree, and global warming means that last winter was a fluke in California. Look at what's happened over the past year+ down in South America. Major drought in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay and southern Brazil. Some parts of northern Argentina have had 100F days in mid-winter (30-40F degrees above average). The snowpack in the central Andes Mtns. is gone, the vineyards in Mendoza area are being decimated. Crops are have failed over a huge area. Expect even more unprecedented weather events, with insurance companies bailing out of impacted regions. More climate migrants on the run. Even so, the climate change deniers are loud as ever.
Great to see you again, with good news even :)
Excellent video! Very Informative! Thank you for this!
During the El Nino event of the Early 2000's in Australia (a ten year period in all) our reservoirs were down to 22% capacity, in my state of Victoria. It was the longest drought period in my life time and I am now 64. We have been lucky since it broke about 14 years ago, but we can expect those conditions to come again in the future as the old timers tell us...we are a land of drought and flooding rains. Not much we can do about it except adapt.
Highly informative... learned a ton, reducing any anxiety about our drought. Looking forward to your discussion on recharging. Thanks! SoCalFreddy
California should really see this as a second opportunity. Hopefully California takes this to heart.
If history is any teacher they will not.
It won't.
Here in Nova Scotia, if I run the hose on the yard (or garden, or adjacent forest), the water almost immediately disappears underground. Only the most intense rain events would cause water to run across the ground, which actually happened quite recently. Our underground aquifers are presumably brimming most of the time.
or, like here in BC, the soil has enough sand and gravel that water drains from it easily into rivers, streams and down to the sea. In my 58 years here, there has only been 1 flood event that destroyed roads here in BC, minor flooding in low areas yeah but sections of highway ripped away, just the 1.
We get the dry season fires like California but have better water sources.
That would suggest your soil has little or no clay content. If it’s fast draining it sounds as though it is mainly sand and gravel based soil.
Here in south east Texas, water can pool on soil and sit for several days before it finally percolates in any significant amount. The clay content is probably like 100%
I’ve never seen water disappear into the ground the way it does in NS. A major rain storm passes through pouring rain for an hour and 15 minutes later the ground is basically dry again with hardly a puddle to be seen anywhere.
Yeah a good portion of California has clay, depending on the region.
Thanks for the update. It's always nice to hear good news. Let's see how long it lasts. Have a good one.
Thanks, you too!
Seeing so much water makes me very happy.
That was heartening news. Healing the Earth is not only California's success but every bodies' success.
Excellent reporting, thanks.
its amazing that one season can have such an impact on the reservior, hopfully Ca has another good winter.
Great vid! Yes, please more about aquifer recharge. Is it safe? Is it practical?
The Bahamas does groundwater replenishment. Waste water is treated and forced back down into the Aquifer.
Oh yes! Positive water news are so appreciated. Thank You!
From what I heard, the dam on Trinity lake was undergoing turbine maintenance this winter and had many delays, forcing them to keep the storage level below the turbine intake.
Good stuff! Looking forward to your aquifer video.
Less than two years ago weather experts declared that it would take as much as five years of radical water use reduction to get near normal.
They are clearly NOT experts try alarmists..
Can we sustain these levels (heck, average levels) through an average snowfall year, instead of after a record high year?
@@daniellewis1789yes, if we kick out all the foreigners who don't belong here. They will be the first ones to leave when they perceive an easier time somewhere else. Why cater to their needs now? They don't give a damn about us, our state or country.
what your bonus (rainy season) is, you can't control. What you spend (agricultural usage, industrial usage) you can control. Just because you win the lotto doesn't mean you can spend like crazy. It's great that the reservoirs are filling up - but sensible water management will always be a prime concern.
@@cw6043 But who decides that with the current water laws? I mean, the 1st rights holders actually have more power than the states or federal Govt. Proof of that is the fact that when states bring lawsuits(or even the 1st rights holders themselves), the 1st rights holders almost always win those suits.
Good job, well spoken. I live on the East Coast and for some strange reason I worry about the water supply in California and Lake Mead. Yes, please refill the Aquifers as a top priority.
Native Californian here. California hasn't built any new reservoirs since the 70s. Though the existing reservoirs may be full, there aren't enough of them to supply a population that is magnitudes larger than it was 50 years ago, so we'll be in a drought situation again in a year or so. California's droughts are man-made and permanent because they're a great way for the state government to extort more money from us in the form of over usage fines. If California does one thing well, it's the shakedown.
Yep, Sacramento, here. At least we got some good news, this year, instead of the Climate Change Cult drivel, we've had to put up with. I enjoyed having winter, again. We didn't have, half as many fires last summer, as the previous 5 years ,before. I'm thinking the Climate Cult, were lighting the fires, just to push their agenda. We haven't had, hardly any fires again, this year, so, if we have winter again, you know the droughts were because of the fires. The save the spotted owl, bullshit, has killed more critters, as in, bears, deer, raccoons, squirrels and fish, than what it was worth. Isn't that something, how we make sure, you can't burn firewood, in the winter, but it all gets burned up in the summer. What a joke.
New major reservoirs are not being built because the best sites are being used and the state would have to spend billions to acquire what is now mostly private land to create new reservoirs. Since the days of Prop 13, there has been a significant demand from many taxpayers for "no new taxes!" Environmentalists are interested in restoring many wetlands/riparian areas to their natural state and California has removed several old dams. So which is it going to be? You can't have it both ways.
@@AbigailKort-r8v In 2014, Californians approved Prop 1, which was basically a tax hike for the sole purpose of funding new reservoirs. The state has collected billions of dollars, but has built nothing. Again, the shakedown. And I bet you didn't know that those dams were removed so the salmon would be happier. We've been in a "drought" for decades, California is making bank off of it, and nothing has changed.
@@AbigailKort-r8vno new taxes while they continue to vote for the same people who have raised their taxes and are giving a large amount the tax money away. It is the least intelligent action in modern times. P.S. California governor’s budget had a $15 billion surplus(haha). That would dig a lot of holes if your voted for representatives spent it wisely.
They need to restore wetlands upstream, not build more reservoirs. Wetlands store water, buffer flood waters, rechange aquifers, and feed rivers through dry periods.
Amazing report and delivery. Exceptionally well done. Subscribed.
Much schadenfreude was expressed from the destruction Hilary wrought but California has water to manage where before we were in an alarming drought. It rained in South Lake Tahoe yesterday this feels promising because aquifers have a chance to fill and we have time to manage water which ends up, eventually, feeding a nation. 🐟🦋🌱
Yet people are still leaving California.
it's not as big a deal as the propaganda has led you to think@@TheAnimeist
@@r.paulcooper5195 It's not as big as I think? Why would you make this about me and what I think? People are leaving California. From MoveBudha: "CA is seeing the biggest outflow in the country with a move ratio of only 51 moves in for every 100 out. According to the U.S. Census, California lost the 2nd most residents in the country April 2020-July 2021 population estimates (only behind New York)."
By the way, what propaganda are you talking about? I look for numbers and facts. I don't buy into Barney's techniques. I'm too familiar with it.
@@TheAnimeist Well great then :) !!! Sounds like the plan to divert Colorado water eastward should go forward then .
Cuz it's a sad day down here in Louisiana and Mississippi having a ban on Labor day barbequing due to drought conditions causing underbrush fires .
I think about 20 million acre ft a year ought to do it ;)
@@r.paulcooper5195 The number is roughly 800K down since the 2020 census...which is concerning, but not alarming. Currently 38.9 million residents in CA. The drought and wildfires provided some impetus for some folks to cash out while real estate/rental prices have remained relatively steady, after decades of steady escalation. The people still moving into California are mostly from overseas, lots of brain drain from Asia in particular. California is in good shape, especially if you compare it to states such as Illinois, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Oregon. Losing population is not necessarily a bad thing, what's worse is if smart people and good jobs are leaving, and California businesses are creating good jobs at a decent rate, and along with a lot of smart folks from Asia moving in, it it balances things.
www.ppic.org/blog/large-cities-lose-population-even-as-they-add-new-housing/
This is awesome but this also hurts my soul. Why not pump more of the leftover water inland...? Many states struggling with the heat. Could use it to reclaim or reforest drier areas.
So nice to hear GOOD news about the draught , thank you for the info!
In the last few years, Eastern Australia was repeatedly flooded worse than ever in living memory due the the multiple sequential La Ninas. At the same time California had repeated drought years. Now, due to the El Nino, California's drought is gone whilst Australia will be dry this year. When it rains in Australia, California has drought, and conversely too.
Aussie Aussie!
Good point. But the green energy climate change whack jobs don’t see the continuing cycle.
At last , l have found a great presentation of the historic, current and future water issues. Top work 😊
Love looking at the power of water rushing out of a reservoirs!
So glad to have found your video. It answered my question about actively recharging the groundwater aquifer. Thank you
Would like to see a video about how cities, particularly CA, are not (or are) doing a good job of capturing rainwater. Also curious if there are any cities that do a good job of collecting rainwater. Thanks for the videos!
They aren’t doing a great job but absolutely ought to be. We should also be adding desalination plants.
San Francisco just completed a massive fresh water storage facility. It's a pretty remarkable structure as it was built on a "floating" base in order too withstand earthquakes. The fresh water storage is supposed to be a billion gallons, at full capacity, achieved in stages. It has several monitoring systems as well as a specialized maintenance dive team. The facility location isn't publicly disclosed for security, however, my being a bay area native I'd say it is somewhere by the defunct ship yards in S San Francisco.
I only know of this structure because I happened to catch a segment of a underground city type of program, the host toured it right before stage 1 of filling began. If your interested you could probably find it by searching San Francisco underground water storage, like I said I stumbled on the segment by accident on RUclips, but it, the structure, was pretty impressive and the cost was also.
Looking in from the West of Scotland - what's a drought?? Only joking, it has been "dry" here occasionally - usually when the pubs are shut!.
I have been following the Lake Mead story which I guess is reflective of the problems in various reservoirs in California, and find it interesting to hear that so much groundwater is pumped - surely at any percentage that's akin to selling the family silver?
While I understand some is replenished I would have thought there's a huge cost to that, never mind the potential for flushing various minerals into a previously low contamination system.
All fascinating stuff, thank you for the explainer.
If I remember correctly, officials at Trinity also acknowledge that they might have release too much water from Trinity early on this winter and will consider changes in the future.
Fantastic video. Groundwater recharge certainly deserves more attention
In the past California had droughts lasting Two hundred years so the recent drought was very short. The. Main issue is there are too many people in California using too much water.
Your idea is the problem.
@@Xx0GsaburzxXas usual facts are the problem
Thank you for this update. I think we all needed a bit of good news for a change!
The drought isn’t over with because of one good year.
Keep conserving water in California to make this one year surplus last as long as possible.
Well, the meteorological drought is over for now, but the Agricultural & Hydrological drought will continue, probably forever.
Great vid! Earned yourself a sub! I'm looking forward to the aquifer recharge video!
Very good news for those of us here in Colorado. We were being forced to release water from our reservoirs for California’s use (via the Colorado River) due to water treaties from the 1920s. We too were suffering from drought conditions but California legally has a claim on our water and take their full allocation every year. Our reservoirs were below 35% even after a good snow pack. Fortunately after two very good snow packs we are at 85% capacity in our local reservoir. Note though outflows haven’t changed! California is still taking their full allocation. Please manage your water better and invest in your water catchment and storage infrastructure. The Colorado River remains at risk.
As a Californian I am in complete sympathy with you. These water treaties where just scams created to steal natural resources. They should all be abrogated and a new set of all encompassing water ownership laws be created. Any perception that falls on your property is the property of the owner. All perception that falls on public lands belongs to the entire public and is used in the public interest including a free market system to sell the excess not needed to maintain public lands, lakes, rivers, and streams. Ground water is public as well and all water pumped from the ground is regulated for the public interest including maintaining the ground water level and spring flows. Spring flow on private and public property should be treated like precipitation. US water laws are about as corrupt as it gets in resource allocation.
Colorado gets ample precipitation because of the altitude in most of its areas. Colorado likely will never lack water. California should get a lions share of that water.
@@Malibukennnot at all. Due to archaic agreements made a century ago California and Californians continue to ignore their own water usage and needs while the population climbs and the problem worsens. When California runs out of water it will be their own fault. It makes no sense for California to lay claim to water that falls in Colorado because California can’t be bothered to manage its own needs.
Actually, our drought lasted so long that California's ground water (typically 30% of our consumption) reserves are still very low.
Precisely. And with global warming, groundwater reserves aren't likely to ever reach desirable levels. Which is one of the reasons we need a nationwide stormwater (or fresh water) management system. One that would divert floodwater to reservoirs strategically placed around the country, and can then be pumped to areas where groundwater is inadequate, and areas prone to droughts and wildfires. It would also stop the current process of dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of freshwater into the ocean every year due, again, to inadequate measures to deal with excess fresh water.
How about people quit trying to live in the desert where there is not enough water? Also quit wasting water where it is scarce?
@@oso9809 because it may be less expensive to live in the desert. And I agree about wasting water. Anytime. But neither of those steps is going to solve this country's water shortage issues. A nationwide water management system is the only reasonable solution, to several related problems. And on top of the other benefits, such a system would create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
@@trudyisaacs840and Last year, "experts" said we'd need decades to refill these reservoirs and in one season they're full. This despite the states best efforts to prevent adequate water storage. I suspect most of these "experts" also believe in anthropogenic climate change as well.
@@trudyisaacs840It costs a lot in $$$ and resources to move water over the mountains into California. Cheaper to move everyone out of the desert.
I'm always curious about these statistics but it's hard to find all these things in one place Good job
Build aquifers not reservoirs. California has mismanaged water for almost 200 years. Most of California's water policies lead to desertification. The reservoirs go up but people have to drill deeper and deeper wells. California drain the 10th largest lake in the U.S. and pump the aquifer so much land sunk by 35 feet. A collapsed aquifer never holds as much water as before. Then people complained when it filled back up. California sends more water into the ocean than it uses. California has not been in a drought. A Mediterranean climate don't get much water. So what people call a drought is regular amount of rain for the climate.
Geologist here… you don’t “build” aquifers. Aquifers are simply the natural subsurface rock layers like sandstone that have high porosity and permeability to store water. Those rock layers need to be recharged in wet years (like this year) after a hundred years of pumping out their water.
Thank you for your wonderful presentation. Thank God for the rain that ended the drought.
Great Video - exceptionally well done.
What gets me is, we get too much rain and everything gets flooded, because of global warming. Then we get drought and that’s because of global warming. Then, here in Ireland, we got a few weeks at the start of summer that were a bit warmer than usual, because of global warming. Then we had our coldest wettest summer in over a decade, because of… well you get the picture. No matter what weather we’re getting, if we don’t like it, it’s because of global warming. Everyone is very quiet when we do get weather we like, but it doesn’t last very long and then the climate crisis is to blame for whatever ails us, once again.
This has always been the way and there have always been apocalypse forecasters with soap boxes and placards. What’s different nowadays is, they have a bigger, better placard that comes right into everyone’s homes and is much harder to ignore. But that doesn’t make them any more likely to be right than the guy standing on the soapbox in 1901, shouting about how the end is nigh.
Weather has always happened and will always happen. There will be good years and bad years. There will be famines and floods and droughts, disease and pestilence. We need to prepare for all these things, as best we can, but expecting the world to unite in a way that can make a meaningful difference to when/if they happen is a utopian pipe dream. Sometimes it’s hot because it’s sunny. Sometimes it’s wet because the rain is falling. Get used to it. That’s how it’s been for millennia and that’s how it will be long after the last human has rotted away.
Yes, funny. But the average temperature for the world has really been rising, if the measurements are accurate. And glaciers and permafrost really have been melting. (On a side note, we are actually supposed to be heading for another ice age, according to historians. So the global warming may have staved off that disaster.)
Umm, the term changed to “climate change” a long time ago. Although the overall global temperature is rising, the actual impact on the climate is that there are more extremes-stronger storms during hurricane seasons, higher temperatures during dry seasons, colder winters, with deep freezes. Rising sea levels, with more erosion in coastal areas. That has all been happening.
Yes, we get the picture, because we’ve been paying attention to the overall situation, not just selectively picking events. What “gets us” is how people like you don’t “ get it.”
And it’s not some nut on the sidewalk. That’s you. These are recorded, historical records we’re looking at.
Thanks for covering the all important ground water situation. Very informative video. ❤
Unfortunately California's water issues are due to both drought AND to mismanagement by the State government.
Proof of this can be seen simply by monitoring the amount of water released through dams as the state ESTIMATES the amount of space needed for run-off. More often than not these estimates are only marginally close to being accurate.
And in the south, we just recently watched huge volumes of water flowing to the ocean through the "Los Angeles River" aka the San Fernando valley storm drains. Way back when I was in high school, the LA River ran right next to my high school. In all the years I lived there I cannot remember a single time when there was more than a few inches of water in that storm drain.
Sadly government organizations focused more on how many people they could cram within each square mile rather than how many people could they adequately sustain given limited water sources.
Excellent point. The greater Southern California metropolitan area receives 10-18 inches of rain annually, yet has almost ZERO local capture and storage. I wonder about why not.... water quality issues ? generally horrible public infrastructure (fact)? not price competitive with purchases from NorCal/Colorado River?
The current population isn't an issue. per the USGS, potable water usage is 15% of available water. So tell me, how is 15% usage the issue?
@@Bouncer-id1rh The USGS also claims that the state withdraws around 38 BILLION gallons of water per DAY. According to Gavin #HairGel Newsom, Californians are not meeting his 15% water reduction target (predominantly Southern Californians). And, as such, he has further increased water use restrictions.
So if potable water is only 15% of available water, why the continued emphasis on residential water users? Why not focus the vast majority of restrictions on business and agriculture? Does he not want to negatively impact his side hustle, "Plumpjack Winery"?
Same thing happened to North Texas a few years back. Had a 5 yr drought ended in 1 year when we got twice the normal rain.
No worries, California will quickly figure out how to get back into drought. Newsome has a plan.
Excellent video! Thanks so much.
California needs to build more Reservoirs to capture water and to pump water back into aquafers in their own state and not rely so much on other states to supply all their water needs.
What an interesting and excellently done video for me. Thank you
It's great news, but will it last or was it just a one off wet year?
probably a 1 off but only time will tell
Finally, some good weather news. Thanks
What is the current state of the ghost lake Tulare?
What date was this made?
This country needs a national stormwater management system. A system that will capture water that normally causes flooding, and pumps the water to strategically placed reservoirs around the country. Those reservoirs would then pump water to drought prone areas around the country greatly reducing drought/wildfire and flooding damages nationwide, as well as saving thousands of human lives every year. It would also reduce domestic and wild animal injuries and deaths.
A network of waterways, reservoirs, pumping and filtration stations which, with the strategic placement of hydro turbines, wind turbines, and solar farms, would not only power itself, but provide power to much of the nation. Anyone who thinks it can't be done, should take a look at the network of gas and oil pipelines in this country. At our system of roadways, and railways.
The construction and maintenance of such a system would provide hundreds of thousands of jobs. And save billions in cleanup and reconstruction costs this country incurs every year due to droughts, wildfires, and floods. There is no reasonable explanation as to why this hasn't already been in the works for decades. And there is no reasonable excuse for not beginning the design, construction, and implementation of such a system immediately.
We are at the point where we absolutely must address our responsibility for climate change which is already having devastating and irreversible affects on our planet. A well designed national stormwater management system would be a huge step in the right direction.
Smartly written!
Pumping water long distances is not practical and is energy intensive. (the predictions of wind and solar have not been realized)
California should/could have addressed it's own infrastructure water needs but did not. (they can't even build a railroad)
So the proposal is to have the rest of the nation bail California out of it's poor planning? Like they have to import electricity and gasoline now.
@@frosty3693 pumping water long distances is no less practical or energy intensive than pumping oil and gas. AND water leaks aren't toxic, won't ignite or explode, killing and contaminating everything and everyone in the vicinity, and won't cost billions of dollars to mitigate. I have no doubt that there were plenty of people who thought pumping oil and gas across the country wasn't practical and was too energy intensive too. Same for railroads, and roadways. And yet, here we are. With all of them.
The predictions of wind and solar energy may not have been realized here, but several other countries are using them, and have been for quite some time in order to reduce the use of fossil fuels which, again, are toxic to the environment.
As for my proposal's purpose, it wasn't about California. It was about the nation as a whole. Every single year drought and wildfires across the country decimate crops, take lives, damage property, and costs billions of dollars. As do floods in flood prone areas. And because the country lacks a stormwater management system, hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water from storms and snowmelt are dumped into the ocean every year.
The only reason I can see that a nationwide stormwater management system hasn't already been in the works for a long time, is the influence of the fossil fuel industry on congress. The same way people in this country die every day because they can't afford life saving medicines and treatments, due to Big Pharma's influence on legislators. And on the Supreme Court. No more evident than in the case of Citizen's United, which has turned our legislative process into a quid pro quo with corporate America. Corporations aren't people. They don't vote, and shouldn't be able to make political contributions.
But corruption in the Supreme Court led to a ridiculously blatant abuse of power. So corporations are basically writing their own, self-serving legislation, and people like Clarence Thomas (I refuse to call him a Justice, as he absolutely isn't just) have paved the way for them. Living a life of luxury in exchange. And absolutely nothing is done about it. Despite the recent exposure of Clarence and his wife's acceptance of luxury gifts - unethical at the very least - he is still firmly seated on the highest court in the land.
But too many people in this country are willfully ignorant, and believe whatever their political party tells them. Even when faced with unequivocal, irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Often because their party plays upon their bigotries.
One more item of note: while I wasn't speaking specifically of any state, but the country as a whole, it is true that California, and Texas - another problematic state - absolutely would benefit as much, or more, than the rest of the states. And I have no problem with that. After all, we are all citizens of the Unites States of America. Aren't we? Have a nice day, frosty. 😉😁
@@trudyisaacs840 I refer you to Peter Zeihan. In his book "The End of the World is Just the Beginning" he explains resource location better than I, he is an expert after all.
I wonder the volume differences needed between water and oil?
@@frosty3693 "he is an expert after all" I can't tell if you're being serious or if this is a joke because he frequently refers to himself as an expert. Regardless, even Zeihan only refers to himself as an "expert" in the field of politics. The kinds of experts we should be listening to on this topic need to be experts in natural resources administration with work experience in water management like at a Department of Water Resources or with a state Watermaster.
Best updates online, i find some sites updates confusing or they are all over the place. I think it's good some water gets released, helps with salmon runs etc. Great video, thanks :)
The good news. We got a lot of water this year. The bad news, Newsom sat on projects for years that may have helped store more water.
He eventually approved some and then immediately had to cut the project budgets because of the state budget shortfall. Imagine how much more water we could have had if he had not sent out rebate checks a couple of years ago and instead had invested in water storage. His single approach of conservation was not right. We need to conserve and store water.
This is not a democrat versus republican statement. It is a failure of policies that were in place for years and now hopefully have been corrected.
California needs to follow what Bermuda does. Plus you can't rely on a single season of snowpack & a freaky tropical system. All that did was put a band aid on the problem.
Expect policies from Sacramento & DC to squander this blessing.
The travails of California are lessons that should be learned by other states, here in the Mid-Atlantic/Southeast our fresh water supplies are just as fragile, the key differentiators would seem to be our overall lower population, and lower agricultural needs.
Don't worry, they'll fritter it away before long.
Fantastic update documentary video, thanks.
Dont Worry , the ALMOND FARMERS will use up all the extra water.
Whenever I visited the Bay Area, the trees were green and ground brown. I just got back from a visit and everything was green. It was great to look at.
How in the name of all did you pass the youtube video screening process where you must scream and declare that aliens are the cause of the drought. Wonderful and highly informative video without any cringe moments. I didn't know that there was an aquifer pumping system to recharge ground water. What do you know? I learned something.
Very informative. Great job! Subscribed.
Very Interesting. Now CA needs to figure out a plan to retain or prevent the Water from "Escaping" to the Sea.
Happy to see its back.... Water is life... We should save it and use it wisely
Thanks for the good news! Agriculture still needs to use water more efficiently. That includes growing crops that use water. It takes *ten* gallons of water to make a single almond. Not going to miss them from my diet!
Yep, agricultural land typically uses 10x as much water per acre as residential property. CA Central Valley is the bread basket of the west but crop selection, water storage and irrigation need to be done wisely to avoid creating drought in dry years.
Yep, agricultural land typically uses 10x as much water per acre as residential property. CA Central Valley is the bread basket of the west but crop selection, water storage and irrigation need to be done wisely to avoid creating drought in dry years.
@@Cajundaddydave Actually, the growing districts of the Colorado have now surpassed Calif's central valley as the break basket of the west in terms of hectares.
@@Bouncer-id1rh Well, I guess it depends on who you talk to:
"The San Joaquin Valley is the most productive agricultural region in the world, cultivating more than 250 crops."
@@Cajundaddydave Well, yes. The varieties produced in the central valley is unlike anywhere in the world. We may be splitting hairs, I was just stating the districts of the Colorado have over taken the central valley in terms of scale of production.
very informative video. I especially like the part on aquifers. Thanks
thanks for the great info. wondered how water issues in CA were doing.
Thanks for this information!
Great video! But acre-ft had to be one of the most obscure volume measurements. It reminds me of Grandpa Simpson: "The metric system? MY car gets 40 rods to the hog's head, and that's the way I likes it!"
Same in Australia. We have pretty big cycles
Right now, everything is full.
Problem is, when the summer wet season comes around. Excess water can’t be contained. No choice but to prepare for floods.
👍
I give thanks every single day for the fact that this rain has fallen and this is so!!!!
Great weather reporting. Thanks.
Exceptional review!
The water table in the California central valley has depleted the ground water table to very low levels, it is going to take years of good snow packs to replenish the ground water.
Yes the more water that can be captured and reserved the better it will be in the long term. A lot more reservoirs would obviously help as these weather cycles can change dramatically over just five years.
Bro, i commute between SF & LA & use the 152 Los Banos/ Gilroy. San Luis is dearest to my heart & so glad it's back to normal. 2013/15 was bad; but 2018-22 was the worst
Very informative. Great job.
TIL about groundwater recharging. Didn't even know that was a thing. Very interesting video :)
I am glad for the people of California
Thank you for this purely informative video void of propaganda.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
We feed the nation from California. It rained yesterday and today here where I am in California. We have driven past Folsom and seen them letting water out of the dam, which doesn’t usually happen.
Great video, very informative!!
This is one research subject that deserves top strategic priority for California.
You would need competent polliticians. An extinct phenomenon in California.
To have that much water this late in the season is just amazing and not normal. Praise the Lord for miracles.
Good video...very informative