This is just one post in the Groundwater Category

California wildfires, caused by groundwater abuse … ?

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 17, 2008 at 7:28 am

From the Huffington Post, this post from Jeffrey Feldman, titled “Can we stop pretending California is ‘green’ now?”:

With half the state yet again in flames, I find myself of two minds with respect to the residents of California. One the one hand, my heart aches or this latest crop of Californians to lose their homes in this month’s out-of-control brush fires. On the other hand, it amazes me that, despite seeing these same fires every few months, so many Americans continue to cling to the fantasy that California is a ‘green’ state.

That California routinely burns to the ground from groundwater abuse, and yet so many residents of that state imagine themselves on the cutting edge of the sustainability revolution, is one of the greatest feats of collective self-delusion in the history of the United States–as if dropping a brick in your toilet tank, driving a Prius, and wearing organic t-shirts constituted a sustainable economy. Well, this resident of the Great Lakes region has some advice to the Golden State: Americans everywhere will continue to have sympathy with all those who suffer in your fires, but if you want us to take your claims to being ‘green’ seriously, start getting your suicidal groundwater abuse under control, California.

Huh? Now, I’ve seen a variety of explanations for the wildfires: curses from God, Al-Queda, even a government conspiracy (yes, special teams setting fires and spawning tornadoes - these guys are good!), but never groundwater abuse …

Despite what Smokey the Bear taught us all about how forest fires get started, the brush fires that routinely decimate California to the tune of billions of dollars damage each year start because of depleted ground water which have left water tables dangerously low. As a result, vast numbers of Californians live in meticulously landscaped ecological fire zones.