why is California always in a drought crisis, but landlocked states in the Midwest are not?
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Apart from the other answers about agriculture and rain patterns, one thing to keep in mind is also just how massive the infrastructure to bring water to California is and what a big business that is in and of it self. Most of the Western United States is pretty much a desert and for that reason people traditionally haven’t settled there much. There’s some areas of California that are naturally wetter but farming in the Central Valley depends on 100 of miles long aqueducts bringing water in from elsewhere. Notably those were built by the US Military even if the benefits primarily go to a very narrow slice of rich land owners and the engineering effort would have ultimately been better spent elsewhere.
As such part of the answer is the same as “why is there a labor shortage?” or “why is it bad when interest rates rise?”. Some people have made a lot of money off a certain system and now they want to create a sense of crisis to get everyone else to pay to extend the life of that system. I was in California in 2015 where we were told to take 2 minute showers to save water but lawns were still watered during the day, suggesting that maybe the there was no real crisis.
I can suggest looking up Oligarch Valley for more on how the ecology and economy of California depends on a lot of water imports, even if it mainly benefits a pretty thin slice of the population and everyone else pays.
Apart from the other answers about agriculture and rain patterns, one thing to keep in mind is also just how massive the infrastructure to bring water to California is and what a big business that is in and of it self. Most of the Western United States is pretty much a desert and for that reason people traditionally haven’t settled there much. There’s some areas of California that are naturally wetter but farming in the Central Valley depends on 100 of miles long aqueducts bringing water in from elsewhere. Notably those were built by the US Military even if the benefits primarily go to a very narrow slice of rich land owners and the engineering effort would have ultimately been better spent elsewhere.
As such part of the answer is the same as “why is there a labor shortage?” or “why is it bad when interest rates rise?”. Some people have made a lot of money off a certain system and now they want to create a sense of crisis to get everyone else to pay to extend the life of that system. I was in California in 2015 where we were told to take 2 minute showers to save water but lawns were still watered during the day, suggesting that maybe the there was no real crisis.
I can suggest looking up Oligarch Valley for more on how the ecology and economy of California depends on a lot of water imports, even if it mainly benefits a pretty thin slice of the population and everyone else pays.
Apart from the other answers about agriculture and rain patterns, one thing to keep in mind is also just how massive the infrastructure to bring water to California is and what a big business that is in and of it self. Most of the Western United States is pretty much a desert and for that reason people traditionally haven’t settled there much. There’s some areas of California that are naturally wetter but farming in the Central Valley depends on 100 of miles long aqueducts bringing water in from elsewhere. Notably those were built by the US Military even if the benefits primarily go to a very narrow slice of rich land owners and the engineering effort would have ultimately been better spent elsewhere.
As such part of the answer is the same as “why is there a labor shortage?” or “why is it bad when interest rates rise?”. Some people have made a lot of money off a certain system and now they want to create a sense of crisis to get everyone else to pay to extend the life of that system. I was in California in 2015 where we were told to take 2 minute showers to save water but lawns were still watered during the day, suggesting that maybe the there was no real crisis.
I can suggest looking up Oligarch Valley for more on how the ecology and economy of California depends on a lot of water imports, even if it mainly benefits a pretty thin slice of the population and everyone else pays.
For the mid west specifically, access to the great lakes allows for essentially infinite water supply.
For other land locked states (Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri for example) they often do experience drought like the west coast. The Mississippi river does provide a more stable water supply than the Colorado though.
For the mid west specifically, access to the great lakes allows for essentially infinite water supply.
For other land locked states (Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri for example) they often do experience drought like the west coast. The Mississippi river does provide a more stable water supply than the Colorado though.
For the mid west specifically, access to the great lakes allows for essentially infinite water supply.
For other land locked states (Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri for example) they often do experience drought like the west coast. The Mississippi river does provide a more stable water supply than the Colorado though.
In addition to the other answers, California’s climate is much more affected by El Nino and La Nina, so it frequently has multiple years in a row of either too much rain or not enough rain.
This is what reservoirs are supposed to be for, but California’s reservoir capacity is not sufficient to capture all the rain in the rainy years and save it for the drought years – as a result, they ping-pong between flooding and water shortages
In addition to the other answers, California’s climate is much more affected by El Nino and La Nina, so it frequently has multiple years in a row of either too much rain or not enough rain.
This is what reservoirs are supposed to be for, but California’s reservoir capacity is not sufficient to capture all the rain in the rainy years and save it for the drought years – as a result, they ping-pong between flooding and water shortages
In addition to the other answers, California’s climate is much more affected by El Nino and La Nina, so it frequently has multiple years in a row of either too much rain or not enough rain.
This is what reservoirs are supposed to be for, but California’s reservoir capacity is not sufficient to capture all the rain in the rainy years and save it for the drought years – as a result, they ping-pong between flooding and water shortages
The Rocky Mountains do a great job of geographically separating the Mississippi River basin- which is the reason the landlocked states do not face droughts ulike California, which just has to pray for rain.
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