Dam facts, dam lies

We should all admit that blogging is not journalism. To begin with, journalists often do a lousy job of fact checking... but they do it. They even love to do it regarding political campaign statements. But too often it stops there.

Bloggers, on the other hand, love to fact check politicians, journalists (ask Dan Rather), each other so they can gloat, but rarely themselves. Blogging is normally just a collection of disjointed, out of contest statements and factoids that the blogger tries to spin into a real narrative.

This time, I will give you the statements and let you play be the blogger. I read the following in a recent newsletter from Friends of the River.

Do you know that for 20 years, well, actually since the late '70s, they have not built a dam? I mean, think about that. They have not built a dam. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, July 14, 2007

California's population is growing rapidly, but our statewide water storage and delivery system has not been significantly improved in 30 years. Association of California Water Agencies, September 2007

According to Friends of the River:

In fact more that 6.2 million acre feet of water storage has been developed in California since 1990. This includes 5.3 million acre feet of groundwater storage in the San Joaquin Valley as well as 924,000 acre feet of surface storage behind the Los Vaqueros, Diamond Valley and Olivenhain Dams (all completed in the last 10 years).

What will it take to get someone to tells us what is really happening rather than just reporting what the Governor said.

Fact or not? You figure it out for the following:

About 500 farmers in the Westlands Water District in the Tulare Basin receive more water every year from the Delta than the Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco Bay metropolitan area combined.