I see little hope that there will be any improvement soon in our behavior
towards the world around us. One example is here in San Diego County along
the coastal cliffs. These cliffs are made of sandstone deposited over the
eons, cliffs that have always eroded and always will.
Now enter man and his propensity to screw things up. Cliff top property is
very expensive. People are willing to spend millions for cracker box
houses with a direct view of the setting sun and many have.
First lets step back many years. San Diego is a desert. No matter what
the CofC tells you with pictures of bronze bodies and palm trees, it is a
desert with less than 10 inches of rain a year. The rain that we do get
comes mostly in the months between November and March with most of that in
February. These sudden rains carry tons of sand from the mountain to the
sea in flash floods. If the folly of man has him building on a flood plain
(because that is where there is enough moisture to grow something) , all is
wiped out.
The next logical step is build dams. These dams stop the flash floods and
hold back water for use during the remainder of the year. These dams are
all over San Diego county and most were built before the thirties.
Now lets move forward to now. It is still a desert with even less rainfall
every year (this last year got us just over 6 inches). We now have a
population of 2 million, mostly moved in from the east where trees and
lawns are easy so they want the same thing here. All those dams can only
supply about 5% of the total water needs but not to worry, we can use the
wonders of cheap energy and import water from mountains over 1500 miles
away. Green lawns and tree lined streets are only the turn of a tap and a
check away. We still need those dams because the water is so important and
besides those flood plans are covered with cities and shopping malls.
Now along comes another problem. Remember all that sand, it is part of one
of those natural balances that we assume we can control. Sand brought down
in February flash floods helps rebuild beaches scoured by December
storms. Winter storms move sand off shore then bring some of it back. But
not all because some is moved deeper off shore by natural action and by
jetties built by man to keep sand out of harbor mouths.
With the dams blocking the flow, new sand is no longer coming to the
beaches. Now enter another problem. San Diego weather is an important
trade item for the tourists but tourists want sandy beaches (remember those
bronze bodies working on skin cancer?). Beaches with less sand because we
have stopped the replenishment process many years ago.
It is a good thing energy is cheap, we are able to pump sand from the
harbor to the beaches, but there is a problem. One is that it takes a lot
of sane and there is not that much tax supported dredging to do. Another
is that San Diego has always been a US Navy harbor. During WWII a lot of
munitions were dumped into the harbor and those started showing up in the
dredged sand. San Diego did not want beach combers bringing in sand
dollars and live 50 cal. ammunition so that was stopped.
The next great idea and one that I think exemplifies the whole problem, was
to trade for sand. What do we have to trade? Well 2 million people
generate a lot of trash and landfills are not good neighbors. So, we are
now shipping trash to an Arizona landfill and bringing back truckloads of
sand. Think this one through.
Recently a woman was killed when a cliff wall broke loose. She was in a
quiet place watching her husband surf. As I said these cliffs have always
been washed away by wave action. They get washed away and they get
deposited. In geologic they are only temporary. Well now they are being
washed away at rates never before seen.
Why? increased storm action is one small reason but not the major one. One
reason is the beach. A larger beach tends to dissipate most of the wave
action before it hits the cliff. Remember the reduced beaches due building
jetties and dams? There is no way years of hauling sand from Arizona can
replace sand delivered by one year of flash floods.
Another problem is that stabilizing growth has been removed from the cliff
tops and replaced by lush greenery requiring lots of water. Remember those
transplants from the east coast? The water also saturates the top and
increases erosion. The new growth is shallow rooted grasses rather than
the deep rooted coastal shrub.
How are they trying to fix it? Remember these are multi million dollar
houses owned by some of the most wealthy conservatives in the country,
solid anti tax republicans. Voters for safe republican congress
critters. What are they doing? Some are trying to close off the beach and
building massive concrete seawalls. Structures that will only reduce, not
stop erosion. Many are demanding around demanding that government do
something. Government should haul in more sand. Government should pay to
build the seawalls. Not one has said they should abandon houses that
should not be there and return the land to its natural cover. Those that
are loosing houses are demanding that the government pay for them. Not one
is demanding that the dams be breached and allowed to run free. They had
to be forced into using less water by city ordnances and some are fighting
that.
That is why I see little hope.
Don Bowen [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Valley Center, CA Senior Software Engineer
Internet development and software engineering
http://members.cts.com/crash/d/donb
http://www.oldengine.org/members/ihc14
http://www.oldengine.org/members/ferguson/
