murdoch wrote:
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/6809423p-7747557c.html
This story was covered in a variety of papers. So, the net affect is
a big fat screw you from Sacramento to the rest of the state, and,
for that matter, to the Western States.
This is not exactly off topic. On my recent trip to California, we drove
through the Central Valley on the way back home. I noticed that a LOT of rice
farmers installed signs on their properties decrying a cut in their water
shares. These signs contained slogans such as Farms Feed America, and No
Water, No Food. The California power base rests on control of water--hence,
the
Owens Valley has been bled dry by Los Angeles, and the long standing and often
contentious conflict between Northern and Southern California has, at its root,
the issue of access to water.
Agriculture in California was, when I was living there, the single largest
user of the state's water resources. I've heard somewhere that the Colorado
doesn't even make it to Mexico anymore . . .
I agree with the Bush Administration decision to cut California
allotments back to their legal amount from the over-allotment amounts
we were getting from the Colorado River. Why should we get these
amounts, at the expense of other law-abiding citizens in other states,
when we can't even get one or more of our major municipalities to make
any effort to conserve water?
Santa Barbara has made major efforts in this regard. If Sacramento has a
problem, Santa Barbara should be its case study for change. Glendale, my home
town, is completely self sufficient on water during the winter. It would remain
so during the summer if people would let their lawns turn brown!
I now live in a town called Sardis, in British Columbia. We get more rain
up
here in three months than California does in an entire year, but when we built
our house last summer, we could not get an occupancy permit until a water meter
had been installed. Since we moved in last November, we've used 3 542 cubic
feet
of water. That's 17 cubic feet (or 127 gallons) of water per day. With 4
people
in our family, that's essentially 32 gallons per person, per day.
Yet, the article claims that some residents in Sacramento use over 300
gallons
of water per day! What on earth are they doing with all that water??? Clovis,
which is further south, has metered water, and there the typical consumption is
227 gallons. (What kind of conservation is that?)
To be fair, I live MUCH further north where it is considerably wetter and
colder, so we don't have to keep a lawn alive in hot weather as long as our
neighbors further south. But I can testify that I'm constantly telling my
children NOT to let their water run when brushing teeth because they don't think
about all the water going down the drain. (I come from California, and the
water
conservation mentality I grew up with dies very hard!) Our dishwasher is
supposed to be smart, but it uses more water than our older dumb model did.
In essence, despite my efforts, we're not exactly taking care to be
conservative. We have every modern convenience imaginable in this house (and
probably more than I care to admit), yet we consume a little over 1 / 10th the
typical water usage in Sacramento.
All of that water has to be diverted and pumped at great energy cost. It
has
to be purified too.
Let it be held up to sharp public scrutiny that Sacramento residents
are contributing to a big and needless problem, throughout the State.
Everyone loses, in the end, unless we can get a better handle on our
water supply.
It's a complex issue. Its solutions depend on changing human mind sets and
behavior. Much of the water regulation in the western states dates back to the
nineteenth century. The principle that primary users retain their rights under
the law is a BIG reason why agriculture has such a stranglehold on water policy
in my home state. Sacramento is surrounded by farms. Agribusiness is huge in
north central California, and those multi million dollar farms are not about to
let their water go. That's why they're growing rice in a semi-arid climate.
I know a really sad and true story about a farmer who, out of the goodness
of
his heart, allowed a neighbor access to his rain fed lake system. The neighbor,
a law abiding Christian man, drained those lakes dry by selling water to other
users below his property. The farmer had no legal recourse because he
provided
water to someone downstream. The same thing would happen to Sacramento Valley
farmers if they let go of their rights.
No wonder I moved away . . .
robert luis rabello
The Edge of Justice
Adventure for Your Mind
http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/9782
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