On 26 Feb 2022, "Stupid SOB Joe B." <jthomqxx@gmail.com> posted some
news:sve3p8$1rk3c$52@news.freedyn.de:

> Biden needs to tell Newsom to fuck off

The southern Sierra Nevada is covered with the deepest snowpack in
recorded history, and the rest of the range is not far behind. When all
that snow melts, where will it go?

You can read the answer in the landscape of the Central Valley. To the eye
it is nearly flat, covered by layers of gravel, silt and clay washed from
the mountains over the eons by rain and melting snow. Amid the flatness
are gradual slopes down to the valley�s center, where the Sacramento River
creates a watery vein in the north and the San Joaquin River does the same
in the middle. Once � before the late 19th century, when newcomers began
to drain the land and channel the water from wetlands into farm fields �
the southern part of the valley held the largest freshwater lake, by
surface area, west of the Mississippi.

Many smaller California valleys likewise feature rivers, including the
Salinas, that are often nearly dry but flood their banks in wet years like
this one because of torrential rain rather than snowmelt.

That�s where the water goes: to the valley floors, swelling the rivers in
flood years until they overflow their banks, imperiling communities like
Pajaro and the people in them.

During the Great Flood of 1861-62, water covered the entire Central
Valley. It would have been possible to sail from what was not yet
Bakersfield, north past the flooded Capitol in Sacramento, almost to where
Redding now sits.

In drier times, though, those same flat floodplains looked especially
attractive to farmers and builders, so now the valley floors are
cultivated and developed. But in wet years like this one, all that rain,
as well as the melted snow, still needs a place to go, and it doesn�t pay
any attention to human development. It still seeks the lowest ground, and
it will find it. A quick look at a satellite photo of the snow-covered
Sierra makes it plain: No number of dams can hold all that water back, no
number of reservoirs can lock it up.

The solution is shockingly simple, relatively cheap � compared with the
cost of cataclysmic floods � and surprisingly non-controversial. We just
haven�t yet done it on the scale that�s needed.

California needs to restore its floodplains. Not the whole valley floors,
and not as they were in the pre-development era. But it needs to have many
more acres of land reserved for floodwater.

Restoring floodplains requires setting aside low-lying inland areas for
water to accumulate away from homes and critical infrastructure. It�s as
easy as moving levees. Instead of building them ever taller, to hustle
rushing water out to sea, levees set back from riverbanks give the water a
place to slow down, settle and seep into the ground, safely away from
human habitation and commercial investment.

There are multiple benefits. The first is, of course, protecting life and
property, because floodwaters are given a place other than city streets to
gather. Beyond that, water that settles over floodplains percolates into
the soil and, where the geology permits, recharges groundwater that has
been dangerously depleted by agricultural over-pumping.

And restoring floodplains restores seasonal wetlands, which is good for
the entire natural web that holds California together � including native
plants that are less likely to burn during fire season than invasive
species, fish that regain spawning habitat, migratory birds that find
nesting areas, mammals that can once again migrate across the valley.

In dry seasons, restored floodplains can be wildlife preserves. But they
also can be soccer fields, golf courses, even farm fields for annual crops
like tomatoes or melons. Just not homes or perennial crops such as
almonds.

Some homes are already standing where floodwaters are naturally prone to
gather, and that poses a quandary. Do we protect them from floodwater at
any cost, or abandon them to it? The questions are the same as with homes
destroyed by wildfire, and whether it is society�s duty to protect people
who choose to rebuild in an area at risk from fire, flood or other
predictable disasters. There is no consensus. As with coastal
neighborhoods threatened by rising sea level, in some cases the prudent
and cost-effective move will be a managed retreat from riverbeds that
could flood, even if they are dry most years.

All that�s missing in restoring floodplains is the will, and enough money
to buy land, usually farmland that has become too costly to keep under
cultivation. Gov. Gavin Newsom is touting his decision to use some of this
year�s overabundant rain to recharge groundwater. But he also cut most
floodplain restoration funding from his proposed budget for the third
straight year.

In years like this one, in which the state seems to have more water than
money, a floodplain restoration advocate�s thoughts may turn to the
ballot. A well-crafted bond measure could give a serious push to necessary
restoration efforts. Even though flooding threatens the state today, a
bond might easily land on the ballot in a parched year when atmospheric
rivers, historic snowpacks and submerged highways are long forgotten. But
whether it�s a budget allocation or a bond, let�s try to remember: There
will be even wetter winters, and restored floodplains can protect homes
and capture water for use in bone-dry summers.

<https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-14/editorial-restore-
californias-floodplains-to-capture-more-stormwater>

On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 10:16:16 +0100 (CET), Democrats are lazy and stupid
<pelosi.caused.it@sfgate.com> wrote:

>On 26 Feb 2022, "Stupid SOB Joe B." <jthomqxx@gmail.com> posted some
>news:sve3p8$1rk3c$52@news.freedyn.de:
>
>> Biden needs to tell Newsom to fuck off
>
>The southern Sierra Nevada is covered with the deepest snowpack in
>recorded history, and the rest of the range is not far behind. When all
>that snow melts, where will it go?

Pity none of that snowpack is in the Colorado river watershed.

Swill
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