Thread by @Yarochenko

Why Did LA Run Out of Water During Wildfires? The Shocking Truth About Water Hoarding (and why Ukraine isn’t to blame) 🧵

1/ Los Angeles ran out of water again to fight wildfires, and some individuals are misdirecting their outrage & spreading propaganda. This isn’t about defense spending or aid to Ukraine. It’s about a single farming family hoarding California’s water for profit.

2/ Meet the Resnicks, the billionaires behind The Wonderful Company. They own Fiji Water, POM Wonderful, Halos mandarins, and pistachios. More importantly, they control 120 billion gallons of water annually — more than the city of LA uses in a year.

3/ California’s outdated water rights laws allow wealthy landowners like the Resnicks to treat water as a private commodity. They use this water to irrigate almond and pistachio orchards in the Central Valley, even during droughts and wildfires.

4/ Meanwhile, LA firefighters scramble for water. Why? Because the Resnicks and other big agriculture players prioritize profits, growing water-intensive crops like almonds for export. It takes 1.1 gallons of water to grow a single almond.

5/ Some people have been blaming defense budgets or aid to Ukraine for the lack of resources to fight wildfires. Let’s get this straight: you can’t fight fires with a tank or a missile.

6/ The U.S. defense budget and foreign aid are separate from state budgets for disaster response. California’s water crisis isn’t a funding issue — it’s a policy failure that allows billionaires to hoard water while cities burn.

7/ Ukraine isn’t stealing your water or your firefighting funds. That argument is a smokescreen. The real culprits are corporate water barons like the Resnicks, who control the majority of the water desperately needed in emergencies.

8/ During wildfires, water could have been diverted from private agricultural holdings to save homes and lives. But California’s water rights laws — and the political donations of billionaires like the Resnicks — ensure that doesn’t happen.

9/ Instead, the Resnicks pump water into pistachio trees and almonds, much of which are exported overseas, while Californians watch their homes and communities go up in flames.

10/ What needs to change?
•Overhaul California’s water rights laws to treat water as a public resource.
•Prioritize water access for emergency firefighting over private profit.
•Stop blaming external factors like Ukraine and focus on holding billionaires accountable.

11/ Wildfires are devastating enough without people spreading misinformation. Let’s keep the focus on fixing the real problem: corporate water hoarding, a broken system, and politicians who protect the status quo.

12/ If this angers you, share this thread. Water is a human right, not a luxury for billionaires. California deserves better.

“Goliath” — There’s a Show About This Very Issue 🌊

California’s water crisis and corporate greed. It’s not just real life—it’s the plot of “Goliath” starring Billy Bob Thornton. This legal thriller dives deep into water hoarding, corruption & justice.

📺Amazon Prime.