Legend has it that upon being informed that the citizens of France had no bread to eat, Marie Antoinette, Queen-consort of Louis XVI of France, exclaimed “let them eat cake.”

California Governor Jerry Brown recently had his own “let them eat cake” moment: At a press conference last week announcing the need for a 25 percent cut in water consumption, Brownsaid, “People should realize we are in a new era. The idea of your nice little green lawngetting watered every day, those days are past.”

Brown showed his “let them eat cake” character once again.

Brown-the-elite

Jerry Brown enjoys an upper-crust Bay Area lifestyle, and is dependent on the very water projects he loathes and has shut down. Brown was the original push behind canceling crucial water infrastructure projects in the 1970’s and 1980’s, and has been supportive of diverting desperately needed reservoir water for fish, rather than food production in the Central Valley.

There is no doubt California is in a drought; we’ve been in one for several years. And California has had many droughts in its history, including when Brown was… Read More

On April Fools Day, Gov. Jerry Brown issued an Executive Order limiting the duration of Californians’ showers. However, this was no April Fools joke.

Sounding once again like Weird Uncle Fester on ABC’s “This Week,” Brown said Californians can expect to be hit with heavy fines for taking long showers. Using the enforcement power of the state water board, Brown said people can be fined $500 a day for failing to comply with the new water restrictions and shower allowances – whatever those restrictions really are. “(Water) Districts can go to court to get a cease and desist order,” Brown said. “The enforcement mechanism is powerful. In a drought of this magnitude, you have to change that behavior and you have to change it substantially.

During this drought, city and county governments are still running sprinklers and wasting water as though there is no drought, yet now imposing penalties on citizens who violate unclear water policies.

What will happen to shower offenders? Will the state water police perform a black-ops take down of your home, demanding you “Turn off the water, drop the… Read More

While California’s drought conditions are actually historically normal, California’s current drought is being billed by government and media as the driest period in the state’s recorded rainfall history. Scientists who study the Western United States’ long-term climate patterns say California has been dry for significantly longer periods — more than 200 years.

However, it only takes reading the weekly California drought water-wise tips in statewide newspapers and local government websites to know the information the environmentalists are foisting on us is hogwash. While California is in the middle of an historic drought, radical environmentalists are not letting a good crisis go to waste.

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The long time political dispute between California farmers and state and federal water regulators predates the latest drought and will continue long after, unless some political honesty takes place. This is Part ll of “Food or Fish: Political Honesty Needed in CA Water War.” Part l is here.

California farms and businesses are starved of water. Lawmakers and federal environmental regulators have authorized more than 81 billion gallons of water to flow out to the ocean, instead of being used for human… Read More

The long time political dispute between California farmers and state and federal water regulators predates the latest drought and will continue long after, unless some political honesty takes place.

By focusing on worn-out political balderdash, many in the media have bypassed sincere analysis of the drought, the causes, long-standing battles, and long-term ramifications.

California uses 40 percent of the water from the Tuolumne, Stanislaus and Merced rivers,… Read More

If 80 percent of California is in extreme drought, as the Los Angeles Times just reported, where is the data and evidence?

City and county governments are still running sprinklers and wasting water as though there is no drought, yet threatening and even imposing penalties on citizens who violate unclear water policies.

The State Water Resources Control Board adopted new drought policy and regulations to give local agencies the authority to fine water wasters up to $500 a… Read More

This is Part ll of my series on California’s dubious drought and water policies

National media coverage has largely confused reasons for the current drought. We are now being told that global warming has caused the drought.

Perhaps a more realistic cause for the drought can be found in natural climate change, agricultural inefficiency, poor water storage planning, and urban development in arid regions.

Most of the media and public officials paint California farmers and ranchers as the biggest water wasters in the state. Yet they have made huge strides in improving efficient water management over the years — it’s in their best interest to do so, not only economically, but to save and conserve natural resources. Farmers and ranchers are some of the best, most efficient and effective conservationists California has.

North Korean-style water… Read More

Part l of two stories about the reality of California’s water supply

Whether or not California’s drought conditions are brought on by alleged “global warming,” most agree the state is lacking rainfall. What many in the state refuse to acknowledge is that this is actually typical; drought occurs 40 percent of the time in California. It’s not unusual.

However, government and public officials with an agenda of opportunistic control are fueling the melodramatic media coverage of the state’s rainfall shortage. And many of these same officials have been mum about the state’s historical lack of adequate water storage, despite an increasing population.

Rationing shortfalls

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