California’s record rains eliminated the effects of years of severe drought. However, the water problem is far from solved. Farmers watched in horror as much of the surplus water flowed uselessly back into the ocean.
What was the reason for sending desperately needed water back to the ocean? A 3-inch Delta smelt.
Farmers are forbidden from pumping water from reservoirs for their fields when the threatened smelt appears in the waters. This includes both native and hatchery-bred fish, which are protected by the Endangered Species Act.
Hatchery-bred smelt have been introduced into water reservoirs, increasing the number and times when water can be pumped. Farmers argue that the excessive presence of hatchery-bred species shifts the focus away from sustainable farming practices, ultimately impacting their livelihoods.
According to Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, this spring saw record-low pumping during a wet year because of a high number of fish.
Farmers are frustrated with the liberal environmental policies that prioritize the protection of endangered species at the expense of agricultural needs. Many have tried workarounds like tapping aquifers when the government curtails their water—but even those methods have fallen short.
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California’s water management strategy once revolved around storage. In the mid-twentieth century, there was a building boom of dams and reservoirs. However, environmentalists have opposed the dams, claiming ecological damage. Thus, it has been over 43 years since the last major reservoir opened.
The strategy developed in the 1960s was to store enough water runoff in these reservoirs during wet years to withstand five years of drought. The specific target was the rich agricultural areas in the San Joaquin Valley. Since there are no new reservoirs, the system cannot meet current demands.
Thus, the only way around California’s water problem is to find a way to maintain the delicate balance between where the water is and where it needs to be. Most water lies in the north and needs to be transported south to where the majority live and farm.
This transition is where the smelts come in. Northern water must pass through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which is crucial for fish migration under the Endangered Species Act. Radical environmentalists found their Achilles heel in the system that would force officials to limit water distribution to farmers.
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Environmental groups have long used the smelts to force federal interventions over the last four decades, restricting water flow through the Delta, their natural habitat.
However, farmers point out that the Delta smelt are now successfully bred in hatcheries and spread in abundance elsewhere, thus eliminating the need for these destructive regulations.
Environmentalists link the smelts to maintaining the Delta’s biodiversity, thus contributing to the long-term sustainability of California’s water systems. Farmers’ agricultural needs must go unrealized.
While farmers have the option to purchase water from the private market, the cost can be up to five times higher than federal water prices.
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Fear not; Democrats have a liberal solution to solve this problem.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s team is proposing the construction of a $20-billion tunnel to bypass the Delta. This project will allow the threatened fish to swim undisturbed above the pipeline. However, the project faces strong opposition from a coalition of landowners, tribes and environmental groups.
Meanwhile, farmers are threatened with bankruptcy because of ruthless water deprivation. All this is happening as rain falls abundantly and mountain snowpacks are full. Indeed, California’s water crisis is not a mere natural misfortune; it’s a deliberate campaign orchestrated by radical environmentalists.
Aligned with cooperative judges, sympathetic officials and useful idiots, environmental groups have withheld essential water from the San Joaquin Valley, a vital hub for U.S. agricultural production.
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Farming communities are suffering as radical environmentalists wage relentless war on farmers’ livelihoods. Instead of finding solutions, liberal politicians simply blame global warming while sipping lattes in their solariums, unaffected by the catastrophe they created.
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