look at Katrina....people building on marsh land and land susceptible to flooding basically and on land even the Indians knew better then to build on...
the West, a good part of it, is just plain old dry, especially many parts of California...
so what do we do?..build huge retirement communities, encourage pools at every house, and huge golf courses kept green year round....and by God we'll keep all those lawns green no matter what...
I can see water for crops....that is critical and essential to human life....
but for the rest of it....we just need to start living simpler and more in tune with the resources available..
I grew up in upstate NY, the southern tier, and at our house, because for many years we had a well, we did not waste water. if you wanted to water your vegetables, we carried water and carefully dumped it preciously right at the roots...showers were quick.....and my mother had one of those wringer washers that she filled with hot water, ran the whites thru, and preceeded using the same water until the darks were complete...
wasting water was not what our parents and grandparents did....
And the idiot rice farmers in Texas have a lobby (about the largest lobby) so they can divert precious water to their rice farms. They don't care they're putting those upstream out of business. Excuse me, but how about planting something that will grow in the South Texas environment instead of water loving rice. Common sense tells you that but nooooo.
You are correct. I still have to remind other so cal folks...so cal for all intents and purposes is a desert., for God sakes.