The Great Thirst

July 20, 2008

THE GREAT THIRST

Beyond the water bond

As California contemplates its water future, one simple principle should guide its choices: Any 30-year investment in water infrastructure must take into account what California's water supply situation will be 30 years from now. If population and warming forecasts are correct, by mid-century our state will be more crowded and precipitation patterns will have changed. Some regions may be wetter; most are likely to be drier. No matter what investments we make, water supplies from Northern California and the Colorado River will continue to diminish. More people will chase less water.

June 2, 2008

THE GREAT THIRST

Californians, start conserving

Abill that would require Californians to cut per-capita water use 20% by 2020 quietly passed in the Assembly last week, by a vote of 48 to 30. Though it didn't get much attention, AB 2175 was the first serious effort to impose a statewide target for water conservation in California -- a major shift for a state where water management is fragmented and historically has been based on a blind and false faith that cities and farms will always be able to get more water when they need it.

May 18, 2008

THE GREAT THIRST

Tapping into the future

It's long past time for Los Angeles' leadership to get serious about saving water -- and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's new water-supply action plan is a responsible effort to move beyond our hysterical past to a reasonable future.

April 7, 2008

THE GREAT THIRST

No water, no development

During the 20th century in Southern California, city founders made a religion out of building bounteous -- and sometimes boundless -- suburbs in the most unlikely locations. They assumed that the water their new communities needed to thrive would somehow flow to them.

March 3, 2008

THE GREAT THIRST

Working together for the delta

Early last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's water plans looked to be headed down the path of universal healthcare. A Feb. 21 meeting with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) raised hopes that a bipartisan water bond might surface in Sacramento. But then rumors that the governor would begin work on a peripheral canal in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta sent Northern Californians into fits. Radio ads warned ominously of a "water giveaway" to "a few wealthy Southern California corporations." Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) and two colleagues said they were "shocked" and found it "difficult to negotiate seriously ... in view of this."

February 25, 2008

THE GREAT THIRST

Channeling Mulholland

The early history of Los Angeles was defined by its struggle to get water wherever, and whenever, it could. William Mulholland and his colleagues did such a good job of securing water supplies during the early 20th century -- building the 223-mile-long, gravity-fed Los Angeles Aqueduct, which imports water from the Owens Valley; establishing the Metropolitan Water District, which brings in water from the Colorado River and Northern California -- that those of us living here today take for granted our lush gardens and year-round blooms. They appear a native bounty when they are, in fact, a work of man. We offer pious lip service to the notion that water is scarce when the weather is dry, only to forget our concerns at the fall of the first raindrop. Implicitly, we behave as if water will always be available and unlimited.