Scarce water and population boom leads California to 'perfect drought'
Pastor Dale Morgan
Scarce water and population boom leads California to 'perfect drought'*
· No rain forecast in south of state until September
· Sprinklers and car washing could be stopped
Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Monday June 25, 2007
The Guardian
A typical summer's day in Los Angeles: temperatures nudge the nineties,
the sun blazes high in the sky, palm trees sway in the ocean breeze, and
sprinklers spray a fine mist of water into the scorching air.
But if the predictions of climatologists, environmentalists, city
planners and the head of the water board are correct, the sprinklers and
many other of the comforts that have made southern California habitable
may have to be turned off.
Experts across the city concur that the conditions are ripe in southern
California for the "perfect drought". Los Angeles has recorded just
8.15cm (3.21in ) of rain in the year ending June 30, making it the
driest year on record since 1877. According to the National Drought
Mitigation Centre, southern California faces "extreme drought" this
year, with no rain forecast before September. One climatologist referred
to the temperatures in Los Angeles as "Death Valley numbers".
The Sierra Nevada mountains, which typically provide Los Angeles with
50% of its water, have provided just 20% of their normal volume this
year, and the snowpack is at its lowest for 20 years. Pumping from an
aquifer in the San Fernando Valley was stopped this month because it was
contaminated with chromium 6.
While the waters dry up, demand for the scarce resource increases. Not
only has southern California seen a growth in its population of
two-to-four times the national average in the past 50 years, but
neighbouring states such as Nevada and Arizona are also experiencing
population booms. And they all claim water from the same source, the
Colorado River.
"I call it the dry incendiary summer of 2007," says Bill Patzert, a
climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. "Mother
nature is converging with human nature. With population growth and the
decline in the water there are the elements in the equation which you
could call the perfect drought."
Although southern California has experienced severe drought before, this
time could be different. Climate change, some argue, means that the lack
of rainfall and the elevated temperatures will become the norm. "Nature
never intended to support this many people here," said David Nahai,
president of the board of the city's water and power commissioners. "If
we have two years like we have now then we will have to take some
drastic measures. But we're not pushing the panic button."
Just what those drastic measures may entail will be familiar to those in
more temperate climates, such as the UK: mandatory hosepipe bans,
restrictions on car washing - a twice-weekly activity for many Angelenos
- and planning measures to force developers to consider water use. "It's
disgusting that Los Angeles parks and golf courses are being irrigated
with potable water," says Nahai. "We have to re-educate people about
living here."
Melanie Winter, of the LA-based River Project, says that land use and
20th century flood controls - LA's storm drains to channel the rain into
the sea - need to be changed to make the city more self-sufficient and
less dependent on water travelling hundreds of miles through pipelines
and aqueducts.
"We spend $1bn to import water and $500,000 to throw local [rain] water
into the ocean," she said. "In 30 years we may be able to provide 65% of
our drinking water locally rather than 15%."
There may, however, be an upside, Patzert suggests. "The last 10 years
we've had bumper grape harvests. Two buck Chuck [a local, palatable
cheap plonk] is the result of global and regional heat-up."