Wow, that is unreal.

   

Canadian prairie farmers rely on irrigation systems.




water diverted from the Bow near downtown Calgary, Western Irrigation Canal runs to and forms Chestermere Lake which supplies farmers east of Calgary.

What a bunch of friggen wack jobs, a smelt is more important

   

Best farmland in the sense that it is rich in minerals and very fertile. Just like Whistler has the best skiing but you still have to build a lift to the top.

   

Funny isn't it, America can put a man on the moon, has the most sophisticated military and some of the best research facilities in the world and they can't figure out how to keep some minnows away from the water pumps that feed a massive irrigation system that the country depends upon. Makes ya scratch your head doesn't it?

Sounds to me like they need to divert some of that cash from their missle defence system and put it into the minnow defense fund.

   

Taking away jobs, creating a wave of unemployment leading to starvation for hard working farmers, and their families all because of minnows? That is just scary!

   

The problem here is that most of south and central California, before all these canals and dams were built, was essentially a desert. It was massive irrigation projects that allowed California to become a breadbasket. With all the diversions of rivers and streams, California suddenly became a place where crops could be grown 365 days a year. The price has been that river ecosystems have been altered vastly and places that once were lush wetlands full of wildlife and flora, have shrunk by hug margins or been destroyed almost entirely.

There is plenty of water for California to use. It's called seawater and can be desalinated for use in farming. It's how plenty of other seaside jurisdictions around the world get by. They just have to pay for that privilege, instead of stealing water for free.

   

"Man made drought", fail. There has to be a way to pump the water and save the fish, but this has nothing to do with a "Man made drought".

   

How about a net that can let the water through, without the fish getting sucked along?

   

That would be a good suggestion.

   

Nets are edit: aren't resilient enough. Often they use bars and grates (especially in hydro dams) but it becomes an ongoing maintenance issue to keep those grates clear of debris.

It's amazing that Hannity (or the bimbo reporting) appears to have completely missed the fact that most of California is a desert, not "rich fertile farmland."

We had a similar incident in Vancouver when a little critter called the Pacific Water Shrew, whose sole Canadian habitat was bascially the Lower Mainland of BC, was showing up whereever a road was to be built. Finally people were like "For an endangered species, this thing sure pops up all over the place!" The BC government kindly asked the Feds to back off (since the little critter was protected under federal species at risk legislation), whihc they did, and nobody talks about Pacific Water Shrews anymore.

   

This is going to surprise you. I agree with you.

There definitely has been drought in California the last little while (CA guv requests federal aid due to drought), however blaming the statewide phenomena on that one little species of fish alone would be silly.

The best overall explanation for the drought appears to be La Nina.

La Niña blamed for more drought

La Nina as you know causes general cooling, and apparently regional drying in California.

Here's one that's mostly OT, but as I was researching that I came across this article.

California: Harbinger of National Doom?

God! Things are getting bad in California. There are a couple of relevant passages in that article. Overall though, sorry about the OT. Back to the fish talk...