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The the Federal Government's roll in water management?

About the author

Barbara is a school psychologist, a published author in the area of personal finance, a breast cancer survivor using "alternative" treatments, a born existentialist, and a student of nature and all things natural.

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Not the "North American Union"! OH NOES!

They used Microsoft Word's spell check.

There's way too many farmers out west using the wrong type of irrigation. They should be using drip irrigation out in the marginal desert, however, they are using things like sprinklers instead.

And don't get me started on Las Vegas and their egregious waste of water.

There already is a privatized water market. It's called bottle water and it is a booming industry.

Vegas in general is waste. Idiots built a large city in the middle of a freakin' desert.

I keep thinking of the Imperial Valley (current temperature: 115°F, relative humidity:5%) which was settled when a bunch of farmers said "Excuse me, Federal Government, but could you build a massive irrigation system from the Colorado River to this below-sea level desert (average annual rainfall: 2.92") so we can turn it into farmland?

Last edited by Tallgeese (2008-06-20 5:30 pm)

Tallgeese wrote:

I keep thinking of the Imperial Valley (current temperature: 115°F, relative humidity:5%) which was settled when a bunch of farmers said "Excuse me, Federal Government, but could you build a massive irrigation system from the Colorado River to this below-sea level desert (average annual rainfall: 2.92") so we can turn it into farmland?

When Congressman Roberts of Pennsylvania had traversed the desert to enter Imperial Valley, he said: "The one incomprehensible fact with me is that you people came here. Now that you are here and have brought about this marvelous development, I can well understand why you stay here. But how did it happen that you came out into this Valley when it was such a forbidding desert as I have seen in coming here? - that is the mystery."
              Congressman Roberts did not realize that there is in America a nomadic race of beings, always pressing toward the frontier and carving empires to endure for the ages. Here in Imperial Valley, last of the American frontiers, they saw the opportunity, and we may believe that as they settled down near the river to make new habitation they but duplicated the processes of the ancients the skill of the moderns.
              It was no ancient that brought forth Imperial Valley from the desolation of the Colorado Desert. There is no alchemy and no mysticism in the methods whereby the desert is reclaimed. Everywhere in modern husbandry the scientist is analyzing the soil and determining the element that is lacking for highest productivity, and he has discovered that in arid lands the one missing element is moisture. That supplied, the plant food that has been accumulating through the ages brings forth crops to astonish those unacquainted with the desert.

etc. etc.

Do you also cringe when you hear Israeli propaganda about "making the desert bloom"?

Prior to 1968, there was a bit of campaign to settle the Negev. Many of these deserts are reasonably fertile given enough water. Water's rarely free, though.

I must admit - it really gets under skin when people like me, who live where water is plentiful, are told to reduce our watering while people who live where water is scarce, getting our water, fill their swimming pools and hot tubs.

Yup - we are in drought, but there is plenty of water up here. When there is drought, those who choose to live where it is dry even in non drought conditions, filling their swimming pools and watering their lawns, require me to use less.

Don't build a metropolis where there is not a stable water supply. That's not a difficult concept.

JakeTheTall wrote:

Would let the market drive improvements and efficiency.

Though, there's still a lot of easy wins to be found with water usage.  People don't make much attempt to conserve.  The transmission methods are absurdly inefficient.

you mean farms? or are you suggesting the brown lawn and dirty vehicles are not evidence of my conservation?

frankly, i see the way the market and automotive industry is handling energy, and point as rebut.