Then there is the endless pirouette of the sprinklers, draining reservoirs miles away -- all to prevent that dreaded spectacle of August, the brown lawn.
For nearly two weeks last November, smoke from the Camp fire drained 150 miles down the Central Valley and out toward the sea, engulfing Sacramento and the whole Bay Area.
Much of the Middle Levels was flooded in 1841-2, and this led the Commissioners to obtain an Act of Parliament in 1844, which authorised the construction of a new main drain, 11 mile long, in order that water could flow by gravity to Wiggenhall St Germans, where the levels of the tidal river were about 7 feet lower than at Salters Lode.
Now the $25 million down the drain for "12 Miles of Bad Road" can be added to the list.
The river drains 2,400 square miles (6,216 square km), the largest drainage area in Scotland.
With its many tributaries, it drains 690,000 square miles (1,800,000 square km).
The Chao Phraya system drains 61,807 square miles (160,079 square km) and is the basis of several major irrigation projects.
Together with its main tributary, the Cosumnes River, the Mokelumne drains 2,143 square miles (5,550 km2) in parts of five California counties.
The Green River drains 9,430 square miles (24,425 square km), and its chief tributaries are Russell and Mud creeks, Barren and Pond rivers, flowing in from the south, and the Nolin and Rough rivers, from the north.
Mohawk River, largest tributary of the Hudson River, east-central New York, U.S. Draining 3,412 square miles (8,837 square km), the Mohawk forms in Oneida county at the junction of its East and West branches.
