[ExI] drought in jolly olde

[spike at rainier66.com]

We are reading about a severe drought in England.  We in California get
severe droughts every few years and so I thought I might offer some insights
from one who has been thru it at least twice before.

 

We have insufficient reservoirs for the population, making it perfectly
clear we need to build more (and the state has the money to do that) but our
environmentalist lobby is very powerful and can usually block that anywhere
it is proposed.  So. the water authorities do what they can: buy water from
farmers in the central valley who grow rice in that parched land by
diverting water from the Sacramento River.  They were doing that since
before there was any problem, so they have water rights for eternity.  So.
we buy water from them.

 

Now we are in a severe drought, so the water authorities are asking
residents to cut back voluntarily on water usage, but this leads to a
paradox.  The first part of the cut is easy: just let your lawn die.  But
eventually, if that isn't enough, they say they can mandate water reduction
by law.  I don't know if that is true, but if it is, then a resident is
advised to not cut at all during voluntary water reduction, because what we
use now sets a baseline for the mandatory reduction of that happens.  So we
could just let our lawn die, while those who did that already hafta find the
next 20% reduction, which is waaaay harder to do than the first 20%.

 

So. a period of requested voluntary water reduction may cause more harm than
good, if they say there is a theoretical legal construct which would allow
the state to mandate water reduction.  People who have been here before know
to keep using water at the baseline level, or perhaps increase it, to
establish the level from which the mandate would require reduction.
Following that to its logical conclusion: when voluntary water usage is
requested, a homeowner should immediately increase water usage 20% to
increase the baseline, then if mandates come along and are found to be
legal, one reduces to the previous water use.

 

In the meantime. the state authorized the construction of a new reservoir in
Calusa County.  Score!

 

spike 

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