What up with all of the water going to southern CA

[Ridgerunner]

Since i do not live there anymore I had heard that the water is Flowing south towards fresno instead of north to the bay and out to the ocean

I have also heard that the State officials are holding secret meetings that are "open to the public but no one knows where these meeting are held.

The fish in the river are dying becuse of too much salt water.

[havasu]

That has been in discussion for several years and to my knowledge, our water is still very limited from up north. I also haven't heard of the fish dying, but there are problems with the Delta, and I don't think we are to blame for it.

[ParadiseNative]

I live in Butte County, home of Lake Oroville. Built in the early 60's and filled by 1964. The state sold the idea to Oroville and Butte County as a "recreational lake" that would bring in countless $$ in revenue to the area.

Every year they drain the dam(n) thing to send water to LA, and the only "recreation" is done at the bottom of the muddy canyon. It sucks.

[Sacdan]

Time to divide the State in Two!

[havasu]

Originally Posted by Sacdan

Time to divide the State in Two!

Forget that...I'm too old to learn another language!

[bisjoe]

Southern CA is a desert, with no local water sources and a huge population with a desire for big green lawns and swimming pools. All of their water has to come from the north and has for a long time. The aqueduct from the delta has not been enough so they started taking water from the Colorado River system
as well. It's really too late to do anything about it, despite the environmental concerns, too many voters in that area.

Here's a picture of the California Aqueduct heading south, a lot of water diverted from the delta:

[biotilldawn]

Here are some sobering statistics about agricultural use of water in California.

-- Farming accounts for 2 percent of the state's $1.6 trillion economy, but its demand for equipment, transport, labor and other services make it a key economic sector for the world's eighth-largest economy.

-- Farming accounts for 80 percent of the state's water usage, according to the Pacific Institute, but the farm industry and government put the number much lower at 40 percent to 60 percent.

Source: FACTBOX: Water scarcity and agriculture in California | Reuters

[JAlves3]

Water use "facts" get skewed to represent the views of the writer. The #1 abuse is the amount of water "used" by farming. If you measure the amount fed into the field you get one number, if you measure the amount consumed by the crop, its a different number. Irrigation is far from perfect and the difference between inflow and consumed is either returned to the irrigation supply or percolates below the root zone and recharges the underground aquifer.

The second most misunderstood fact is most northern California farms are served by irrigation districts formed before statehood and had water supplies secured before the state and federal dams were built. These districts agreed to allow the government agencies to build the dams (which would impede the use of existing supplies) for the good of the state as long as their original rights were honored. Now many environmental groups love to claim farmers are using "subsidized water" to grow subsidized crops when the fact is the water owned by the water district is flowing through a public built dam but not owned or controlled by the public.

The water use below the Delta is a another can of worms I will leave to someone more knowledgeable but I will comment some is diverted but other supplies were secured/built long before the state/fed got involved.

My

[catfish]

What up with all of the water going to southern CA

it flows downhill...

[77bawls]

Originally Posted by Sacdan

Time to divide the State in Two!

I love this idea, but instead of splitting the north from the south let's split off San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angles. They can be West California.