Thursday, October 1, 2009

The Water Emperor Has No Clothes

$54 Billion to fix the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta—Is This the Price of Suburban Sprawl or has California Development Finally Reached its Environmental Limits?

     Actually, its not a question of what it costs to fix the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, it’s a question of what can we afford to spend to send vast new quantities of water to southern California and the Central Valley. The latest estimates for “fixing” the delta have reached monumental proportions. But why do we assume that new development is a given, especially development that is not water-friendly—new tracts of suburban development with yards to water and swimming pools to fill? Why also do we assume that certain crops, like water-thirsty cotton, must be grown in the Central Valley? These and similar questions are apparently not being asked with enough volume to reach the ears of our legislators. Or is it that the California legislature is dominated by the votes of those whose constituents will most benefit by future water exports to the south?

Click on the title link above to read the rest of the story...