Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

California Drought Response Shows Limit

California lawmakers have announced a plan for dealing with the state's current drought. It is, at best, a temporary fix. That is not because the proposal is weak nor lacking in ambition. The problem is that money is no substitute for rain. The Golden State's predicament is a foreshadowing of what the entire world faces as the climate evolves. While this journal has argued for spending heavily on mitigation efforts as well as greenhouse gas limits, the ugly truth is humans probably can't do enough to prevent serious economic and social dislocation.

Whether one accepts that anthropogenic climate change is real or not (it's real), one cannot deny that the weather of late has been tough on a great many places, varying hugely from the average. In America's southwest, precipitation has been under-average for quite some time. Lake Mead in Nevada is a great example of what happens when this conditions persists. Formed on the Colorado River by the Hoover Dam, the water in the lake feeds cities and farms from Las Vegas to LA. It hasn't been at capacity since 1983, partially due to drought and partially due to population growth. The lake is at its lowest level since being filled in the 1930s. Upstream, Lake Mead has the same issues and is also at its all-time low.

The efforts of the state government to encourage water conservation appears to have had some effect. Chris Megarian at the LA Times reported, "The state's water situation is in some respects slightly better than it was a year ago. Precipitation in key watersheds in Northern California is 81% of normal for the date. Shasta Lake, California's largest reservoir, is 58% full, compared with 45% a year ago. Lake Oroville is half full, compared with 45% at this time last year.

"Customers of the State Water Project, which delivers supplies from Northern California to Southland cities, will get 20% of their contract requests, compared with only 5% in 2014."

However, the same article notes, "water managers are troubled by the minimal snow in the mountains, which is at 12% of average levels, down from 28% last year." That means the spring run-off will be less than half of last year.

To their credit, both the political parties appreciate the gravity of the situation. Senate minority leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) said, "Everyone in the state has to ask the question -- how can I conserve more water?" Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown has been considering mandatory water restrictions, "It's a judgment call," he said. "But I've been asking that same question myself."

The bill that is likely to sail through the legislature for Governor Brown's signature will pump about $1 billion into the state's water infrastructure. Flood control projects would get about $660 million of that, and retaining flood waters is the easiest way to address drought. Only $27 million would represent new spending, while the rest is just accelerated funding from previously approved plans. As ever, Governor Brown keeps an eye on his budget. Last year, a similar bill for $687.3 million became law.

Despite the lack of precipitation, California is fortunate in one sense. The state has sufficient wealth to be able to spend on these kind of remedial projects. Were this same kind of drought to occur elsewhere, in a place where people are getting by on a dollar or two a day, the result would be a humanitarian disaster.

Even in a place as well-off as California, however, there is no substitute for water. The population growth of the region would have put pressure on the water supply in any event. The drought has simply magnified that pressure. Flood control, consumer level conservation and new distribution systems call all help and are cheap at twice the price. At the same time, however, mankind must accept that there are limits to how much Nature can be manipulated.

At some stage, climate change will force the species to adapt, whether the change is man made or not.

© Copyright 2015 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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