Bring the water back and a lot of other things are mitigated.
I live in Wisconsin, so I didn’t get any California rain. Watching the news, however, I think a lot of those storms missed Fresno completely. But, it really doesn’t matter how much rain they get, the state has diverted much of the water.
I haven’t been back since 2014 when my mom died, but we probably will take a trip out there this year for a class reunion. It was heartbreaking to see the state of the area on my many trips toward the end of my mom’s life. I have cousins over on the coast in the Santa Cruz area and the dried up farms, orchards, and reservoirs were a sight to behold. On one, extended, trip, I watched an entire peach orchard go un-picked and then plowed under. Pathetic.
I saw orchards of small nut trees allowed to dry up and die for lack of water. Nearby there would be other orchards that were flourishing because those farmers had drilled deeper wells.
I remember when the Central California Irrigation System (not the right name, but it’s been a long time) went in after WWII. The farmers were promised water allotments for their crops. Then the state changed the rules and cut them off. I remember my uncle Tommy turning on the tap on his fields when the system first went into effect. He was so proud when the water flowed into the furrows, and he explained to my dad how it would work and the promises made to the farmers. That was probably around 1948.
There are people (Sierra Clubbers) who want to drain Hetch Hetchy because it is supposed to be “another Yosemite” under all that water. If they do that, San Francisco will sit up and take notice. They might even vote Pelosi out of there! (Fat chance!)