(Jerry) Brown meets with drought task force, pledges help

[XemaSab]

Source: Associated Press

Gov. Jerry Brown said he would meet Thursday with his recently formed drought task force to determine if an emergency declaration is necessary as California faces a serious water shortage.

He said he would "do everything that is humanly possible" to make sure the state's water reserves are used efficiently but noted that even a formal drought declaration has its limits. "Governors can't make it rain," he told reporters during a briefing on his state budget proposal.

Reservoirs in the state have dipped to historic lows after one of the driest calendar years on record. The first Sierra snow survey of the year last week recorded just 20 percent of average water content for this time of year.

State water managers have said they expect to deliver just 5 percent of the water sought by agencies that supply more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland.

http://www.redding.com/news/2014/jan/09/brown-meets-drought-task-force-pledges-help/

Read more: http://www.redding.com/news/2014/jan/09/brown-meets-drought-task-force-pledges-help/

---

The reservoirs are LOW: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action

[TDale313]

1. It's gonna be a long, dry summer :-(

We've had so little rain this winter- hopefully we can get a few storms the next couple months, but it's worrying for sure.

[XemaSab]

3. There's a forest fire in Tehama right now

[NBachers]

6. It sure doesn't feel like there's any rain on the way. We may never get any more rain this season.

[LeftyMom]

2. That's okay, we only grow all of the nation's everything.

[Mr.Bill]

4. The only silver lining could be

that people might finally find this out.

[XemaSab]

7. Winter Is...

...Apparently Not Coming.

[NickB79]

18. And that has to stop as soon as possible

Sorry LeftyMom, not trying to rag on your state, but realistically we shouldn't rely so heavily on one state to supply so much of our produce like we currently do. It makes our food supply too vulnerable to disruptions, especially in a century of increasing climate extremes as global warming really starts to ramp up.

[LeftyMom]

19. I don't disagree.

[NYC_SKP]

5. Stop the Tunnels, Jerry! (petition)

Central Valley Agribusiness want to build two tunnels to add to the two aquaducts that are already shipping too much northern water to the south.

Please sign this petition:

https://secure3.convio.net/fww/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=329

http://www.deltatunnelsboondoggle.com/

http://www.friendsoftheriver.org/site/PageServer?pagename=DeltaCanal

[Le Taz Hot]

8. Those damned farmers!

Wanting to grow food and stuff! They outta be shot!

And I like how the second site (first link is dead) links together fracking and agribusiness. And I especially like the titles about water going South. It makes it sound like the water is going to the dreaded (so say NoCal folks) Southern California when, in reality, it's going to farms. The FACT is that jobs and food are, ultimately, more important than Snail Darters.

California has ALWAYS been a drought-prone state and water wars have been going on for the last 150 years. This is just a continuation of same.

[NYC_SKP]

9. I guess you don't live around here.

Or you might live in the desert where, when it's not a drought they grow tomatoes and cotton.

No more water projects.

[Le Taz Hot]

11. No, I live in the "cesspool," i.e., the Central Valley

wherein loss of water would mean the loss of crops and MILLIONS of jobs.

Can there be improvement? Of course there can. We need to switch to crops to those that are less water-intensive, we need to stop saturating the soil with additives, we need less cattle and more veggies/fruits. Look, I would LOVE to throw Big Agra out on its ear but the reality is that, at the moment, Big Agra employs thousands and thousands of people who rely on those jobs, not to mention the NATION that relies on the food that they grow.

[NYC_SKP]

12. My position is that the Delta Mendota and Cal Aqueduct already take enough water away from the Delta

Our own agricultural lands are suffering from this, it's not even about the snail darter.

You're right-- if they would switch to less water intensive crops and practices they might be a sustainable industry in those drier parts.

[Le Taz Hot]

13. Well, on that last paragraph,

we can agree.

[KamaAina]

15. The KamaAina Party proposes raising the water fees that big agribusiness pays

thereby giving them an economic incentive to conserve, as well as a tidy new source of revenue for the state.

[NYC_SKP]

17. More regulation is needed. They buy and sell it just like Enron sold energy.

And water is way to valuable to be traded around for profit like that.

[K lib]

14. water desalination

US needs to invest into water desalination technology

[Retrograde]

16. But what does this have to do with traffic in New Jersey?

Why would, say, MSNBC mention an impending crisis in the country's largest agricultural region (which also sells its produce abroad) when they can spend two plus hours covering a traffic jam that happened months ago? Yeah, I'm annoyed that Maddow and O'Donnell devoted their programs last night to Christie - newsworthy, but how long does it take to say he's a petty, vindictive clown?

I'm used to national news being east coast-centric, but ex-Bay Area resident Maddow should know better.