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GAIA

California – learn from the Promised Land

California and much of the U.S. southwest has had an extended period of drought this year again.  The cyclical pattern that peaks almost every 10 years since the start of the mid-20^th century (see Wikipedia, “Drought in the USA”)  is now recognized as caused by the periodic recurrence of a strong El Nino (and related La Nina) current off the Pacific coast of Ecuador and Peru.  This ‘local’ water change impacts all of North and South America to the east and all of the Pacific Rim countries to the west. (See http://biophysics.sbg.ac.at/atmo/elnino.htm, Environmental Physics / Lettner
VO 437-503  “the El-Niño (ENSO) Phenomenon” by Pierre Madl, Dec.1^st, 2000)

Combined with the population shift in the US from the Northeast to the deep south – think Florida – and the desert southwest of Arizona and Nevada and, of course, California – which is home to 38 million people or 1 in every 8 Americans, drops in precipitation and available water is a serious issue but more or less IGNORED for decades!

The Colorado river system and its 40 dams alone supplies water to farms and 25 million people across the southwest. Yet each year it is estimated that reservoirs above the dams loose up to 20% of the water to evaporation. (See http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/water/download/riversreport.pdf  “Colorada River”) 

California, is now 68% in extreme drought as water from the melting icecaps and rivers of the Sierra Nevada Mountains is at an all time low – following 2 preceding years of below normal precipitation.

The economy of California – the world’s 8^th largest – is in disarray as water shortages are affecting crop harvests, livestock production and fruit and vegetable farming.  Tourism is also harmed as resorts with lakes now have cracked and hardened beaches and lakes that look more like wading pools. (Globe and Mail, Feb. 11, 2014, “Not a drop to drink”.)

As the politicians and ‘water experts’ seem to have few new ideas as to how to preserve what water there is, maybe they should look to the Middle East and the Promised Land for strategies.

1. Never, ever allow collected water or wells to be open to the air and be heated by the sun. 

Remember the Bible story of Jacob (Genesis 29:2–10) coming to a town’s well and having to roll off a huge stone that was used as ‘insulation’ against heat and evaporation. 

Also, excavations at King Herod’s palace at Masada have uncovered huge underground man-made cisterns with tiny exterior openings connected to  a viaduct network to collect rain runoff and redirect it to these huge, enclosed storage tanks.

So, those reservoirs around Los Angeles – whose empty shells were highlighted in the 1900s era movie Chinatown – need to be covered or relocated underground.   You cannot afford up to 20% evaporation during droughts or any other time when water is vital to life!

2. carefully measure the water you use for agriculture as Israel does today with it’s world leading drip line systems -- rather than open air sprinklers popular in the USA.

3. filter toilet flushes and sewage and reuse ‘grey water’ for agriculture

4. and finally, build Desalination plants.   California can turn the Pacific Ocean into a source of fresh water using technology that has been around for decades – but which has been largely ignored in the US Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts.

With a few desalination plants, Israel today meets the water needs of some 3.5 million people and ½ the country’s agriculture and industry.

Yes, California at 38 million people would need many more desalination plants as would other states in the south and southwest that regularly have droughts.

And yes, desalination is expensive, but that is a better, and in the long run cheaper solution  than regular massive disruptions to the economy, and life threatening dehydration and thirst.!

According to   Wikipedia “Desalination”, it would cost just US$0.29 per person per day (for an average person’s 100 gallon per day total usage).  Not bad compared to the price of bottled water!

If the Promised Land needs desalination plants and other techniques to protect water evaporation, then it is time the US and its drought- prone south and southwest also recognize that you cannot live in desert or hot areas and be water spendthrifts.

So, shielding stored water, recycling, and desalination are the way of the future.

Remember:  Gaia does not suffer fools well.