”This sounds like a typical US thing. Suffering from a solveable problem, while creating the maximum public drama and having the society incapable of reform as a sort of greek-tragedy-background chorus humming nimby.”I think you’re mistaking media hysteria for actual truth. I’m not surprised since social media feeds off articles like this.
California is semi-arid with a massive water source, it’s not Israel, which is actual desert and relies on hostile neighbors for most of its fresh water.
In CA we have so much water farmers can just flood fields. We have so much water we save some so the smelt can still spawn (which this report specifically mentions - save water so we can release a bunch for the fish). We have so much water that in many years we dump the extra into the ocean because our reservoirs are full. We have so much water it’s dirt cheap.
When supplies run a bit low, we cut back by doing extra big loads of laundry, turn the tap off when we brush our teeth and the world is right. A few lawns turn brown, SFers pat themselves on the back for their environmental righteousness while farmers continue to use 8x the amount of water for agriculture that all the combined households do.
Nobody is dying and nothing changes because it doesn’t have to change, at least not drastically. We’re drowning in water and when supplies drop a little we act like we’re all going to die of thirst. Worst case scenario the government tells a few almond farmers they can't have their water. The price of almonds goes up 5% and we don't have to feel guilty about washing our cars.