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California water shortages; why they happen
13 years ago
General
I live in Los Angeles County, specifically in the "Inland Valley". Contrary to popular belief, this region isn't a Desert, because evaporation does not exceed precipitation --- it is a "Steppe" region, which receives a fair amount of year-round rainfall, and a HUGE volume of it during the Winter. This is also true for much of LA County east of the Puente Hills (the LA Metropolitan Area), which for the most part is a flood plain. It is, nonetheless, relatively hot through much of the year, and frequently very dry (the summers are often rather severe).
The flooding was a major problem for many years, and in the early 20th century, what was at one time the most elaborate flood control system ever seen was built in LA County. It included literally THOUSANDS of miles of channels, tunnels, and concrete-lined rivers (to say nothing of dams, levees, storm drains, and floodgates), all to allow this rainfall to simply slide-off into the ocean. As this system grew and grew every year like a giant slime mold colony, there has steadily been less and less flooding in this area. The last big floods in my own hometown was in the 1970s.
Are you starting to see where this is going? It's a long story, but it has to be that way for you to understand the situation.
This county steadily became known less for flooding and more for water shortages, and this is why the California Aqueduct was created, which is another little-appreciated marvel of modern engineering. To keep water available for everyone's faucets, sprinklers, garden hoses, fountains, and crops, the Aqueduct grew and grew over time, stabbing further into the northern regions of the state. The demand for water is such that numerous Desert Lakes that have been brimming with water since time immemorial are now bare salt pans. Notably, Owens Lake was once so full, that miners and other settlers living around it used *steamboats* to shuffle people and cargo back and forth across it --- until a campaign to allow it to slowly recover began (only a few years ago), Owens Lake had been completely dry for almost a century.
The "Great California Water Heist" didn't finally take a big hit until recently, when people in Northern California began to scream bloody murder about Southern California taking all of their water. On top of that, the public started becoming vividly aware that one of the biggest lakes in this state --- Mono Lake, on the edge of the Mojave Desert --- had lost more than half it's water. Thus, the political pendulum has swung in favor of the Northern 4/5th of the state's geography.
The "Southerners" and the state government are predicting doomsday for the state's agriculture, should this trend continue, and their proposed solution is (naturally) to keep doing the same thing we had done for a century --- robbing Peter's lakes to water Paul's crops.
Completely unmentioned in ANY of this hysteria is that billions of gallons of water that nature herself deposits upon LA County is simply allowed to drain out into the ocean, while we fight over water that doesn't belong in this area. No one ever seriously thought to *store* any of this water, even though god gives it to us for free, no questions asked.
On top of that, I have also personally seen dozens of what appear to be concrete-lined reservoirs all over the county, which are appreciably gigantic. Several of these are right here in my home town, and though the city seems to try it's darndest to hide them, their efforts were never a match for my vigor or curiosity. In three decades that I've lived in this area, I have never once seen any of these reservoirs filled. It's a disgrace.
This isn't just a local issue, by the way, because there are 30 million people living in the aforementioned area, and --- as a direct result --- a huge chunk of the nation's overall agriculture and industry. The LA County's incompetent resource management has thus, over time, caused immeasurable economic damage to the entire nation.
Also, this is just ONE county. I don't dare contemplate how much all of the others mismanage their resources.
The flooding was a major problem for many years, and in the early 20th century, what was at one time the most elaborate flood control system ever seen was built in LA County. It included literally THOUSANDS of miles of channels, tunnels, and concrete-lined rivers (to say nothing of dams, levees, storm drains, and floodgates), all to allow this rainfall to simply slide-off into the ocean. As this system grew and grew every year like a giant slime mold colony, there has steadily been less and less flooding in this area. The last big floods in my own hometown was in the 1970s.
Are you starting to see where this is going? It's a long story, but it has to be that way for you to understand the situation.
This county steadily became known less for flooding and more for water shortages, and this is why the California Aqueduct was created, which is another little-appreciated marvel of modern engineering. To keep water available for everyone's faucets, sprinklers, garden hoses, fountains, and crops, the Aqueduct grew and grew over time, stabbing further into the northern regions of the state. The demand for water is such that numerous Desert Lakes that have been brimming with water since time immemorial are now bare salt pans. Notably, Owens Lake was once so full, that miners and other settlers living around it used *steamboats* to shuffle people and cargo back and forth across it --- until a campaign to allow it to slowly recover began (only a few years ago), Owens Lake had been completely dry for almost a century.
The "Great California Water Heist" didn't finally take a big hit until recently, when people in Northern California began to scream bloody murder about Southern California taking all of their water. On top of that, the public started becoming vividly aware that one of the biggest lakes in this state --- Mono Lake, on the edge of the Mojave Desert --- had lost more than half it's water. Thus, the political pendulum has swung in favor of the Northern 4/5th of the state's geography.
The "Southerners" and the state government are predicting doomsday for the state's agriculture, should this trend continue, and their proposed solution is (naturally) to keep doing the same thing we had done for a century --- robbing Peter's lakes to water Paul's crops.
Completely unmentioned in ANY of this hysteria is that billions of gallons of water that nature herself deposits upon LA County is simply allowed to drain out into the ocean, while we fight over water that doesn't belong in this area. No one ever seriously thought to *store* any of this water, even though god gives it to us for free, no questions asked.
On top of that, I have also personally seen dozens of what appear to be concrete-lined reservoirs all over the county, which are appreciably gigantic. Several of these are right here in my home town, and though the city seems to try it's darndest to hide them, their efforts were never a match for my vigor or curiosity. In three decades that I've lived in this area, I have never once seen any of these reservoirs filled. It's a disgrace.
This isn't just a local issue, by the way, because there are 30 million people living in the aforementioned area, and --- as a direct result --- a huge chunk of the nation's overall agriculture and industry. The LA County's incompetent resource management has thus, over time, caused immeasurable economic damage to the entire nation.
Also, this is just ONE county. I don't dare contemplate how much all of the others mismanage their resources.
;3