A friend of mine from CA provides some insight to the So. CA water situation.
Hank de Carbonel is a Cement Pumper by trade and a regular writer for the publication of the CA Construction Truckers Association. He responded to my question about the land of what is called the Inland Empire east of LA and the desert turned ag land east of San Diego. When you fly into LA or San Diego it is obvious the ag activity below is only possible by irrigation.
Says Hank:
The Techachapi range, which runs west to east and pretty well separates the San Juaquin Valley from greater southern California. The range is just south of Bakersfield on a map. All the land South is desert and made livable by imported water. Any agriculture is only possible by irrigation. The movie “Chinatown” was basically the story of water being diverted to So Cal for development. The Chandler family of the L.A. Times was a major player in this water ploy. The water rights were purchased in great secrecy in the 20’s and 30’s with the goal of creating vast orange groves in what became L.A.
The water battle in California involves the Colorado River rights, the Eastern Sierra,Owens Valley and Northern cal water. The battle is aggravated by the fact that San Francisco was “old” money and L.A. “new” money. Mark Twain said of California, Whisky is for drinking and water for fighting over.That’s how long this battle has been going on.
The short answer is that any land in the South is provided by these sources or pumping from the aquifer. San Diego is included. Of course Az was one of adversaries in getting as much water from the Colorado as possible, by just about any means.
Another part of my life was spent on trying to sell equipment to the farms from Fresno to Redding in the North, the greater Central Valley. The water wars in California is a fascinating history and a never-ending drama. Very powerful political farmers and families pull a lot of the strings in Sacramento and Washington. Water and California is a true microcosm of man vs nature, sex, money and evil, plenty of corruption of course.
Hank de Carbonel
The prospective of drought is based on the low precipitation to date. While the recent storm will help fill reservoirs, the lack of snow pack is the problem for most of the state. Studies have been made to raise Shasta Dam to provide greater capacity, but the reservoir is now only filled to spillway capacity every 10+ years. Few new sites are built while the demand for domestic water increases, and the mandate to protect the fish before crops and municipal supply does nothing to solve the problem. Aquifers are being pumped down, and typically are slow to recharge. Conservation, while worthwhile, just delays real solutions.
I can’t speak about the current drought but having been born and raised in Northern California I did live through the drought in the 70’s. The division between North California and South California is such that water wars will continue far into the future. I remember hearing such statements as LA voted themselves our water. The population of south CA was greater then northern CA 12 million in South CA versus 7.8 million in northern CA. and still is according to 2010 census figures. Canals run north south bringing water to LA and San Diego. From folks in Oregon and family in Washington I have heard all say that California is after their water. Also in doing a little article research I see that Northern CA is still fighting against South California taking water.