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Lois Henry column: Unchecked growth a strain on water

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 14, 2008 at 6:09 am

From the Bakersfield Californian, this column by Lois Henry, who begins by pointing out that amid all the talk and focus on water issues, the one word you never hear is “building moratorium”:

We absolutely must stop or drastically slow development in this state so we can get a handle on our true water supplies, how to make the most of them and how to develop more, if possible. Otherwise, we’re going to race to the end of our finite water string and then what? Armed conflict? Hey, thirsty people are angry people.

I’ve been told that no, no, no, we don’t have a supply problem, we have a regulatory and distribution problem. Maybe so. But that still adds up to a supply problem.

In fact, our surface water has been quantified by the state board that oversees California’s water permits and it is not good. The State Water Resources Control Board found that “current permitted water appropriations, amount to about five times California’s average annual surface water supply,” according to its strategic plan released in January. That means we are beyond maxed out.

So far, the only options being batted around the Legislature, including the Governor’s latest attempt to get a bond ($11 billion this time) onto the November ballot, have looked at some conservation methods, new dams and the politically radioactive peripheral canal, which would skirt water around the ailing San Joaquin/Sacramento delta.

Some believe the governor’s official drought announcement recently and his emergency water declaration for nine valley counties, including Kern, are ploys to boost support for his bond measure. Probably. But I’m more interested in what his, and others’, list of solutions leave out. What about development?

Apparently, that’s even more politically radioactive than the ol’ p-canal.

Read the rest of this column by Lois Henry in the Bakersfield Californian by clicking here.

June 14, 2008 · Filed Under Development & Water

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