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Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition?
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All ya'll should read 'Cadillac Desert'.
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Also I was annoyed by the one farmer that complained about ground water restrictions taking acres out of production. How many acres will go out of production when it becomes too expensive (if not impossible at any price) to pump out ground water?
I suggest reading the book Cadillac Desert about the Southwest and how its tricky relationship its water came to be.
Long story short. US government knew there was a lot of land, a somewhat inhospitable climate, and an unpredictable snow-fed river in the American southwest. During the depression and through WWII they began building dams all over the Southwest with the aim that none of the Colorado's water "go to waste". The Colorado valley was supposed to become a modern cradle of civilization, and all of it was made possible by securing its water. It is one of the reasons Arizona is more than three times New Mexico in population---New Mexico does not have nearly the same water resources---and why Los Angeles became powerful and influential...but only in the 2nd half of the 20th century. The massive damming operations elsewhere in California have helped the State produce the majority of fruits and vegetable in the US.
So it was never a matter of 'muh free land'. It was land with untapped potential. It was very valuable land when the right technology was introduced to it.
The book Cadillac Desert predicted all of this.
It was written in 1986...
The true price of an acre-foot of water includes the cost of capture, storage, and transportation. For more than a century taxpayers have been paying for dams that solely benefit large farmers. More often than not, the true cost of collecting each acre-foot of water (cost of dam construction, operations, pumping) exceeds the price paid by farmers 10-1.
This is an incredibly well-documented phenomena in the west.
There's a legal difference between "groundwater" and "surface water". The boundary between the two is...fuzzy.
Surface water is regulated strongly, and is responsible for a lot of fun legal fights all across the west (Recommend the book Cadillac Desert if you want to learn more), but groundwater is much less regulated. If you're a hydrologist, all groundwater was surface water at one time, but if you're a farmer or a lawyer then the difference has a bit more nuance.
There's a very good book which describes what has happened to the Colorado and while it's several years old at this point, most of its predictions for the future of the river are clearly coming to pass. It's called Cadillac Desert
There are plenty of people whose careers (mine included) that revolve entirely around western water law, supply, growth, etc. It is pretty cool stuff.
Cadillac Desert is a good book to start learning about some of these issues.
Thanks, I'll read the book mentioned in the article. A good starter/companion reader for those interested in water history out here is Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. It's older, but it's been revised over the years and is a great place to start.
https://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Desert-American-Disappearing-Revised/dp/0140178244
Writing: job applications (71 of them since spring). Haven't forgotten about "Six" and "Five," still making slow progress on them--and I'm even sticking to the next couple of chapters so I can actually post them someday!
Reading: environmental and political things. Holy shit, you guys, Cadillac Desert.
Have you ever read Cadillac Desert? It's worth a look if you're interested in the history of water rights in Southern California. I'm not looking to get into an argument, but you're greatly understating the amount of work that has gone into diverting streams for the benefit of California farmers in semi-desert regions.
I'm also a water resource professional!
Do you think our new-age 'yuppie' diets are actually doing more harm than good for the planet?
Also, I have nothing to gain by doing this, but I highly recommend Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner. Fantastic book about how California ended up like it is today.
Cadillac Desert is a good read on this subject if anybody is interested.
There are several great books on this topic.including:
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its ... - Amazon.com. www.amazon.com › Cadillac-Desert-American-Disappe... The definitive work on the West's water crisis." In his landmark book, Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth.
Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It. www.amazon.com › Unquenchable-Americas-Water-Cr... "Robert Glennon is a leading-edge legal scholar and passionate water advocate whose thinking is central to an intense debate on the path forward to a water- ...
Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of ... www.amazon.com › Water-Follies-Groundwater-Pumpi... Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh Waters [Glennon J.D. Ph.D, Dr. Robert Jerome] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on ...
Good luck! - me? hydrologist and environmental engineer
Cadillac DESERT, BY MARC REISNER
https://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Desert-American-Disappearing-Revised/dp/0140178244
Cadillac Desert does an interesting investigation into this scenario in CA
If you’re interested in the politics and history of water in the western U.S. read Cadillac Desert; it’s a really entertaining book!
https://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Desert-American-Disappearing-Revised/dp/0140178244
If you’re interested in the politics and history of water in the western U.S. read Cadillac Desert; it’s a really entertaining book!
https://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Desert-American-Disappearing-Revised/dp/0140178244
Another good book about the water in the west is Cadillac Desert, by Marc Reisner.
Here is a documentary called Cadillac Desert that I encourage others to watch. It is based on Marc Reisner's book Cadillac Desert.
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>The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest
for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and
dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles
over water rights, of ecological and economic disaster. In his landmark
book, Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest
settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics
employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the
city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government
giants, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
in the competition to transform the West. Based on more than a decade of
research, Cadillac Desert is a stunning expose and a dramatic, intriguing history of the creation of an Eden--an Eden that may only be a mirage.This
edition includes a new postscript by Lawrie Mott, a former staff
scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, that updates Western
water issues over the last two decades, including the long-term impact
of climate change and how the region can prepare for the future.
Cadilac Desert is a great read if you don't want to listen to somebody who sounds like she's bored with the subject she's reading.
NAWAPA is described at length in the book Cadillac Desert.
The sheer scale of the project is mind blowing. Digging a canal all the way across the Great Plains to the Canadian Rockies; creating a damn all the way across the lower Hudson Bay to back up fresh water to the Great Lakes... and a 500 mile long reservoir in the Rockies. Unbelievable.
Read Cadillac Desert.
no one has a right to property and in order change that, you're moving away from our most fundamental principles, all men created equal and what not, and moving toward the the imperialistic hierarchies that we fought against. we'd create a california class that would make it even harder for someone to be a part of. when purchasing goods and services, we're all equal. anyone out of state with the money and resources to live here has just as much of a right to do so as you do. i get it, life isn't fair sometimes, but is there a more fair system that doesn't restrict the opportunities and rights of others?
> I have never even had the chance to visit another state so I don't know where I would go.
unless you're native american, the vast majority our ancestors, so most likely yours too, had never been to the U.S. before moving here but they did it without the internet or any of our modern conveniences yet here you are.
> The state has more than enough room to support everyone
room, maybe... but resources? have you looked into our water issues? you might want to check out the book Cadillac Desert. there's indicators that show the potential is maxed out.
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