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October 4, 2002
Good News for Southern Californians
A news story ‘Southland Not Fazed by Western Drought’ in the Los Angeles Times of September 22, 2002 is a source of happy tidings as well as a pointer to disquieting developments: Chided by politicians for its water-hogging way, Southern California is withstanding the current drought better than many other Western regions - partly because people are using less water for everyday tasks…. Southern California has doubled its water-storage capacity in the last decade. Served by a massive plumbing system of vast reservoirs and hundreds of miles of aqua-ducts the region is probably two years away from any water rationing even if the current dry spell persists, water officials said. Reassuring news.
In some states, however, the picture is not all that rosy. In Colorado, for instance, the LA Times story claims, “In the spring the area’s water situation went from good to bad to worse in a matter of weeks. …All outdoor watering in Denver will be curtailed as of October 1.” Southern Californians thus owe a word of gratitude to the water officials for their forethought and planning.
Barely a year ago the specter of a serious water shortage and its attendant problems were considered a reality and posed a serious threat to residents of Southern California. Stemming from misplaced priorities and misguided perceptions, the problem seems to have been then purposely compounded rather than occasioned by natural forces or weather calamities.
The situation appeared perplexing, nay, confounding to say the least. A cursory look at the pattern of water utilization showed that a small percentage of the total - barely 10 percent - was allocated for human-oriented uses. The remaining 90 percent was evenly split for agriculture and environmental pursuits. Thanks to the federal Endangered Species Act, a decorous argument was advanced to divert water from people uses to critter uses, as an article appearing in the Orange County Register suggested. “The Klimath situation is a disaster. It reaches the inflexibility of the Endangered Species Act,” said Susan Trager, an attorney by profession who worked in Irvine and represented a number of Southern California water agencies. “There is no balancing of human needs against the needs of the animals. The animals get priority. In the hands of the wrong government, it’s this kind of law that can be used to control population growth and housing. It is a tool of social policy. It’s a very dangerous act because of its inflexibility.” The real-world battle, according to the author, was between those who wanted to ‘balance people needs and environmental needs, and those who see people as a scourge and will use the Endangered Species Act to tilt water distribution almost exclusively in the environmental direction.’
It is against this background that one can fully appreciate the steps taken by the concerned agencies to precipitate a wholesome change on the water front in a short span of time. All indications are that the water storage capacity has been beefed up and there should be no alarm on this count.
Even last year there were quite a few observers who had contested the doom and gloom prophets and furnished statistics which raised hope. The water situation, they argued, was in many ways better than the one obtaining in many parts of the world. The optimists cited a United Nations report that revealed that one-sixth of the world’s population - one billion people -- lack access to clean water. The number appeared alarming and, more disconcerting, was speculated to double in the next 30 years. “A number of areas could enter a period of chronic shortages during this decade, including much of Africa, northern China, pockets of India, Mexico, the Middle East and parts of western North America,” said Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Some 26 countries are described as “water scarce”-- with fewer than 1,000 cubic meters of water available to each person per year. The number of water-scarce countries is expected to mount and could touch 35 by the year 2020.
We are thus lucky to be better off as regards the availability of water in California. We should duly express our appreciation to our planners on this count.
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