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Commentary: Recalling water war of ’82, and how it continues to affect Southern California

Posted by: Maven on December 1, 2009 at 7:50 am

From Leon Furgatch at the Los Angeles Daily News, this commentary:

“It is difficult for Californians to obtain a true picture of their water problems because they hear the state is suffering from a drought.

The implication is that relief will come as soon as rainfall returns to normal. This message masks a more serious problem that can be traced to decades of political interference in planning to avoid such shortages.

To put this in perspective, the Central Valley, California’s agricultural breadbasket, and heavily populated Southern California receive very little rain and rely mostly on imported water from distant watersheds.

The opposite is true in the upper third of the state. It receives huge amounts of rain and has so little population that most of this water empties into the ocean. In fact, the average annual flow of the rivers in this north coastal region are capable of supplying more than 100 million people a year with water.

In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal law advocated by environmental groups designating the Eel, Trinity, American, Smith and Klamath rivers in the north as scenic wild rivers, and protecting them from development.

By indirection, this delivered a fatal blow to the California Water Plan approved by voters in 1960 to insulate the state against future water shortages. … “

Read more of Leon Fugatch’s commentary by clicking here.

December 1, 2009 · Filed Under Delta Issues

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