How about cutting off the "projected population increases?"
Duncan Hunter 15' Fence 
Posted on 12/29/2005 8:01:12 AM PST by SmithL
California hasn't built a major reservoir in decades, and its most important reservoir by far -- the Sierra Nevada snowpack -- is in danger of shrinking because of global warming.
Water agencies say those facts, coupled with projected population increases, mean that it is time for the state to get serious about building new dams.
"Failure to consider these potential changes and develop the storage to address it will all but guarantee a future that swings from extreme floods to droughts on a regular basis," the Association of California Water Agencies reported in a "blueprint" for statewide water planning in May.
That report, "No Time to Waste," was one of several this year to look at where California's water policy ought to go between now and 2030, when the state's population is expected to soar by 11 million, to nearly 50 million.
By then, global warming also could begin taking a toll: Scientists have predicted dramatic reductions in the Sierra snowpack 100 years from now.
If those predictions prove accurate, the amount of precipitation might be the same, but it would shift from snow to rain. Water would then wash down Sierra rivers faster and in shorter periods of time.
For water users, reservoirs will be all the more important to catch that runoff.
The ACWA report called for new surface and ground water storage, increased pumping capacity out of the Delta, relaxation of Endangered Species Act requirements for development of new water infrastructure and a comprehensive re-evaluation of the Delta's viability, among other things.
"California has been well served by its water supply system, but it has been more than 30 years since improvements were made on the scale required to keep pace with the state's growing population and changing water needs," the report said.
The Oakland-based Pacific Institute, an environmental group, had a different view.
It said that water use could be cut by 20 percent and still sustain continued population and economic growth by improving water use efficiency. That means setting new water-efficiency standards for household appliances and implementing irrigation methods that use less water.
That report recommended phasing out water subsidies to San Joaquin Valley farmers and said those farmers could simply irrigate more efficiently without changing crop patterns.
"Experience has shown that efforts to improve water-use efficiency are consistently successful and cost-effective," said the Pacific Institute's report, "California Water 2030: An Efficient Future."
"If California put as much time, money and effort into water-efficiency programs as has gone into traditional water supply development, a high-efficiency future could be readily achieved -- with benefits to our economy, environment and health."
Meanwhile, the state Department of Water Resources triennial review of state water policy recommends implementing CalFed programs to increase water supplies and protect the ecosystem, sustaining the Delta, and increasing focus on regional initiatives in which individual water agencies band together to increase water supply and reduce water demand, among other steps.
For example, the Bay Area Water Agencies Coalition includes 29 cities, water districts and other agencies in the region and was formed in 2002 to promote water conservation and cooperate in other ways.
And don't even ask about supplying fuel for this state.
Funny, the Sierra snowpack increased two feet since Dec. 23; good timing on this thread.
Only got this far into the article when my BS meter pinged.
CA doesn't build power plants or dams or mow the grass or stop the mud slides, so where does all that tax money go?
How about cutting off the "projected population increases?"
Duncan Hunter 15' Fence
There.... that's better.
Build beeeg water pipeline to Alaska. Plenty of cheap labor (hint hint) to dig it by hand. Cost only few pesos.
Resevoirs and power plants don't belong in California. They go in Arizona and Nevada. California is for rich sophisticated liberals. (Big Sarcasm)
The environmental whackos want all the dams torn down, for the children (of fish).
Why the sarcasm? I like the idea of having other states be able to cut of the power and water to the rich liberals in CA.
And they're expecting a real humdinger over the weekend - in fact it's almost a given (I'm beginning to get a Schadenfreude shudder) that it'll be down south by Monday and the Rose Parade will take place under a lot more than a drizzle.
Sierra, I really hate to ping you to this. I know how it will just make your day.
See tagline.
You forgot the razor wire and sub-lethal electric current.
With that idiot Schwartzenegger at the helm, this state is rapidly becoming a "ship of fools" named the Titanic!!!
Not only will he not "blow up those boxes," he's re-arranging all the deck chairs incorrectly!!!
We can always give SF Tahoe like they tried to do originally. It was a dead lake then.
Did you know that lake Tahoe is not a lake at all, but a dammed reservoir run by the Bureau of Reclamation?
Did you know that potable water on planet earth is way less than one tenth of one percent of all water on earth?
That's what I thought! You knew all that already, right?
A reservoir that high could benefit multiple water agencies by "wheeling" that water through a new tunnel for Hwy US 50 over to South Lake Tahoe's water district that currently is forced to use wells. The ones that aren't still contaminated by MTBE!!!
SFO and EDC (San Franpsycho & El Dorado County) could benefit as well as the City of Folsom. And speaking of El Dorado County, It long ago established the EDC Toll Tunnel Authority for just such a multipurpose passage through, rather than over Echo Summit!!!
There are so many magnificent possiblities available that have been suffocated by the neanderthal luddites in the world's most useless organization... The Sierra Flub!!!
If ,as they say, there is reduced snow pack due to global warming, what run off are new reservoirs supposed to hold?
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