New Book – California’s Water Crisis – Do You Smell a Fish? by Orlean Koehle In July, 2015, Orlean attended a water agency meeting in Santa Rosa, held because of California’s long drought and “water crisis.” She learned of some of the stringent restrictions and regulations planned for the rural areas, for people who own and pay for their own water coming from their own wells, all under the pretense of “saving fish.”
We were told if we use less of our own water coming from our own deep wells, [somehow, miraculously] more water will come trickling back into the dry creeks and streams [that are always dry every summer in California’s partially arid climate]. These creeks and streams are special, however. They are tributaries that flow into the Russian River and home to the supposed “threatened” coho salmon that the water agents believe needs saving. Most of the rest of us are not too concerned about the little salmon that just gets eaten up along with all the other fish, by the waiting seals, as soon as the fish come to the end of the Russian River as it flows into the Pacific. We think our property and water rights are what are really “threatened” and need saving.
We were also told by the water agents that they wanted all well owners in the Russian River tributary areas to submit a report to them electronically that told all about their wells, gave the location, told where the water is coming from and what it is being used for, and allowing the agents to come on the property and inspect the wells and conservation efforts. If the property owner refused to submit the report by a certain deadline, they would start receiving fines of $500 a day.
All this aroused Orlean’s curiosity and ire for she knows that such regulations and demands are in direct violation of long standing property, water rights and privacy rights granted by both the California and the US Constitutions. She started researching and writing her newly released book.
Some of the most important questions that the book answers:
Is the water crisis natural or man-made, created out of negligence or actually planned for? How do “endangered fish” play into this crisis, giving fish priority over the water rights and property of people? What years were the only other time when California was declared “a state of emergency” because of drought and guess who the governor was then as well?
What should we have learned from past droughts to get us ready for future ones? What are the draconian regulations on California residents now called for under “a state of emergency” with enormous fines if they do not heed those regulations? How do these violate our basic property and water rights that have been traditionally part of Common Law and were to be protected by the U.S. Constitution and the California Constitution?
What is the real agenda behind this drought? What are the goals of Regionalism and Agenda 21? How does Geo-Engineering play into this crisis? Is it possible to so manipulate the weather to create and prolong a drought? Why are the forest fires burning faster, hotter and longer than ever before with the trees literally “exploding” into fire?
And lastly what can freedom-loving people do? Why are property rights and water rights so important to protecting freedoms? Must we give in to the draconian regulations asked of us —or is there another way?
