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From Bread Basket to Water Basket Case: A Taste of Future Water Rationing Revisited (in California) (LeakBird)

Mar.09, 2009 in Drought, Water Crisis, Water Industry, Water Management

David Curran wrote a stimulating op-ed on the California drought in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. Mr. Curran expressed his perplexity at the incongruity of intermittent first quarter flooding in the Bay Area and the Governor’s dire “worst drought ever” declaration.

California has gone from being the bread basket of the US to a water crisis basket case, as even long-time Californian Mr. Curran doesn’t know what to believe anymore.

Water crisis warnings, however, do seem to be following a predictable pattern. The ante keeps getting upped, essentially, as we prepare for mandatory water rationing that’s greater, really, MUCH GREATER than 20%.

But I think that underlying the disconnect between our ability to continue flushing the toilet and washing the dishes the same as it ever was, at least in the Bay Area bubble where even the Central Valley agriculture crisis seems like a remote reality, and the dire warnings from water experts, water managers and the mainstream media, is the fact that this drought is different this time.

It’s not that we’re out of water, in fact, we have more water than ever before. It really comes down to something David Zetland says again and again on his Aguanomics blog. It’s a water management crisis. Frank R. Rijsberman essentially came to the same conclusion.

And why is there a management crisis? Well, it’s actually pretty simple. There are 33,871,648 million water customers in the state alone, more than 10% of the population of the US! Also, the Central Valley is America’s Bread Basket, a title which is currently severely threatened by drought.

If we take the 80/20 rule under consideration, meaning that 20% of California’s water goes to 33+ million customers and 80% goes to California agriculture, that is, to helping feed 300+ million customers, well, we can very quickly see that this drought is different this time. It’s much more serious, much more severe. The straits are dire.

Like Mr. Curran, I’m searching for a cure to the water basket case this state’s become.

If you are interested in How You Can Increase Your Cash Flows by $2,500.00 Every Year and Never Pay for High Water Bills Due to Your Tenants’ Running Toilets, sign up for our Free Report here.

Abendigo Reebs is the VP of Business Development for LeakBird Industries LLC in San Francisco, CA. He may be reached by email at ben@leakbird

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