Environmental rules stoke anger as California lets precious stormwater wash out to sea.
Thanks LA Times
Back in 2014 voters approved 3 billion dollars to build more reservoirs. To this day not a penny has been spent. If done, they would have enough reservoirs to hold water for ten years.
Environmental rules designed to protect imperiled fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have ignited anger among a group of bipartisan lawmakers, who say too much of California’s storm-water is being washed out to sea instead of being pumped to reservoirs and aqueducts.
Since the beginning of January, a series of atmospheric rivers has disgorged trillions of gallons of much-needed moisture across drought-stricken California, but only a small fraction of that water has so far made it into storage. In the delta — the heart of the state’s vast water system — nearly 95% of incoming water has flowed into the Pacific Ocean, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
“With so much excess water in the system, there is no reason that exports south of the Delta cannot be increased,” read another letter that State Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) and Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains (D-Bakersfield) addressed to Newsom.
“We must make the most of the heavy precipitation we are receiving and use it to our advantage,” Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno) wrote in a letter to state and federal officials. He called for increased flexibility on the first flush rule.
