This article from Time (
http://ti.me/whFGlX ) does a good job giving an overview of Southern California’s start/stop/start again process for dealing with water self sufficiency. Every time there’s a drought, people run around screaming and yelling about reducing dependence on imported water and developing reliable local sources. The discussion includes conservation, recycling, stormwater capture, rainwater harvesting, increased groundwater use, and desalination. Plans are made, funding sources explored, consultants (lots of consultants) are contracted with to explore every aspect of each and every proposal. Then, of course, it rains, and everything comes to a screeching halt; who needs all of those expensive alternative water supply projects when the stuff is falling from the sky? It’s a problem that isn’t limited to the California southland; Australia, during a long and serious drought, was able to get several desalination plants built to try and drought-proof their water supply. Now that the drought there has eased a bit, many are questioning whether those plants are necessary or should have ever been built.
The people of Southern California will have to experience a great deal more pain from increased water costs and decreased availability before they will demand from their political institutions a determined, significant effort to reduce the dependence on imported water. The Time article indicates that the Los Angeles area has reuced it’s dependence on imported water by 25% in the past 20 years. At that rate, it will take at least another 60 years to reach water independence, which is way too long.
