I recently visited the Bay Area to see an old friend and world class musician, Ron Thompson. If you haven’t heard of him he was John Lee Hooker’s guitarist for many years and his soulful guitar work is on many Chris Isaak songs. He also plays in a side band with drummer Mick Fleetwood. Ron is a musician’s musician and you really should look him up on line. He’s living in Hayward now and plays at venues around the Bay.
Anyhow I was visiting with Ron in Hayward when I realized I was going to be late to a Santa Clara Valley Water District meeting. So naturally I rushed to the Oakland Airport where I booked a flight to San Jose. While waiting at SFO three hours for my connection I noticed many of the popular magazines I don’t read have all kinds of quizzes, tests and lists listed on the cover. They all start with questions. Titles like: Are your breakroom antics impressing the boss? This quiz will reveal. Or, Love or Lust? Seven questions to test your relationship with your boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband/neighbor/pet. Or, Do you have the personal hygiene to be a millionaire? Let this quiz show if you smell like money.
There have been so many ongoing and new challenges for growers and districts it might be time we test our knowledge of the world of California water. In conjunction with some folks who in retrospect have asked not to be named we present – California Water Fact or Fiction? Here are a series of questions designed to reveal how much you know about irrigation water. Mark your response with an “F” for fact or if its fiction. Answers are revealed at the bottom of the page.
CALIFORNIA WATER: FACT OR FICTION?
10 Questions to rate your water literacy
- A letter from the National Marine Fishery Service requested work on repairing the Oroville spillway be conducted at night so fish stranded by the flood could be rescued in daylight?
- Acre per acre San Francisco County spews more pollution into the environment than Fresno County?
- Name the bureaucrats who determine the policy advocated by the appointed officials about water temperature, flow rates and storage levels?
- During a CEQA investigation you discover artifacts from the ancient Blandalonians. Since they are considered the most insipid of the lost tribes and their status as oppressed not currently the prevailing chatter on Face Book are you required to include the discovery on the paperwork you turn in.
- Which science is more subjective; flood control, astrophysics or migratory patterns of invasive predators? Follow up: which critter is cuter when suffering from a lack of water – smelt or baby ducks south of the Delta.
- The starting annual salary for a seat on the State Water Resources Control Board is greater, equal to or less than $142,000?
- Part II: You get paid more than $11,000 per month for sitting through long, boring meetings?
- Rate the following statement from one to 10: Subsidence is a good reason to limit surface deliveries. Ergo hoc, proctor hoc – farmers waste water by pumping so why give them more? Carpe Diem. 8.part B – If elected officials waste our money should we stop sending our money to them? Carpe Diem from Cell Block B.
- Rate the following statement from one to nine: Pollution by urban and industrial waste along the Carquinez Straights and in the San Francisco Bay deserves dilution from through Delta flows originating at Hetch Hetchy?
- Prepare a hydrograph showing how rip rap along levees provides the perfect habitat for non-endangered blue gill?
- A major national newspaper advocates the government should tell farmers what they can plant and where to plant it?
- Extra credit: Did this government guidance work out well for those living under Stalin?
Scoring the Quiz
If you marked the correct answer zero to three times you probably attended public schools after 1980.
If you guessed the correct answer a minimum of four to six times you should be appointed to a position somewhere that pays at least $142,000.
A score of seven to eight could be considered show off range.
Scoring nine and a half to 13 – you’re an expert.
DISCLAIMER OF RESPONSIBILITY; Don A. Wright strives to provide his clients with the most complete, up-to-date, and accurate information available. Nevertheless, DAW does not serve as a guarantor of the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and specifically disclaims any and all responsibility for information that is not accurate, up-to-date, or complete. DAW’s clients therefore rely on the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of information from DAW entirely at their own risk. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not represent any advertisers or third parties.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 by Don A. Wright No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of DAW.