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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.😂

I also find that watching this, interesting videos are suggested to me, increasing what I learn.

So corrupt it is criminal

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.

If history is any teacher they will not.

It won't.

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.

@@user-fm6wd8xy2o 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.

@@user-fm6wd8xy2ono 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.

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.

Thanks, you too!

Aussie Aussie!

Good point. But the green energy climate change whack jobs don’t see the continuing cycle.

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.

The Bahamas does groundwater replenishment. Waste water is treated and forced back down into the Aquifer.

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.

Your idea is the problem.

@@Xx0GsaburzxXas usual facts are the problem

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.

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/

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 KZfaq, but it, the structure, was pretty impressive and the cost was also.

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.

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.

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"?

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.

probably a 1 off but only time will tell

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.

Calif is the country's largest "soft" Ag producer. Florida #2, Texas #3. But in terms of hectares(yields), Calif's production is over 40x that of #2 Florida. Think about that for just a second...it's pretty stunning.

There’s a lot of factors going into the housing shortage, first is the layers of building permits required by the state to get any work accomplished. You’re more likely to successfully profess through the DMV than to get paperwork done for permits. The second issue is the regulations required to build is mandatory in a Earthquake state, strictly sticking to lumber, some have used stucco with more modern homes, and if rocks or bricks are involved, it cannot be the whole structure made of those materials as they can be dangerous when involved with a size 5 or larger earthquake. The next problem is the influx of people who came in the last decade, such as the migrants or the transients who expect a free payout from the government. Then there’s the Silicone Valley that had major computer software companies locating in these “vibe” communities that had no more room to build the accommodation of extra employees. Making the home prices hike the biggest rise in the whole country. And lastly, the last 5 or so years of out of control wildfires that have destroyed many neighborhoods and communities. Over 1,000’s of home have been destroyed by these fires, whether in the cities or in the rural regions. Which then made the demand of construction workers extend what workers there were in these communities. The drought certainly didn’t help any of this, but the state has been stupid for a lot of other factors that okayed a role into no possibility of affording a basic house.

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.