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Decision to dump water from Tulare County lakes altered after confusing locals
- mikestew 2y agoFollow up story: Trump’s emergency water order responsible for water dump from Tulare County lakes https://sjvwater.org/trumps-emergency-water-order-responsible-for-water-dump-from-tulare-county-lakes/ https://sjvwater.org/trumps-emergency-water-order-responsibl...
- Terr_ 2y ago> Tulare County water managers were perplexed and frustrated, noting both physical and legal barriers that make it virtually impossible for Tulare County river water to be used for southern California fires. So... Trump just wanted Hugest Most Beautiful Water Moving Numbers so he could brag to his supporters, and he ordered it done no matter how useless or harmful it would be? Oof. I'm remembering that 2018 letter [0] where some anonymous staff sought sympathy from the American public for their unsung work keeping Trump from Doing Something Crooked. (I still feel they were actually making it worse in the long run.) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Part_of_the_Resistance_Inside_the_Trump_Administration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Part_of_the_Resistance_In...
- mikeyouse 2y agoThis is going to be so much worse than the first term. It's only been 11 days and just nonstop chaos already, except the 'sensible' Republicans don't seem to care any more.
- 9283409232 2y agoThere are no sensible Republicans. They are all complicit. Even for the Democrats, it feels like Bernie, AOC, and Haskins are the only ones really fighting in Congress.
- noirbot 2y agoAnd Bernie last week was out there going "I'm ready to work with Elon Musk to help working families as he cuts government spending". Legitimately, pitching Republicans on how they're ceding all their power and ruining their economic future may be more effective at this point.
- idle_zealot 2y agoBernie always does this. "I'm prepared to work with ${PERSON/GROUP} as they work to do ${POSITIVE-SOUNDING THING THEY CLAIM THEY'RE WORKING ON BUT WHICH HE KNOWS IS ACTUALLY A LIE OR EUPHEMISM}, also Medicare For All." I assume it's so that his enemies can't accuse him of being obstinate or unwilling to cooperate with plans to do ${POSITIVE THING}.
- userbinator 2y agonoting both physical and legal barriers that make it virtually impossible for Tulare County river water to be used for southern California fires. Trump doesn't care about legal barriers, but he may be a little more convinced about physical ones.
- sangnoir 2y ago> [...] but he may be a little more convinced about physical ones. He thought raking forests would prevent fires. His off-the-cuff solution to physical barriers would be long hoses and a bunch of water pumps.
- Dalewyn 2y ago[flagged]
- HeatrayEnjoyer 2y agoWhat you purpose sounds like unitary theory, which is a scary and absolutely not good practice. Boring career government staff with no personal loyalties are essential in democratic government.
- Dalewyn 2y agoThe problem is when the "career government staff" subverts democracy. This should be a problem that all sides of the political spectrum can agree on.
- HeatrayEnjoyer 2y agoWe'll cross that bridge when and if it comes. Until then, let's focus on the individuals actually subverting democracy and not the everyday people trying to uphold it.
- anigbrowl 2y agoYes. He tweeted a photograph of some flowing water earlier and took credit for it, and of course an army of sycophants marveled over the quality of his new outfit.
- Chris2048 2y ago> The reservoir may belong to the federal government, but the water is ours So, what are the rules regarding water ownership?
- jpollock 2y agohttps://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/board_info/faqs.html https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/board_info/faqs.h... It wasn't until 2012 that you were allowed to capture RAIN that fell on your roof. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1750 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml...
- prawn 2y agoWas there a period earlier in Californian history where it was the norm, or has it always been discouraged? In South Australia which is similarly dry to parts of California, newly built houses are required to have rainwater tanks installed and plumbed to the house (e.g., to flush a toilet, for example).
- jpollock 2y agoI haven't studied it, other than knowing what I was allowed to do to a house I owned. :) A quick googling turns up: Americans have a long history of killing each other over water. That tends to result in very defined access rights. https://www.worldwater.org/conflict/list/ https://www.worldwater.org/conflict/list/ "Water violence in New Mexico over water rights" "Cattlemen fight Texan landowners for access to water and pasture" "Many are killed during the Johnson County Water War between competing cattle association over access to water resources and land" In popular culture: * Pale Rider - creek is dammed to force the miners off the land. * Yellowstone - creek is dammed to prevent the building of a subdivision. This might help explain a bit: https://www.npr.org/2013/06/15/192034094/rivers-run-through-controversies-over-who-owns-the-water https://www.npr.org/2013/06/15/192034094/rivers-run-through-...
- daveguy 2y agoDo you have a reference for the legislation that originally required a permit, or is the bill you reference just a clarification to make explicit that a permit is not required? Seems like this bill is just a clarification and grants explicit permission for landscaping contractors to install rainwater catchment systems which they already had permission for hot tubs, patios, pools, and all the other things listed.
- stouset 2y agoIt’s wonderful that completely uninformed politicians at the national level are making low-level decisions like this now. What could go wrong?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- dylan604 2y agoUnfortunately, if anyone expected anything different than utter chaos from this administration then they live in a different reality. It only sounds harsh because it's true.
- yongjik 2y agoHell, after the long long first week of Trump, I'd be relieved if the worst they did at any given day was trying to flood some Californian streams.
- stouset 2y agoThe worst isn’t flooding some streams, it’s the crop failure from lack of water during the summer thanks to emptying the reservoirs over winter. This is active sabotage of the nation’s food supply. I can’t wait to find out how this will be blamed on Biden.
- cozzyd 2y agoThe crops had too much DEI.
- _moof 2y agoDon, Eric, and Ivanka?
- dgoldstein0 2y agoThat's gold. I may have to steal that
- timewizard 2y agoCalifornia Reservoir Status as maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers: https://www.spk-wc.usace.army.mil/fcgi-bin/midnight.py?days=0&report=COE https://www.spk-wc.usace.army.mil/fcgi-bin/midnight.py?days=... 1 acre foot is 43560 feet^3, or 1233 m^3 of water.
- runarberg 2y agoacre foot is one of the funnier American units out there. It is defined as a foot × a chain (66 feet) × a furlong (660 feet). So you get this weird rectangular cuboid with very small height and a very long length. m³ is already a pretty hard to visualize unit (unless you are used to visualize volume) but acre feet is just about impossible.
- cesarb 2y ago> m³ is already a pretty hard to visualize unit (unless you are used to visualize volume) I don't think it's that hard; just think of a standard 1000L water tank (which is, in my experience, the most common size).
- ggm 2y agoPlastic Tanks being imported from metric economies for sale in imperial measurement economy? It's 264 US gallons. So presumably sold as a 250 gallon tank with a bit of extra headroom.
- BobbyTables2 2y agoThat’s hilarious. As I read your first sentence, I thought “if only it used furlongs”…. And it does (;->
- kadoban 2y agoAs a big proponent of the metric system, acre feet are pretty reasonable. An acre is a decent sized plot of land for a house in the ~dense country, you can easily picture it. Flood that to a foot and you have an acre foot. A single m^3 is fairly easy to visualize, but once you get to higher amounts it's pretty meaningless.
- dylan604 2y agoAs an aside from the actual article, the website has some interesting class names. Using a class name of "force_consent" just sounds like something that to anyone with morals would reconsider the use of that name.
- ks2048 2y agoSo some guys are sitting around managing a dam and the President just calls and tells them to open it up? So, he can say he made some water flow in California? What?? Everyone in this chain of command should be fired and Trump should get the 25th amendment. (I know that won't happen... we'll be on to the next scandal tomorrow, then the next, ad infinitum...)
- metamet 2y agoThis, alongside side the footage and mic of him signing EOs he neither wrote nor know what they are, really make it seem like they're just keeping him occupied.
- briandear 2y agoDid Biden write anything he signed? This comment is a bit disingenuous considering that Biden was asleep for his entire term. His nap times were legendary.
- quink 2y agoWell, if we’re going by those metrics then wait ‘til I tell you about the young dynamic lad who replaced President Hindenburg, age 84. I prefer sleepy. If the presidency should be spent in a coma compared to this, then all the better.
- idle_zealot 2y ago> Everyone in this chain of command should be fired and Trump should get the 25th amendment. (I know that won't happen I think that ship sailed when Merrick Garland failed to aggressively prosecute Trump after he incited an attack on the Capitol. He seems to have been under the impression that given time opinions would settle and become wholly aligned against Trump. Instead, the Republicans' initial condemnation gave way to denial and approval. Garland misjudged the right-wing's domination of media and assumed that sanity would prevail, sparing him from having to do something potentially controversial. Now just over half the voting population believes that the 2020 elections were rigged by Democrats, and that they tried to unjustly charge Trump. It was liberal incompetence at its peak, and it may well be the historical all-time peak-liberal point ideologically-speaking, as we're forced to confront the fact that propaganda works, and voters are not rational. My greatest fear is that Trump tanks the economy, makes life intolerable, and when 2028 rolls around the American public overwhelmingly vote in a Democrat who has learned nothing of value and runs on a platform of "return to sanity" ushering in a return to neo-liberalism, but dropping the progressive social policies in favor of strict media and communication controls to "prevent misinformation from destroying our country again."
- bagels 2y agoAll of the reservoirs were and are above the average level for this time of year during the fires and now, including those in Southern California. https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain This accomplishes nothing useful, unless they plan to irrigate the wilderness to keep the brush green year round (of course, there is certainly not enough water for that).
- jeffbee 2y agoNeither of the reservoirs in question are on that graphic, FYI. Both of these lakes are empty and generally would be in January. Which is why combined outflows of 2500 cubic feet per second is extraordinary. https://www.spk-wc.usace.army.mil/plots/california.html?name=trm&year=2025&interval=h&tab=plot&window=1Month&gl=true https://www.spk-wc.usace.army.mil/plots/california.html?name...
- russdill 2y agoApparently we just need to water the tumbleweeds and keep them green. I wish I were making this up.
- duskwuff 2y ago> including those in Southern California Which - to be clear - Tulare County is not a part of. While it's in the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley, that doesn't make it part of Southern California. The dividing line is around the Tehachapi Mountains. Water released from these reservoirs would end up flowing northwards in the San Joaquin River, and eventually out to sea in the Sacramento Delta. It wouldn't do anything to help fight fires in Los Angeles; it's in entirely the wrong place for that.
- AlotOfReading 2y agoThat's not quite correct. The California aqueduct is able to transport water from the delta down to LA by pumping it over the mountains. This is only a technicality though because even though the system includes the largest pumps in the world, it's still relatively small compared to a natural waterway at full capacity and it's already running.
- jijji 2y ago[flagged]
- jeffbee 2y ago[flagged]
- duskwuff 2y ago> How is Altadena going to fight fire with water from the Tule? Clearly the sheer power of this executive order would make the water flow upstream, across a couple of mountain ranges, and into the waiting fire hydrants.
- kristjansson 2y ago> water flow upstream, across a couple of mountain ranges Don’t forget back in time
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- fzeroracer 2y agoWrong on all accounts. Open a map.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- SubiculumCode 2y agoI grew up beneath that lake..this is insane.
- ipv6ipv4 2y agoThis should theoretically please some farmers in the region. But this is in winter, and I wonder if the farmers really like this, especially since the water won't be there in the summer when it is most needed. I'm piqued to hear what actual farmers in the region have to say.
- mikrotikker 2y agoSounds like someone needs some leaky weirs to help store water in the ground