Everybody whines about the lack of usable water in this state, especially in the third year of a severe drought. But even with farmers taking land out of production because of a lack of water and cities planning to ration water this summer, the California Legislature does nothing but talk about the problem -- just like the way our lawmakers dealt with the budget mess.
The editorial board at The Fresno Bee continues to offer a balanced solution that calls for three things: Above-ground storage (dams), underground storage (water banks) and conservation efforts that can produce a 20% increase in available water by not using that much in wasteful ways. Click here to read today's editorial on the water crisis.
Once a word had been uttered it cannot be unspoken. All those too many people living here in this area can't be made not to exist. But we do not have to keeping luring them here. The best farmland in America is covered up by housing tracts, numerous enough to look like small towns. Sane native populations do not establish permanent mega settlements in semi-deserts. But who has ever accused the Euro- Americans to be sane. And they can't learn from the mistakes of others. The Dustbowl farmers brought their plight upon themselves by plowing up land that should never have been plowed up to grow cotton. Here, in this area, for many years the ground was used for controlled quantities of crops, using the water that could sustain it. And then (post World War II) came the developers, County and City governments developing dollar registers for brains. And it still has not stopped. No newspaper columnists , no Latino whatever groups are going to make more water than nature (the climate) provides. Maybe it should be compulsory for local government and developers to go and see what all those dams have done to the Colorado River. There is only one real winner in the mix, and that is Las Vegas. In 1947 the Lawsons could scratch to water with a child's toy shovel. In 1952 our well in Clovis gave potable water at less than 20 feet. And they built and built houses till Clovis was but one big bedroom community. Before the year 2000 we had to hook up to city water because the driller could not go deeper than 120 feet in the 6 inch casing, and it was dry. And they still build and build and build houses for people who will have to use their own water over and over again. Ach! What's the use....."...come away Melinda, come in and close the door. The answer lies in yesterday...."
"Dizzy"...where do/did our beloved environmentalists fit into your "Legends and Legacy" story?
Common sense is an amazing thing if people would just use it. For years now it has been said we are having a water shortage and air quality is horrible yet they keep building houses that require water for those homes and each one comes with usually two to four cars creating more bad air. Landscaping helps with pollution but also needs water. Get a clue people we have to stop the madness on building and each one of us needs to conserve.
Rereading the Mark Arax item, I saw Joan Didions's name cited, and it made me remember something I had read quite some time ago. It fits in with how I feel about the loss of California's fruit basket. Our very own (local) part of California.
Didion wrote in 1965 "All that is constant about the California of my childhood is the rate at which it disappears, "
My childhood was not spent in California, but in 1965 I saw the begin of the change around here, the paving over of the legendary "fruit basket." And I began to understand why some industrialized (well to do) European nations practiced land management, not only over public lands, but private land as well. Had the developers been allowed to have a free hand as they did and still do around here, Central Europe's forests would be ravished by now and watersheds exposed to deterioration and pollution. There are two things that stand between total freedom of the individual and the environmental success of the community, and that is greed and ignorance respectively
Dumb and dumber leads the water regulation problem. Here is a simple fix. Just cut the water to So Cal until the needed dams are financed and built. It will take only months.
Our legislators don't have the b*lls to make difficult decisions. Water is a controversial subject so of course they will dance around it until it' too late. Ta da! It's already way past too late. There has been a severe water problem in California for at least 50 years; closer to 75 years. I understand the environmental consequences of dams; however, placing a dam on a watershed that already has one (Millerton) seems like a good compromise. We've had 50 years to come up with some good compromises and creative ideas. Of course now that the need is critical we don't have the luxury of compromise. Now we just have to get it done. Where will we get the money to build one? The article says Sacramento wants to sell bonds to finance a dam but no one is buying California bonds anymore remember? California's credit rating is in the crapper. I guess we can't expect our "leaders" to think outside the box when they can't even punch their way out of a paper bag called common sense.
I'v been living in the area for 14 yrs. The state has talked about water the whole time. Find an open area build the dam, save water help the famers.We have to have food.Stop talking about it and DO IT. The dam could have been built by now, and we would have water. If people want to grow plants ,grow food not palm trees.
2 + 2 = 4 still . OK; let us build another dam, which shall provide water for so many more homes. Voila! We shall be right back where we started. So it was and so it shall be. The developers are still with us, and the legislators local and statewide still don't have the guts to impose water management in areas where water is a scarce commodity. It is not a testimony to our wisdom to pump a natural vast watershed dry, and then go build dams elsewhere. One of the wealthiest growers and fruit processor in Fresno County told me that building houses is far more profitable than growing peaches. Another one ripped out orchards to build homes, without justifying it. Building dams is not not the solution here. Controlled growth would be. Megalopolis is not the community that should be encouraged to develop in semi deserts. Los Angeles should be a warning to us instead of something to be duplicated. By the way...look what happened to insaner than insanity Dubai. I shall remember Earl Warren (Republican) best for the words he said: "We have learned one thing from history; that we shall never learn."
I agree with you that we need to slow the growth. Dams would be useful also for other reasons besides water storage. Obviously flood control, hydroelectric, and recreation to name a few. Meters also need to get installed because it has been shown they reduce water usage.
We must not forget the miles of expensive waterfront real estate which would curtail public access to the river.
More dams will be constructed. I hope to capture that moment, the disbelief in the eyes on faces that have only practiced smugness and high brow in relating to the more practical of their species.