MAXIMIZE WATER STORAGE: Is Gavin Newsom Reading Your Survival Guy?

Aqueducts at the south end of San Joaquin Valley, taking pumped water uphill, over the Grapevine, en route to Los Angeles, part of the California State Water Project, California. By Sundry Photography @ Adobe Stock

You know that Your Survival Guy has a plan for your emergency water storage. You have read my special report on Emergency Water Storage: How Much, Containers, Purification & More, and now maybe California Governor Gavin Newsom has too. According to The Wall Street Journal, Newsom has had an “epiphany” on water storage, and has ordered state agencies to maximize water storage from winter storms. The Journal’s editors write:

What do you know? President Trump’s exhortations about California’s water mismanagement seem to have spurred a political awakening in Sacramento. Behold Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order on Friday to state agencies to maximize water storage from winter storms.

After a dry start to the winter, a series of back-to-back atmospheric rivers early this week is expected to dump up to 10 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevadas and 15 inches of rain in some northern areas. Such is California’s variable climate that when it rains, it pours. Hence the imperative to store precipitation for dry periods.

California instead squanders precipitation to help fish species. The result is a chronic water shortage in the state’s Central Valley, which has resulted in overtapped groundwater basins, land subsidence and unsafe drinking water. Sacramento has restricted the amount of groundwater that farmers can pump to prevent land from sinking further.

Farmers are leaving fields fallow, which has contributed to high unemployment. The unemployment rate in Tulare County—ground zero in California’s water fiasco—is 10%. Growing frustrations with the state’s water management is one reason Mr. Trump won Central Valley counties by significantly larger margins last year than in 2020.

On Jan. 24 Mr. Trump delivered on his promises to help the state’s farmers with an executive order directing federal agencies to route more water from the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta—where storm runoff in the north flows—to maximize deliveries for “high-need communities.”

Cue Mr. Newsom, who on Friday did the same by directing state agencies “to maximize diversion of those excess flows to boost the state’s water storage in Northern California,” including in San Luis Reservoir south of the delta. Good for the Governor for bucking his environmental lobby.

Separately, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers late last week drew liberal condemnation when it released water from two reservoirs in Tulare County. Sen. Adam Schiff, who seems to know little about water, tweeted that the releases were “unwarranted” and “won’t be available when farmers need it in the summer.”

Wrong. The releases free up room in reservoirs for storm runoff and help with flood control. The water will help refill groundwater basins, benefitting farmers and towns. During a drought last decade, some towns in the area had to truck in drinking water. Perhaps Mr. Newsom has figured out that cooperating with Mr. Trump will help his state and perhaps his own political fortunes.

Action Line: If your family doesn’t have sufficient water stored, it’s time to make a plan. Download my report, and once you’ve read that, download my followup report, WATER SECURITY: How to Save Rainwater Effectively. Don’t get caught without a plan.