ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2021-06-03 08:22 pm

Interstate Water Fiasco

Some people are calling for a massive pipeline to move water to the dry southwest. This is a terrible idea.


First, look at the damage done to western ecosystems by water extraction. It has all but destroyed the rivers and their anadromous fish, once the richest ecosystem of Turtle Island. The Mississippi River has enough challenges from humans walling off its floodplains; it doesn't need to be drained of water on top of that.

Second, infrastructure is expensive and it fails. Build it now, cover up the problem of water shortage, and that just makes matters worse 5-10 years down the line when the system starts needing significant repairs. And America loves building but hates repairs, so you can expect a water system to reach the shitty condition of the roads and bridges in very short order.

A civilization must live within its water budget. That means each region gets only what its rain, rivers, etc. can provide. If you don't like the restrictions, move somewhere with more water, because there is only so much that technology can do to cover up the shortage.

Things that would actually help, that people don't want to do:

* Ban commercial drainage of aquifers. Reserve that for local use.

* Stop watering lawns, golf courses, and everything else.

* Reforest the uplands to store water from seasonal rains and release it through year-round runoff.

* Only grow crops whose water needs match the availability of local water resources.

* Encourage people to move from low-water to high-water areas.

* Study measures in other countries to conserve water, since America uses several times as much as the more frugal countries do.
ng_moonmoth: The Moon-Moth (Default)

Re: Thirst

[personal profile] ng_moonmoth 2021-06-04 06:37 am (UTC)(link)
>> California's water wars have been going on since I moved there in my early teens. <<

Quite a bit longer. (Yeah, it's fiction. But the underlying events are all too real.) See also the Owens Valley, and William Mulholland's connection with it.

The entire state and its growth are founded on stripping water from places that (are supposed to) have it and delivering it to places that want it. And accelerating climate change is chipping away faster and faster at that game of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)

Re: Thirst

[personal profile] dialecticdreamer 2021-06-04 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
True. It's just not something I had any need to think about when living on the East Coast, yet within a few months of moving, it was a major point of conversation in the family and the neighborhood.