Thursday Top of the Scroll: California’s water cops unprepared, overwhelmed in era of climate change, megadroughts
Jim Scala needed the water. So he took it. As the third devastating summer of drought dragged on, the Siskiyou County rancher knew his irrigation district could be fined up to $10,000 a day if he and his neighbors defied a state cutback order and pumped water from the Shasta River onto their lands east of Yreka. … While the Shasta River rebellion might have been the most brazen, a Sacramento Bee investigation reveals that farmers and other water users frequently ignore state drought regulations…. The Bee’s findings reveal a state regulatory system dramatically unprepared to address chronic water shortages and an ecosystem collapse.
Related article:
- Sacramento Bee: Karuk Tribe equates water thefts to more white subjugation