Thinking Citizen Blog — The California Deluge — Atmospheric Rivers, the Great Flood of 1861–2, the Lack of Water Storage
Thinking Citizen Blog — Wednesday is Climate Change, the Environment, and Sustainability Day
Today’s Topic: The California Deluge — Atmospheric Rivers, the Great Flood of 1861–2, the Lack of Water Storage
Today three topics related to the recent catastrophic flooding in California. Experts please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate
ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS — beneficial most of the time, start in tropics
1. “Not all atmospheric rivers cause damage; most are weak systems that often provide beneficial rain or snow that is crucial to the water supply.”
2. “Atmospheric rivers are a key feature in the global water cycle and are closely tied to both water supply and flood risks — particularly in the western United States.”
3. “Atmospheric rivers usually begin over tropical regions. Warm temperatures there cause ocean water to evaporate and rise into the atmosphere.”
THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1862 — something to be expected every 100 to 200 years
1. Lasted 43 days.
2. Put central and southern California underwater for up to six months.
3. One quarter of the economy destroyed.
NB: State goes bankrupt.
THE LACK OF WATER STORAGE — WHO IS TO BLAME? WHAT IS TO DONE?
1. Was it the fault of the environmentalists? the fiscal conservatives opposed to public works? both? who cares? what is to be done?
2. “Few large water projects have been built since the birth of the environmental movement in the 1970s. Species protections for salmon and the three-inch smelt limit how much water can be pumped south through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which receives runoff from rivers in the North and the Sierra mountains.”
3. “The amount of water surging into the Delta on Friday could have filled a reservoir the size of Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy almost every 24 hours. Instead, nearly 95% of the Delta’s storm water this year has flushed into the Pacific Ocean. Such waste occurs whenever there’s a deluge and is why some reservoirs south of the Delta remain low despite the storms.”
NB: “Only $2.7 billion of a $7.5 billion water bond that voters approved in 2014 was allocated for storage. None of the seven storage projects selected by the state have begun construction. Blame in part a government permitting morass. Most aren’t expected to be completed until the end of this decade, assuming they aren’t marooned by lawsuits.” “If water projects are a political priority, why not finance them with general tax revenue as the state does climate programs like electric-vehicle subsidies? Perhaps because borrowing for water projects allows the government to spend more on other things. As a result, taxpayers wind up paying more in debt service.”
Opinion | Water Is a Terrible Thing for California to Waste
California’s Devastating Storms Are a Glimpse of the Future
California Megaflood: Lessons from a Forgotten Catastrophe
2022–2023 California floods — Wikipedia
QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
“Whenever you are wrong, admit it. Whenever you are right, shut up.”
- Ogden Nash
A LINK TO THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED BY THEME:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENT BELOW -
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, 11/17/20
A LINK TO THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED BY THEME:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to climate change or the environment. Or the coolest, most important thing you learned in your life related to climate change that the rest of us may have missed. Your favorite chart or table perhaps…
This is your chance to make some one’s day. Or to cement in your own mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart.
