<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.5730.11" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<P class=MsoNormal><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on"><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">CALIFORNIA</SPAN></FONT></B></st1:place></st1:State><B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"> LONG-TERM WATER
SUPPLY:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">The
Great Thirst; Looking ahead to a post-global warming life in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>, 60 years
hence<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">San
Francisco Chronicle – 1/7/07<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">By
Glen Martin, staff writer</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The
following extrapolation presents a worst-case scenario of <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>'s
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> situation
in the coming decades, but not necessarily an unlikely one. It is based on a
variety of sources, including interviews and conversations over the past several
years with scientists and government agency staffers, such as those associated
with the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>, the California Department of
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> Resources
and the Bay Institute. (The observations of Jeffrey Mount of UC Davis and
<st1:PersonName w:st="on">John</st1:PersonName> Harte of UC Berkeley were
particularly enlightening.) <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Various
textual sources -- including white papers produced by the state's Climate Action
Team -- were also a source of both statistics and inspiration. The Climate Team
reports, prepared for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature
before the drafting of the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act, postulate likely
impacts of global warming on precipitation patterns, </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">
availability, hydroelectric power, forestry and agriculture. Few of the
conclusions are comforting. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Finally, I
must acknowledge that my field observations from two decades of reporting on
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> played a
role in this soothsaying exercise. The main thing I've learned is that larger
trends don't necessarily translate into predictable regional events. Global
warming likely will result in somewhat drier winters and less snowpack for the
Sierra; strong El Niños, also predicted in most current global warming
projections, mean wetter, warmer winters for the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">North</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. I've tried to reconcile these two
seemingly disparate projections in this piece. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">I've also
learned that nature invariably seeks and exploits the weakest link. I still
remember the panic engendered by the second year of the 1976-77 drought. And I
recall covering the great floods of 1997, the year, some experts say, we came
close to losing <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City></st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">One day
that winter, I stood on Highway 70 at the point it disappeared into a roiling
inland sea, the outflow of the Feather, Yuba and Bear rivers. Among the flotsam
were trailer homes and huge propane tanks, venting gas as they rolled in the
brown </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">.
Submerged beneath the flood was the little town of <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Olivehurst</st1:place></st1:City>. Then, it was a
mere hamlet surrounded by croplands. Today, it is a residential tract boomtown.
The engineers say the new levees they are constructing will withstand anything
the rivers deliver. I wonder. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">-- Glen
Martin <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">
<HR align=center width="100%" SIZE=2>
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">It is a
sign of the flexibility of the human spirit that a certain nostalgia has begun
to pervade our memories of the Great Thirst.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">With it
immured safely 30 years in the past, we can afford such revisionism. Today, in
2062, we delight in recalling the heroic incidents it kindled, the ingenious
responses to catastrophe, the shared privations. Now that we have squeezed
through the bottleneck with our institutions more or less intact, we can savor
the simple and glorious fact that we endured. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">But as we
bask in the alpenglow of our memories, we must acknowledge that the forces that
almost destroyed <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> are still in play globally; that
other people are still grappling with the crises we have weathered. They still
have to get though the bottleneck. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">True, we
Californians have established the standard for societal response to catastrophic
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> shortages
and supply disruption. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">But we had
an essential advantage: We were Californians. Our state was -- and is -- one of
the world's great repositories of wealth, technology and talent. We had
everything going for us, and we still barely squeaked through.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Nor can we
claim that we emerged unscathed. Our society has changed, and not necessarily
for the better. Our lives are tightly regulated now, in ways our antecedents
would not have tolerated. Key components of the old economy have disappeared.
The environmental disruption of the past five decades has been extreme, and much
of the damage is irreparable. There are far more of us living on much less.
Basic services and resources that were once considered an unalienable birthright
are now privileges: <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Only the
very wealthy have swimming pools or lawns. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Still, we
all have enough </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> to drink
now. All of us can shower regularly, and we can flush our (reduced flow) toilets
after each use. We can wash our clothes more or less when we want. Yes, we pay a
lot of money for our </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">, but
we're used to it -- as our grandparents became inured to paying top dollar for
gasoline. After years of dire shortages and draconian rationing, the simple fact
that we can turn on a tap at will seems like a luxury of the most decadent
stripe. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The irony,
of course, is that the Great Thirst initially wasn't driven by
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">
shortages. For thousands of years, the west slope of the <st1:place
w:st="on">Sierra Nevada</st1:place> annually produced about 30 million acre-feet
of runoff. Winters have become somewhat drier during the past 50 years, but the
Sierra still yields on average about 25 million acre-feet of </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> a year.
So the issue isn't so much about the amount of </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> -- it's
the way nature delivers it that has radically changed, and that has made all the
difference. (Climate Scenarios for <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Climate</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Change</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, 2006)
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Many
scientists saw it coming, positing as early as the late 20th century that global
warming due to greenhouse gas emissions would change the precipitation pattern
in the Sierra. And by 2020, the emerging pattern became clear: More moisture
falling as rain rather than snow at the higher elevations. (Interview with
<st1:PersonName w:st="on">John</st1:PersonName> Harte, UC Berkeley)
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">This basic
fact radically changed the way </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> was
delivered to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>'s reservoirs. When the state's
reservoir system was conceived, it was designed to hold </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> from
spring snowmelt. Because it typically took several weeks for the snowpack to
melt, the reservoirs could be filled gradually through the late spring. The
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> was then
released for hydropower, agricultural irrigation and urban requirements through
the summer and early fall, when needs were at a peak.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">But the
shift in the weather regimen rapidly made the system obsolete. Instead of
falling as snow for later and manageable downstream flow to the reservoirs, the
precipitation began falling as rain. What fell at high altitudes raced instantly
downstream, all through the vast watersheds of the Sierra. The reservoirs were
changed from </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">-storage
systems to flood-control structures, holding back the torrents only enough to
prevent catastrophic flooding through the <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place>. Most of the </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> had to be
passed downstream, through <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San
Francisco</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType> and out
the <st1:place w:st="on">Golden Gate</st1:place>. It could not be saved for
summertime irrigation, power and urban uses. (Paper by Edwin Maurer and Philip
Duffy; Geophysical Research Letters, Jan. 27, 2006) By the third decade of the
century, the state had begun its slide toward </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">
deprivation: Even during extremely wet winters, we simply could not hold on to
the precipitation. Overall, annual </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">
deliveries in the state had declined an average of 20 percent by 2030. (Climate
Warming and </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> Supply
Management in <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Climate</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Change</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, 2006)
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Snow still
accumulated in the Sierra -- but as the years went by, it tended to accumulate
only briefly, and only at the highest elevations. Even then, it merely
compounded the problems rather than ameliorating them: Any snow lying around was
sure to be drenched in short order by warm rain, sending even bigger pulses of
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> into the
already stressed reservoirs. Worse, as predicted by most global warming models
at the beginning of the century, the incidence of El Niño years increased for
the eastern Pacific. These intrusions of warm marine </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> to our
coast left the door open for countless "Pineapple Express" storms that dropped
huge amounts of warm precipitation on the state, far more than is typical for
northern storms. (Maurer/Duffy: Geophysical Research Letters, Jan. 27, 2006)
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">So even as
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>
inched toward summer </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">
shortages, it was sometimes drowning during the winter. At this point, many
pundits opined the state could adjust to the new precipitation patterns by
building more reservoirs on major rivers to improve flood control and increase
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> storage
capacity. The negative environmental impacts of such projects were openly
acknowledged, but advocates claimed the very social fabric of the state was at
stake. Their arguments convinced many Californians, and it seemed clear that
legislation or bond initiatives eventually would be passed for new dams and
delivery systems. Then came the winter of 2033-2034.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Again, the
events that transpired in mid-February had long been foretold. More than 30
years earlier Jeffrey Mount, a UC Davis geologist, had predicted similar
scenarios with almost preternatural accuracy. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The rains
came early that year, following a fierce El Niño. In November, the first of a
great train of subtropical storms swept in from the south-central Pacific. By
Thanksgiving, the state was drenched, and by early December it was waterlogged.
Every river from the McCloud in the north to the Kern in the south was swollen
and turbid with runoff. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The storm
door remained open through Christmas, but it abruptly canted north. Everyone
breathed easier as the snow began to accumulate in the Sierra. There had been
some levee breaches in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and in the
northern <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San
Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, but crews immediately began
plugging them. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The
snowpack grew through late January as front after front moved down from the
<st1:place w:st="on">Gulf of Alaska</st1:place>; drifts were 20 feet high at
Donner Summit. Ski resorts, impoverished by years of scant snow, declared the
return of the Glory Days. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">But while
skiers and snowboarders responded, the crowds were considerably reduced from
those of three decades earlier. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">(Interview
with Harte) <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The
Sierra, once a global destination for winter sport enthusiasts, now suffered
from a reputation for meager snow and unreliable conditions. Instead of zipping
up to Tahoe for the weekend as was once the norm, skiers and snowboarders now
tended to save their money for extended trips to destinations that still had
prime snow -- the Canadian Rockies, Alaska -- and for those who had the funds,
Patagonia or New Zealand. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Still, the
skiing was superb in late 2033 and early 2034. Then in the second week of
February, the storm track swung south again. Front after front still rolled
through, battering the west slope of the Sierra -- except now, as was the case
in November and early December, they came from the central Pacific. They were
warm, and the copious volumes of moisture they contained all fell as rain or
sleet -- even at 7,000 feet. From Tahoe to the Tehachapis, the snowpack melted
as though a blowtorch had been held against it. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">In the
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType>, Shasta Dam on the Sacramento River and Folsom
Dam on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">American</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> had been dumping steadily since the
heavy fall rains, but their reservoirs were still high. Now, with an entire
season of snowmelt pushing downhill in a matter of days instead of weeks, they
proved insufficient to avert catastrophe. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Shasta Dam
held against the torrent, thanks to a huge reservoir and a strong, high dam. But
it was barely able to keep up with its inflows, and its gates ran wide open. The
Sacramento River boiled near the top of its sodden levees all the way to its
confluence with the <st1:place w:st="on">Feather River</st1:place>, which was in
turn dumping </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> from the
Feather and Yuba watersheds at the rate of hundreds of thousands of cubic feet a
second. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Marysville
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Yuba City</st1:City></st1:place>
were inundated by the flood. South of Marysville, near the former farming hamlet
of Olivehurst, a vast warren of residential tracts had sprouted on the rich
loam, protected by levees that had been declared impregnable when they were
built 25 years before. Now these berms melted before the surge, and the
developments utterly disappeared beneath the </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">. The
floods claimed 600 lives in the greater Marysville area.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">A great
deal of </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> was
diverted to the Sutter and Yolo bypasses, but it wasn't enough. Most of the
Sacramento River's flow still pushed to the heart of the city of <st1:City
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City> -- where the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">American</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> entered from the east. Here, Folsom
Dam quickly revealed its deficiencies. (1998 Field Hearing on Proposed
Modifications of Folsom Dam; Subcommittee on </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> and Power
of the Committee on Resources, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> House of Representatives)
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Folsom Dam
was lower than Shasta Dam, and it backed up a much smaller reservoir. Folsom had
been raised in 2022, and was considered sufficiently bolstered to handle
200-year floods. But that analysis was based on historic data mostly gathered
from the 19th and 20th centuries. The quixotic weather that now seemed a
corollary of global warming had not been taken sufficiently into account. By the
old criteria, the </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> now
booming down the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">American</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> was not a 200-year flood -- it
wasn't even a 500-year flood. It was, at the least, a millennial flood. More
than 200,000 cubic feet of </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> per
second was coming down the American. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">And it
went over Folsom Dam. More accurately, it undercut the earthen flanks of the
structure. Folsom Dam became nothing more than a diversion in the flow, like a
mid-stream boulder. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City> braced briefly against the walls of
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">
approaching it from the north and east -- and yielded. The two great rivers
claimed the city as their own, turning it into a muddy torrent up to 2 miles
wide. In the Natomas area, the </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> stood 20
feet deep. As we now know, at least 4,000 people died in <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City>. The state
government was moved temporarily to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San
Jose</st1:City></st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The
drowning of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City></st1:place> still stands as the country's worst
civil disaster. It is marked on our calendars, and state schoolchildren and
government employees get the day off. But it was not, of course, the most
far-reaching consequence of the February Flood. The bitter irony is that the
flood, an epochal manifestation of fresh </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">, marked
the beginning of the Great Thirst. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">While the
<st1:City w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City> and American rivers were destroying
the state capital, the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType> to the south was also in extreme
flood stage, bolstered by the contributions of its mighty tributaries: the
<st1:City w:st="on">Merced</st1:City>, <st1:place
w:st="on">Tuolumne</st1:place>, Mokelumne and Stanislaus rivers. By the
standards of the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType>, most of the levees of the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> were pathetically
under-engineered. And even relatively new levees that were designed to handle
anything nature could throw -- the "super levees" surrounding the huge housing
tracts near Lathrop, for example -- proved dismal failures. The river conquered
all, and surged into the Sacramento Delta. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">And here,
the tipping point was achieved -- and a new equilibrium established, one
inimical to civilization as we knew it in early 2034. (Interviews with Jeffrey
Mount, UC Davis) <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The
central fact driving the change: Most of the delta's agricultural islands had
subsided drastically from more than a hundred years of farming. They were
essentially holes in the ground protected by weak levees; some were 20 feet
below sea level. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Additionally,
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> levels
were rising in the delta. For 20 years, sea levels had been climbing due to
massive polar ice cap melting -- again, attributed to global warming. The rise,
modest in annual increments, was significant in the whole: Between 2000 and
2030, sea levels at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San
Francisco</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> had risen 6.5 inches. (Projecting
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Sea</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Level-California</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Climate</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Change</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>) The higher mean
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> levels
had weakened all the westernmost levees drastically -- they desperately wanted
to fail. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">And the
San Joaquin River obliged them, smashing the levees and flooding the islands,
abruptly changing the delta from a patchwork of farmland, canals and sloughs
into a vast, saline bay. To the north, the <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento
River</st1:place> added its flow, compounding the disaster. (Interviews with
Mount) <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The bay
now surrounded the great state and federal pumps near <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Tracy</st1:City></st1:place>. The gigantic
apparatus that delivered freshwater from the north state to the farms and cities
of the south ground to a halt. The pumps could now send only salt
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> south;
they were useless. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The storms
eventually blew themselves out and the rivers stopped raging. <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> buried her
dead. But that all ended up as subtext as the full impact of the destruction of
the state's primary </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> delivery
systems became apparent. Full </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> rationing
immediately went into effect for the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">East</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> and most cities south of the delta.
Irrigation deliveries to the west side of the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> were curtailed -- after state and
federal legislation passed compensating farmers for that year's crop loss.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">In the
first weeks following the flood, both the governor's office and the state
Legislature unexpectedly showed their mettle, forsaking their interminable
squabbles to address the disaster. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Immediately
on gaining her new authority, she conferred with and received support from the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which controls many of the Sierra's reservoirs. She
then approved diversion of all </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> from
Millerton Reservoir on the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType> to the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Cross</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Canal</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, (currently in use) which connected
to the California Aqueduct -- at that point a dry, worthless ditch, since
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> no longer
flowed from the delta. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Her move
dried up eastern <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType> farms, but it allowed the
continued delivery of </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> over the
Techachapis to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Los
Angeles</st1:City></st1:place> and its satellite communities. The governor also
directed all Colorado River </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">
deliveries away from <st1:place w:st="on">Imperial Valley</st1:place> farms to
the south state's biggest municipalities. Californians were by no means
comfortable in the summer and fall of 2034. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Their
lawns were brown and their cars were filthy -- but they at least had enough
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> for
drinking, short daily showers and semi-regular toilet flushing.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">That might
have been enough to allow the state to limp through the next few years, until
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> supplies
could be judiciously re-allocated, affected parties made whole and new delivery
systems built. But the governor and lawmakers didn't enjoy such a leisurely
interregnum between one disaster and the next. In early 2035, just as it seemed
the economy and citizenry were settling down, something became distressingly
clear: Virtually no precipitation had fallen that winter. A high-pressure system
of unparalleled stability was locked over the eastern and north Pacific.
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> had
lurched from one of the wettest years on record to one of the driest. The
drought that loomed promised to be as severe as the great drought of 1976-77,
the first inkling modern Californians had that the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Golden</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> was, at heart, a desert state.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">In fact,
the drought was worse than the '70s dry spell. It ominously hinted at the
multi-decade droughts that research indicated had blighted <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> roughly
between A.D. 1100 and 1350. (Scott Stine, Nature, 1994)
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">For four
years, only a few storms hit the Sierra, and they were paltry. By the end, all
the state's reservoirs were bottoming out. The San Joaquin was a dirt-bike track
its entire length; the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City> had been reduced to a trickle.
Before, people were inconvenienced; now, they were panicked. In the months after
the flood, the issue was about obtaining sufficient </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> for a
reasonably civilized life. Now it was about raw survival.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Some urban
areas ran dry, and had to be serviced with tanker trucks. Freelance, or "gypsy,"
tankers catered to the poorer neighborhoods, selling their cargo at exorbitant
prices. That triggered the </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> Riots of
the summer of 2038, when much of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Los
Angeles</st1:City></st1:place> burned. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Agricultural
production collapsed. Once the salad bowl of the nation, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> was now
importing most fruits and vegetables. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Produce
prices skyrocketed. Yet state farmers, paradoxically, did fairly well, at least
those with primary </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> rights.
After some brisk legal skirmishes, those rights generally were upheld -- and the
farmers who possessed them prospered, selling what </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> they had
at astronomical rates to the cities. (Climate Warming and </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> Supply
Management in <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Climate</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Change</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>) <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> became
the new gasoline, every drop precious and hoarded. Dishes and clothes were all
washed by hand now, and the gray </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> saved to
irrigate window pots of herbs and greens or to flush toilets. Showers became a
fond memory. The sponge bath was the new standard: One small saucepan of
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> to wash,
with a cloth, bar of soap and shampoo; one larger pot to rinse.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Again, the
gray </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> was
saved. Thousands of new wells were drilled throughout the state in a desperate
bid to tap groundwater. This provided brief relief in some cases, but the
exponential increase in demand tapped out </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> tables,
and soon the new wells were sucking air. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">At this
point, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>'s 50 million citizens seemed to
take a collective deep breath and consider their options. About 8 million of
them -- mostly the poor, unemployed and hopeless -- decided they'd had enough.
What then transpired was like the Okie exodus of the Dust Bowl, except in
reverse. Caravans of the disenfranchised clogged the freeways and blue highways
heading east. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">As they
traveled, they found drought had gripped the Southwest, the Rocky Mountain
states and the Great Plains as viciously as it had <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>. Before its
extensive settlement in the mid-19th century, the American West had been called
the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Great</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">American</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Desert</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. It was now clear those early
evaluations were accurate. Most of the emigrants didn't stop until they were
well beyond the <st1:place w:st="on">Mississippi River</st1:place>, where the
rains still fell reliably. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> was not ready for these new
armies of the poor and desiccated. Huge encampments sprang up along Eastern
freeways, especially along Interstate 80 from <st1:State
w:st="on">Illinois</st1:State> to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">Pennsylvania</st1:State></st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">These
ragged immigrants had no money, and their collective skill set was low. Their
demands on local communities -- for shelter, food, funds, jobs, medical care,
schooling -- was great, in some cases insupportable. Local resentment against
them ran high. It took a full generation to absorb the "Calies" into their new
environs, and the process was trying, at times traumatic, for all involved.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Meanwhile,
back in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>, the governor had begun running
into resistance from state legislators on long-term responses to the drought. So
-- as other <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> governors had done in the past --
she appealed directly to voters, promoting a series of referenda that would
utterly revamp the state's </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> storage
and delivery system. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Among the
initiatives was one that greatly increased the power of the governor's office.
This, she said, would allow her to do what had to be done to get <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> rehydrated:
override a vacillating and feckless Legislature and definitively cut the Gordian
knot of environmental regulation. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The
remaining initiatives were bond measures and levies that would fund the largest
public works effort in state history -- a veritable Manhattan Project for
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Under the
governor's plan, a peripheral canal would be dug around the delta, providing a
new south state delivery conduit for the <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento
River</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Just as
bold: Every major river canyon on the west slope of the Sierra would be turned
into catch basins for winter and spring precipitation. Altogether, five new dams
would be built on the major west Sierra drainages. The measures also included
plans for reservoirs on some of larger streams on the east slope off the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Range</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, such as Putah Creek
and Cache Creek. (Scenarios of Climate Change in <st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State>: An Overview, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">California</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Climate</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Change</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>) <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">New
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> standards
were required for toilets, dishwashers and washing machines. Provisions were
also made to retrofit most major urban </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> treatment
complexes to render sewage and storm runoff fit for reuse, with the recycled
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> employed
for agriculture and landscaping. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Finally,
the initiatives provided for ambitious groundwater storage projects. Under the
measures, many of the areas that had been sprawling housing tracts before the
February Flood would now be permanent bypasses, zones where flood waters could
be diverted and held until they percolated downward, recharging
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> tables.
These areas, the governor declared, could be managed for wildlife habitat as
well as </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> storage.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Altogether,
the initiatives would raise $300 billion through bonds and new taxes, greatly
increasing the state's debt and further burdening businesses and workers.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The
governor pointed out she had received guarantees the federal government would
provide up to $100 billion in matching funds. Further, she said, the bonds and
taxes were a necessary investment, essential to assuring not <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>'s prosperity,
but its simple existence as a modern society. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Environmentalists
rallied to fight the initiatives. They pointed out the effects of a peripheral
canal on the delta and San Francisco Bay were unknown, (various interviews with
staffers of the Bay Institute and the Pacific Federation of Fishermen's
Associations) and that the Sierra's great river canyons would be lost to chains
of reservoirs. They also noted no provisions had been made to maintain
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">
deliveries from Shasta Dam for Sacramento River Chinook salmon -- runs that had
been painstakingly revived over five decades. Fearing the worst, they hastily
drafted an initiative of their own, specifying any new dam projects must include
fishery maintenance flows for the <st1:City w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City> and
<st1:place w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:place> rivers.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Conservationists
also claimed the new reservoirs would add significantly to the state's global
greenhouse gas emission load, undermining the Global Warming Solutions Act of
2006. The decaying trees and other vegetation in the new reservoirs, they said,
would release large amounts of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
(Philip Fearnside: Greenhouse Gas Emissions From a Hydroelectric Reservoir;
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">, Air and
Soil Pollution Journal, 2002) <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The
governor countered somewhat disingenuously that the carbon-free hydroelectric
power yielded by the new dams would help offset the added greenhouse gas
releases. Besides, she once again emphasized, she had no choice but to proceed
with her plans. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Even
before the flood and drought, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> residents had been leaning toward
dam construction. Now, with empty reservoirs and a devastated economy, they saw
things the governor's way. Her "Healing Waters" initiative package passed in a
landslide. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Of some
small relief to environmentalists was the narrow passage of the Sacramento-San
Joaquin salmon initiative. In a magnanimous move, the governor said fishery
flows down both rivers were sacrosanct, and would be maintained.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Simultaneously,
the state's local governments and residents responded to the </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> crisis on
their own. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Marin</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> had long maintained
a desalinization plant to supplement </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> supplies
during dry years, and now it built a huge new complex, capable of providing up
to 60 percent of county needs. The </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> was
expensive -- up to $1,500 an acre foot (Climate Warming And </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> Supply In
California, California Climate Change Center), exponentially more costly than
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> from most
other sources. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">But county
residents could afford it, and were happy to pay for the peace of mind the new
plant provided. Other wealthy coastal communities, most notably <st1:City
w:st="on">Santa Barbara</st1:City> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">San Diego</st1:City></st1:place>, followed with big desalinization
plants of their own. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">The Great
Thirst also revived an ancient technology: cisterns. Across the state, the roofs
of homes and commercial buildings were covered with sheet metal or treated with
special polymer coatings, and their gutters and downspouts connected to plumbing
that emptied into newly constructed concrete or stainless steel cisterns. Such
systems were simple to install and maintain, and the </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> they
provided required little treatment. Tens of thousands of acres of roofs
eventually were outfitted in this way, and the yield was impressive: 550 gallons
of </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> for each
inch of rain falling on 1,000 square feet of roof. (Rain Catchment Systems/The
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Campus</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType> for Appropriate Technology, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Humboldt</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>) Many homeowners found their
cisterns provided a significant fraction of their </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">
requirements. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Other
avenues were tried and abandoned. These include solar stills for distilling gray
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">; a "still
suit" -- modeled after those described in the science-fiction novel "Dune" --
that was designed to turn sweat, urine and respiratory vapor into potable
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">, but did
little more than make its wearers reek like actively fermenting compost piles.
And most notably, the Berg Project. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">This plan
to wrap Arctic icebergs in heavy-gauge plastic sheeting and tow them to
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">-deprived
southern cities had been kicking around for decades, (Time magazine, Oct. 17,
1977), but the Big Thirst gave venture capitalists impetus to back a pilot
effort. It was an abject failure, from start to finish: The towlines kept
breaking in heavy seas; the ice melted far more rapidly than expected, and was
lost as leakage. The expenses were so high that the much-reduced berg that
finally made it to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San
Francisco</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> wouldn't have covered costs had it
been sold as mere drinking </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">.
Investors made most of their money back by selling small vials of the ice melt
as tourist souvenirs. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Much has
been taken from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> by the Big Thirst. We have lost the
deep, wild canyons of the Sierra. Hobbled by both regulation and new social
mores, our lives are more constricted. For most of us, such simple pleasures as
a flower garden or a prolonged soak in a big tub are no longer affordable.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">But our
optimism has returned. After all, we have been able to save -- even augment --
some of the best things of the past. We still have our wild salmon fisheries,
albeit at reduced levels. The huge new <st1:City w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City>
and <st1:place w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:place> bypass system has created
thousands of acres of wildlife habitat and parks on land where housing
developments once sprawled. The economy has recovered, driven in large part by
the research and technologies that emerged here as a response to the floods and
droughts. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">We
shouldn't assume, however, that we have bested Nature at her game. We have
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> now, but
barely enough -- and our population is once again growing, today standing at
about 55 million. The planet is still warming, with consequences for <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> that are
unlikely to prove benign. It is increasingly clear we haven't really solved our
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> crisis --
we have simply negotiated a respite. And we have no clear idea where to go from
here. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">From 2035
to 2064, Sierra snowpack is expected to decrease 12 to 47 percent from historic
levels. By the end of the century, annual snowpack could decline by 90 percent.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Source:
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>
Climate Action Team reports <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">By the
mid- to late century, reservoir inflows are expected to decline in spring and
summer and increase in winter. In the most extreme model, the month of highest
streamflow would shift from May to February. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Source:
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>
Climate Action Team reports <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Flows into
major Sierra reservoirs could decline 25 to 30 percent from the middle to the
end of the century. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Source:
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>
Climate Action Team reports <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Before the
end of the century, sea levels are expected to rise 5.1 to 24.4 inches from the
2000 mark. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Stress on
tidewater levees in the bay and delta will increase with every inch of rise.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Source:
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>
Climate Action Team reports <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Within the
tenure of human habitation, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> has suffered severe droughts
lasting more than a century. A study of relict tree stumps recovered from lakes
and marshes indicates the Sierra Nevada endured an extreme drought of more than
200 years before A.D. 1112 and another lasting more than 140 years before A.D.
1350 <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Source:
Scott Stine, Nature, June 16, 1994 <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">How
the </SPAN></FONT></B><B><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT></B><B><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">
flows <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Each year,
the Sierra snowpack provides about 30 million acre-feet of </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> for human
use - but that figure is expected to decline under most global warming
scenarios. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Warmer
winters are also likely to deliver more rain than snow to the Sierra. This will
make it more difficult to store </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> in
reservoirs, because the flow schedule will be compressed, moving from late to
early spring - or even late winter. Stream flow levels will be higher in this
shorter runoff season, meaning reservoirs may have to be used more for flood
control than </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> storage.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Warmer
winters and less available </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> will
increase pressure for more </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">water</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"> storage
and production facilities - new reservoirs, canals, extensive groundwater
recharging schemes and desalinization plants. Yet this may not prove sufficient
to avoid severe social and economic disruption, and environmental costs for such
projects could also be high. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">There also
remains the nagging reality that much of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> is desert or semi-desert, and that
the entire state is vulnerable to drought. Particularly disquieting is evidence
that <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> endured extreme droughts lasting
several decades only a few hundred years before it was first explored by
Europeans. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=black size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Sources:
ESRI, Chronicle research #<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><A
href="">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/07/CMG9HMMTIT12.DTL&hw=water&sn=040&sc=1000</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">#####<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>