'Very dangerous': Trump dumps billions of gallons of water farmers were counting on for summer

[no_hypocrisy]

https://www.alternet.org/trump-california-water/

President Donald Trump recently ordered the release of massive amounts of water from two California dams, and now local farmers are scrambling to preserve precious freshwater resources needed for dry summer months.

-snip-

However, water managers in Tulare County told Bakersfield, California-based news site SJV Water — which covers water issues in the San Joaquin Valley – that there are multiple physical and legal barriers that prevent the valley's water from getting to Southern California. SJV Water reported that the water would have to be "pumped at great expense" across the valley to the California Aqueduct, where it would still need to travel hundreds of miles to make it to the Los Angeles area.

“Every drop belongs to someone,” Kaweah River Watermaster Victor Hernandez told SJV Water. “The reservoir may belong to the federal government, but the water is ours. If someone’s playing political games with this water, it’s wrong.”

-snip-

"A decision to take summer water from local farmers and dump it out of these reservoirs shows a complete lack of understanding of how the system works and sets a very dangerous precedent," Vink said. "This decision was clearly made by someone with no understanding of the system or the impacts that come from knee-jerk political actions."

[Irish_Dem]

1. Most of these farmers probably voted for Trump.

And would still vote for him again.
SMH.

[travelingthrulife]

41. Absolutely, and it will be the liberal 'tree huggers' and smelt that did it.

[Irish_Dem]

48. Hillary's emails in the pizza parlor did it.

[Grins]

55. To whom you can say with evidence...

“So sorry. We tried to help. But you voted Republican.”

The silver lining? Even if they had the water they don’t have the workers, all courtesy of the same guy and his Party.

[Blue Full Moon]

2. Famine and food shortages

[Attilatheblond]

13. And not enough water come summer

[delisen]

29. Redistribution of Wealth, possibly to foreign powers

Saudi farmIn the future?

[Blue Full Moon]

39. I suspect that is what Trump and Musk are doing.

Taking away women's rights. Fake religious piety. That also would fit China, India or Russia too. Highest bidder.

[2naSalit]

36. I called it...

A year ago, that there would be the start of a global famine within 18 - 24 months. There are about 8 - 10 months left in that window.

If it isn't environmental collapse, it's political obstruction. We will kill ourselves and everything else on the planet just to be the last ones to stand on top of the trash heap we've collectively created and wave one big weenie at the universe and all the trash we've made.

I give us till the middle of 2026 before undeniable signs of entropy on a grand scale show up.

[Blue Full Moon]

40. Correct

[BoRaGard]

3. G.O.P. is forcing farmers out of business with this Stupid Stunt

[Lovie777]

6. Immigration round up as well...............

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Won't make eggs cheaper. But big Money bros can buy more farms & further consolidate factory food. . . . . nt

[Attilatheblond]

14. Yep. It's all about taking ALL the resources and land

[Alliepoo]

16. Don't remember who said it- I think maybe it was

Bernie Sanders- “whoever owns the water owns the world.” And that’s the absolute truth. We could maybe add ‘who controls the water’ too.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. The Orange Addickt wants to control the flow of Spice. . . . . . nt

[ananda]

26. He and Musk love their spice... too much.

What interests me the most is all the repercussions
for themselves, this country, and the world ... which
they, in their narrow greed and hate-filled lives,
haven't considered.

All the disasters alone will not be avoidable, and a
country with no functioning government and idiots
at the helm will end up totally out of their control,
and their lives will go to hell as well.

[travelingthrulife]

42. They voted for him so this is what they want

[NickB79]

50. Not just this one. Tariffs last time killed trade with China

My dad's side of the family lost a lot of money when China stopped buying our soybeans. And the $30 billion in farm aid Trump sent out to compensate mostly went to big farmers. The little guys like my uncles running 200-300 acres barely saw a dime. And yes, that's little; you aren't a "real" farmer this days unless you're plowing 500+ acres.

And today, we just put tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada. Trump was just talking about EU tariffs yesterday as the next step, and tariffs on any BRICS nations as well.

At this rate my uncles won't have farms to pass on to their kids 4 yr from now. It will be nothing but mega-farm conglomerates in charge, hiring my cousins to drive the tractors instead.

[jeffreyi]

4. This is a big deal.

Another article:
https://sjvwater.org/trumps-emergency-water-order-responsible-for-water-dump-from-tulare-county-lakes/

*snip*
“A decision to take summer water from local farmers and dump it out of these reservoirs shows a complete lack of understanding of how the system works and sets a very dangerous precedent,” said Dan Vink, a longtime Tulare County water manager and principal partner at Six-33 Solutions, a water and natural resource firm in Visalia.

“This decision was clearly made by someone with no understanding of the system or the impacts that come from knee-jerk political actions.”
*end of snip*

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Before this, the issue was the theft of California water to transfer to

parched areas like Las Vegas for their casinos' mega water fountains.

[Lovie777]

7. shithole's revenge................

he's cares nothing about the USA,

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. It's a criminal big deal. . . . . . nt

[Strelnikov_]

54. Water is a third rail issue in the west

And as noted in the article “Every drop belongs to someone”.

Nearly all of the water storage and major distribution infrastructure (canals, tunnels) is owned and/or managed by the Feds on some manner.

The fourth rail is access to public land for fishing hunting and recreation.

Whole load of FAFO coming down.

[perdita9]

10. Trump screwed over farmers in his first administration...

...with tariffs which cost them billions in sales and they couldn't line up fast enough to vote for him again.

Facts and reasoning isn't going to work with this demographic. They're going to have to suffer harsh consequences before they'll be able to see Trump for what he really is.

[kkmarie]

25. In his first term

After his tariffs bankrupted the farmers he bailed them out. They lost nothing. They learned nothing. And voted again for tariffs because tariffs don't impact them.
https://www.cfr.org/blog/92-percent-trumps-china-tariff-proceeds-has-gone-bail-out-angry-farmers

[iluvtennis]

11. TSF is unfit and unqualified. Not only that he doesn't consult with the domain specific

experts to understand the process & procedures and constraints. He’s a fkn fool.

[Lonestarblue]

12. Remember when Notre Dame was burning and Trump insisted they just needed to dump water on it?

His ignorant solution most likely would have destroyed the whole edifice. Thankfully, French authorities ignored him and Notre Dame has been rebuilt and is once again open to the public. If a hammer is needed to fix a problem, Trump will send a bulldozer. He has no real life experience because he has been pampered by his millions all his life.

[IcyPeas]

15. Did he do this on purpose to fuck with California? Or to screw with Newsom?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. Absolutely. Order will be traceable to cabinet level lackey (acting) who may or may not fall on own sword. . nt

[paleotn]

23. He's screwing his own people.

Those farming communities are very red. CA and all other states, are not monoliths. That's simplistic thinking he's guilty of and many around here as well.

[PunkinPi]

33. Those are not mutually exclusive.

Cruelty is the point.

[underpants]

35. It's a flippant grandstanding inconsiderate stupid decision

They have no consideration of what one move has not just on people but on other moves they make. No planning. No cohesive process.

[travelingthrulife]

44. All of the above. He also wants to act like a hero to the farmers. They will suck it

right up.

[Diraven]

52. He did it to own the libs

It was a power move to show that no one could stop him and he could mean tweet about it. None of that water made it to anywhere it was actually needed, it was a total waste.

[Vinca]

17. So long fresh fruits and vegetables. Guess there's no one to pick them anyway.

[hunter]

32. The dairy farmers in that area will take a hit too.

I wonder if they'll take down their Trump flags.

[2naSalit]

38. That's what...

The slaves inmates of the prison camps are for, forced labor producing food.

[travelingthrulife]

45. Soon there will be lots of former federal workers to pick those fruits and vegetables.

[twodogsbarking]

20. He obviously likes seeing people suffer and die.

[paleotn]

21. Red farmers lost their water. Awwww.

That's not going to play well in the long, scorching hot, central valley summer.

[travelingthrulife]

46. But it will be Newsome's fault.

[paleotn]

61. Not hardly.

Typical Amurkin response. Always negative. Jeebers, dude, it must suck to go through life like that.

[LymphocyteLover]

22. His grudge against California is incredibly stupid and dangerous and this is just an assault on the people of CA

[AllyCat]

28. It's an assault on all of us since we get so much food

From California. He is trying to blow us all up.

[orangecrush]

24. It was pure spite

Against California.

[travelingthrulife]

47. He had to find a faucet to turn on since everyone ragged him about that stupidity.

[Danascot]

27. "a complete lack of understanding of how the system works"

is the hallmark of this administration.

[TommieMommy]

30. No common sense, no understanding how things actually work

And 💩 for brains. Lots of shortages coming up 😡

[Mike 03]

31. Brilliant! I suppose this could help push the price of

almonds and almond butter up again, back when a jar of almond butter could cost you $15 or $20. (Almonds are a crop that requires enormous amounts of water and have historically suffered during drought years.) I'm sure the irony of Trump's constant inflation-spiking fuckups won't be lost on anyone here, but I hope the dumbshits who voted for him will eventually get it.

[LymphocyteLover]

34. isn't this akin to a terrorist attack on one of our states? This is civil war shit

[spanone]

37. trmp knows more about water than anybody....

or so he thinks.

[NickB79]

43. I posted on the DU Gardening Forum in November about re-planning my gardens post-election

I'm lucky enough to have 1.5 acres in southeast Minnesota, absolutely gorgeous soil, my own well, lots of chicken manure for composting.

In the past, I've grown a lot of plants just for fun. Lots of experimenting with unusual, "pretty" crops that don't really produce as much as tried-and-true varieties. But following the election, I decided that had to change. Between tariffs, deportations and the dismantling of environmental laws, the risk of food being expensive or simply unavailable is too great to ignore.

I grew up poor on a family farm in central MN, so we grew a lot of our own food. I learned from my dad and my grandma how to garden, raise livestock, hunt, fish, butcher, make sausage, etc. I still have the skills, and now I have to put them to use again.

Doubling the size of my gardens to 2000 sq ft. My wife and teenage daughter, who aren't really into gardening like me, know they'll have to help out a lot more this year. Lots of basic crops. Peas, spinach, lettuce, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, garlic, corn, beans, tomatoes, banana peppers (they outproduce ANY other pepper in the Midwest), and so much squash. Squash everywhere. I can store piles of winter squash for months in my unheated garage, and in a pinch I can use it for supplemental chicken feed. My basement is unfinished, and I'll be converting the NW corner with a small window into a cold storage room by walling it off, so it stays 50F all winter. I'll also be burying metal trash cans in the backyard, where when filled with straw and covered with bags of leaves, will keep produce like carrots and potatoes insulated and fresh deep into winter. Thankfully I've been planting fruit trees and berry bushes for years now, so I'm set on apples, plums, pears, peaches, apricots and aronias (you can use them like blueberries).

My daughter wants a beehive. I've been hesitant to put one in, because a quarter acre of my property is prairie wildflower and native grass restoration, and honeybees are non-native and compete with native bumblebees for flowers. But now I'm debating, because a steady supply of honey would be nice. A few friends from high school and college have successful hives, so I can pick their brains on Facebook about it.

We needed a new stove right before Christmas, and I convinced my wife to go back to a coil-top model instead of a glass-top. Why? Because you can't pressure can vegetables on a glass-top; the weight of the big canner can crack the glass. A coil top can support it. I already have 50 jars of canned tomatoes, 50 jars of salsa, 50 jars of chili base, 50 jars of applesauce, and 25 jars of pickles in the basement from last summer's harvest. Now that I can pressure can, I'll be adding jarred green beans, sweet corn, carrots, etc.

The chickens are laying eggs at a good pace again now that we're past the dead of winter. I'm getting 6 eggs per day from 14 hens; by summer it will be up to a dozen a day as more sunlight stimulates egg production. My flock is fairly young, and I'll be culling the three oldest girls for soup this spring. A neighbor down the road has a flock of 30+ birds, and I'll be trading fertilized eggs with her this spring to add genetic diversity and prevent inbreeding. I may build a new coop this year, and found some pretty interesting plans for building them out of recycled pallets. At the least, I can put up a smaller coop to sequester the broody mothers with their young chicks away from the other hens and rooster until they're big enough to reintroduce to the flock.

I've been knocking doors to find new hunting land locally so I don't have to drive 3 hr north to my family's land. It's hard to find deer permissions, but turkey, squirrel and rabbit are surprisingly easy to get an OK for. Too many trophy hunters chasing big bucks, but as they say, you can't eat antlers. And with the spread of chronic wasting disease here (a prion disorder like Mad Cow) I'm fine not eating venison anymore. And FYI, a big woodchuck tastes a lot like pork when seasoned up and cooked slow in a crockpot.

And this winter, I've actually managed to get out on the lakes a couple times and snag some nice meaty crappies and bluegills through the ice. I found a lake in the middle of some state land a few miles from me without a dock access, meaning you have to hike a few hundred yards from the nearest road to get to it. But that also means it's virtually unfished, so I have a 200 acre lake almost entirely to myself.

Trump is going to make preppers of us all at this rate.

[travelingthrulife]

49. Sounds gorgeous, but you really have to have large gardens to actually survive on them.

I garden but it only supplies a bit of the food we would need.

[NickB79]

53. Indeed. I'm under no illusion I can go off-grid

I just laugh at the "hardcore" preppers I encounter on Facebook who think they can live off the land like the mountain men of the 1800's. It's a hard, unforgiving life that none of us would choose.

My goal is to lessen the blow to my household as best I can, get fresh food along with fresh air and exercise, and trade with my like-minded liberal friends and coworkers locally for goods and services I can't do myself. For example, my neighbor is a master electrician and I have given him lots of eggs in exchange for some rewiring help (I hate working with electricity, it scares me). Saved me a few hundred dollars vs calling someone. And now that they're expecting their first baby this spring, we've offered to help them as much as we can. I told his wife I'll grow her extra vegetable transplants this spring for her garden.

Establishing a solid, local friend group in times like this is often as valuable as money.

[whopis01]

51. No crops means no need for migrant workers

This is not a coincidence

[DBoon]

56. "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown"

[patphil]

57. So, they won't have water for their crops, or workers to tend and harvest them.

That will surely result in a drop in food prices.
Just a couple of idiotic decisions that could result in these farmers loosing millions of dollars; and possibly going bankrupt.
All part of the "tear it all down" process brought to you by the Republican party.

[Qutzupalotl]

58. Update: Officials have backed off on the largest release

Water managers were relieved Thursday evening after the Army Corps of Engineers agreed to back off of a sudden decision earlier in the day to dump massive amounts of water from Kaweah and Success lakes.

Water managers said they got about an hour’s warning from the Army Corp’s Sacramento office to expect the Tule and Kaweah rivers to be at “channel capacity” by Thursday night.
….

“We were able to get them to back off that,” said Eric Limas, General Manager of the Lower Tule River and Pixley irrigation districts, of the Army Corps. “They’ll still be releasing water sometime tonight, but it will be a smaller amount, which will increase tomorrow.”
….

Some people interviewed for this story speculated that the move was political on the part of the new administration, a kind of water “flex,” but declined to elaborate.

https://sjvwater.org/decision-to-dump-water-from-tulare-county-lakes-altered-after-sending-locals-in-mad-scramble/

[EndlessWire]

59. I think we should

cut off water to his golf course. You know, a kind of golf course "flex" because it will be hot in the summer, and we will need all that wasted greens water for the farmers in Central.

Do we have to let Trump visit California? He's a troublemaker.

[BoRaGard]

60. What a colossal A-hole republicon to do that to the farmers

just pissing the water away.

How wasteful. How republicon is that?

[Hitorque]

62. Folks elected a bombastic clown who doesn't know what he's doing

And they're shocked to see these kinds of headlines