No need to be virtuous about how water is used

Self-styled conservationists might prefer to live in a xeriscape. Others may prefer to sit by a swimming pool under the shade of a non-native tree. Provided that each consumer pays a fair share for obtaining and diverting the water, neither consumer is more virtuous than the other. Our region has not run out of water.

In all of history, precipitation has been squeezed out of clouds that originate over the Pacific Ocean. Century after century, snow and rain has been pulled by gravity back through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and out the Golden Gate to the Pacific Ocean.

As civilization advanced, farmers diverted water for food production, enabling settlements to grow. Urban life requires the diversion of water for sanitation, recreation, industrial uses and decorative gardens, among other things. After the water is diverted for these purposes, it evaporates, enters aquifers or is processed and flows into San Francisco Bay. Eventually all water is returned to the ocean.

The amount of water that falls on our region has probably remained constant for millennia. Whether or not we divert the water for human use does not diminish the total supply.

It is possible that Marin Municipal Water District can obtain water that would otherwise be used to grow crops in the Sacramento Valley. Whether used for farming or piped to Marin County, that water will end up in the ocean after it is used. If we could figure out how to desalinate bay water, the result would be the same. Using less water is not intrinsically virtuous.

We should obtain the water that we need and pay the price. It will be a bargain.

— J. Patrick Burke, Kentfield