California has added little to its once-prized water system since 1960, and the population has more than doubled, columnist George Skelton writes.
When Leland Stanford became California’s governor in 1862, he needed a rowboat to carry him to the Capitol to be sworn in.
Cycles of drought and flooding have been the California way — nature’s way — for eons. There were many droughts and megafloods in California prior to the industrial revolution — before we packed nearly 40 million people into the state, making these events even more disastrous to humans. But the state has added little to its once-prized water system since then. Meanwhile, the population has more than doubled.
Under it, the “first flush” of each season’s major storm is reserved for the bay. For two weeks, state and federal pumps at the southern end of the delta have been permitted to pump at only about half capacity.California’s winter storm is moving towards Northern California, affecting weekend vacations to Lake Tahoe but less severe flooding is expected in Monterey County.
But small delta communities, local farmers and environmentalists worry that if the tunnel existed, water grabbers — meaning San Joaquin agriculture and L.A. — wouldn’t just be taking stormwater. They’d also be seizing water during dry summers and droughts, leaving the delta saltier.
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