Carly Fiorina: The Man-Made Water Shortage in California

Time ^ | April 7, 2015 | Carly Fiorina

[thackney]

It comes down to this: Which do we think is more important, families or fish?

...With different policies over the last 20 years, all of this could have been avoided. Droughts are nothing new in California — the state has suffered from them for centuries. The difference now is that government policies are making it much worse. Despite the awareness around this issue, liberals continue to develop and promote policies which allow much of California’s rainfall to wash out to sea.

Specifically, these policies have resulted in the diversion of more than 300 billion gallons of water away from farmers in the Central Valley and into the San Francisco Bay in order to protect the Delta smelt, an endangered fish that environmentalists have continued to champion at the expense of Californians. This water is simply being washed out to sea, instead of being channeled to the people who desperately need it.

While they have watched this water wash out to sea, liberals have simultaneously prevented the construction of a single new reservoir or a single new water conveyance system over decades. This has happened during a period in which California’s population has doubled. It is clear that improved or additional infrastructure would allow for greater conservation before droughts — especially as the population continues to explode — but California has not completed a major water infrastructure project in 50 years.

Largely because of these policies, 99% of California is in some kind of water shortage, according to the United States Drought Monitor, and 67% is experiencing “extreme” drought conditions. Thirty-seven million people are estimated to be affected.

[petercooper]

Damn- if I had a nickel for every dollar I lost in that company...