Berkeley Residents Forced to Drink Foul Water to Save Fish
It is with great sadness that I have to report that ultraleft residents of Berkeley, California as well as riot inclined Oakland, California, are being served some very bitter water out of their taps. On the brighter side, some kind of fish, which I'm sure is very important, is getting the water it needs!
The acrid tap water that flowed for several days last month into thousands of East Bay homes [in the Berkeley/Oakland area], prompting a flurry of complaints about its bad taste and smell, will be making an extended comeback starting next week -- perhaps through the year, or longer.
California’s drought combined with legal obligations to protect threatened fish species will require the East Bay Municipal Utility District to switch to its unsavory reservoir of water for most of its 1.4 million customers beginning on Sunday. And the water district expects to rely on this supply until at least next winter, when they hope substantial rain and snow will replenish the reservoir.
Winter isn't so far off, it's just around the corner!
Some EBMUD customers first experienced the pungent water in March, after the utility decided to draw from upper valves in the Pardee Reservoir, taking water closer to the surface where it’s warmer and algae tend to bloom. Although the algae are filtered out during treatment, they leave behind compounds that taste sharp but are nonetheless safe to drink.
Usually, EBMUD draws from lower valves deeper in the reservoir where the water is colder and not affected by sunlight and algae. But that colder water must be released into the Mokelumne River so that salmon can spawn, per a 1998 settlement among EBMUD, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The fish need about 70,000 acre-feet — or 22.8 billion gallons — between now and September, and another 70,000 acre-feet in the next 6 months.
But don't worry, Gov. Jerry Brown, former mayor of Oakland, is on the case and is stepping in to help!
An order by Gov. Jerry Brown last month compounded the problem, Figueroa said, because now EBMUD can’t store any runoff for later in the year. Per the governor’s order, any water coming downstream has to be released so it can help sustain the Mokelumne’s fragile ecosystem.
... EBMUD said humans are stuck with the warmer water that leaves a distinctly bitter aftertaste... Dissatisfied customers took to social media in March with colorful adjectives to describe the water as “dirty and soapy,” and having the smell of “old/not-quite-rancid bacon grease.”
Isn't it great when liberals get to personally feel the results of prioritizing random animals over people?
This article was produced by NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.