California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years • Hacker News Board

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#121

Post by danans » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 2:03 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #107

In other arid areas, people use terracing on hills so the water runoff is slowed and the water can soak into the aquifers. Also, dikes are built around fields to hold the water and also let it soak into the ground. Are these done in California?

> In other arid areas, people use terracing on hills so the water runoff is slowed and the water can soak into the aquifers. Also, dikes are built around fields to hold the water and also let it soak into the ground.

> Are these done in California?

People terrace where the only arable land is in hills or mountains. The vast majority of California's farmland is flat as a board.

California's central valley also has one of the most massive systems of water control (aqueducts, levees, etc) in the world.

The problem with water and Ag in California is caused by the massive disparities in water rights that make it extremely cheap for some and expensive for others, depending on their water rights.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#122

Post by avalys » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 2:12 AM UTC

obidee2 wrote: post #80

trollbridge wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall rather absurd demands such as telling restaurants not to offer water (as if a glass of water makes any difference) and telling residents to skip showers.

That was widely ridiculed, but despite how it sometimes seems policy makers are not so stupid to believe saving water from cups not drunk would make a meaningful difference directly. One of the big hurdles for changing human behavior at scale is improving awareness. Even people who want to conserve their water usage benefit from frequent reminders to actually make changes stick. Being reminded the state is in a droug…

This is a great example of how patronizing policies developed by intellectual authorities backfire in the real world.

The premise is, the general population is too stupid to do the right thing themselves and need to be reminded of the drought by being inconvenienced by completely ineffective performative policies.

All this actually does in practice is diminish trust in authorities to make good decisions. If the drought policies are bogus, which other ones are too? Fuel economy standards? Air quality? OSHA?

Instead of this nonsense - just allow the market to set the price of water based on what’s available.

Of course, the answer there is usually “Oh but there are special interests that need to be able to consume as much water as they want without paying more for it, even in a drought!” And thus as usual the problem is not the personal conduct of individual citizens but corrupt and spineless politicians who are not actually interested in solving any problems.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#123

Post by alephnerd » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 2:14 AM UTC

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #120

jeffbee wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The statewide rain totals for the 2025-2026 water year so far rank 6th out of the years of the 21st century, so aren't that remarkable in context. Do you live in a place that got slapped with a peculiarly high rainfall?

Weren't there massive floods, in the Bay Area, last year?

The Bay Area is the size of Massachusetts. Depends on where in the Bay.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#124

Post by ChrisMarshallNY » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 2:15 AM UTC

alephnerd wrote: post #123

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weren't there massive floods, in the Bay Area, last year?

The Bay Area is the size of Massachusetts. Depends on where in the Bay.

I guess I'm wrong. It was south of the Bay area. I live in NY, but I remember hearing from friends in CA that it got very bad.

I think this story is only the latest one:

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/more-rain-expec...

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#125

Post by alephnerd » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 2:19 AM UTC

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #124

alephnerd wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bay Area is the size of Massachusetts. Depends on where in the Bay.

I guess I'm wrong. It was south of the Bay area. I live in NY, but I remember hearing from friends in CA that it got very bad. I think this story is only the latest one: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/more-rain-expec...

Same with SoCal - it's the size of NY State. CA's big and somewhat evenly populated (at least compared to similar states out east) so there's inevitably some form of environmental issue somewhere. Not to minimize these incidents ofc.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#126

Post by peyton » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 2:22 AM UTC

obidee2 wrote: post #80

trollbridge wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall rather absurd demands such as telling restaurants not to offer water (as if a glass of water makes any difference) and telling residents to skip showers.

That was widely ridiculed, but despite how it sometimes seems policy makers are not so stupid to believe saving water from cups not drunk would make a meaningful difference directly. One of the big hurdles for changing human behavior at scale is improving awareness. Even people who want to conserve their water usage benefit from frequent reminders to actually make changes stick. Being reminded the state is in a droug…

Well it didn’t work. I don’t elect my representatives to change human behavior at scale.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#127

Post by awesome_dude » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 2:23 AM UTC

trollbridge wrote: post #71

accrual wrote: post #12

Previous CA resident anecdata, I remember droughts being a normal part of life in central CA 1990-early 2000s. Don't run sprinklers during certain hours, odd/even watering, "the water bill" exclaimations, etc. Like another commentor mentioned I don't anticipate this will last, but it's nice to see the "official" state change even if for a bit.

I recall rather absurd demands such as telling restaurants not to offer water (as if a glass of water makes any difference) and telling residents to skip showers.

> as if a glass of water makes any difference

Just FTR, it's not a single glass of water, it's n glasses of water per day multiplied by some number of days and some number of restaurants

So, more likely, 2 or 3 glasses of water :-)

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#128

Post by gosub100 » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 2:23 AM UTC

ignoramous wrote: post #88

lisper wrote: post #25

Ironically, the rest of the country is having a drought: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/01/18/winter-dro...

Unironically, wet / dry cycles isn't good news for California either. Research published in the aftermath of the fire examines how this extremely wet to extremely dry weather sequence is especially dangerous for wildfires in Southern California because heavy rainfall leads to high growth of grass and brush, which then becomes abundant fuel during periods of extreme dryness.

wildfire is part of nature.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#129

Post by michaeldh » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 2:25 AM UTC

Izikiel43 wrote: post #116

bibimsz wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

crops are kind of important though

You can grow almonds elsewhere, they are not needed for daily life

CA, apparently, grows almonds for the entire United States, and 80% of the world's almonds, too.

Re: California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years

#130

Post by Aloisius » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 2:29 AM UTC

jeffbee wrote: post #40

Analemma_ wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new Sites Reservoir and capacity increase of the existing San Luis Reservoir are both expected to start construction this year. Several other recent proposals like the Pacheos Reservoir have been cancelled due to cost but it is not the case that California is doing nothing re: new water infrastructure.

Sites Reservoir isn't going to do a damned thing for municipal water systems in most of the state. You have to remember that there is not such a thing as a statewide municipal water policy. Every city or region has its own thing going on. The Sites capacity is dedicated to its investors, so depending on where you live it could be a helpful resource, or it could be irrelevant.

Investors? It's publicly funded.