A drought of leadership on water
Storm clouds are on the horizon, but due to our relentless drought, they won’t bring rain, only tears.
Our years-long dry spell has finally eclipsed our lack of leadership, planning and the world’s inability to deal with climate change in a meaningful way. Now the boom is about to be lowered for 6 million of us who will have to cut our outdoor watering habits on June 1 to once a week or face a total ban on outdoor watering on Sept. 1. Goodbye lush green lawns. Farewell kiddie pool and shiny clean cars. The Golden State is about to become the Brown State.
The average SoCal resident uses 125 gallons of water a day, 126 if you drink your scotch on the rocks. Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District, says we’re facing these draconian cuts because the Sierra snowpack has vanished like that tray of bacon and cheese sliders at your cousin Shirley’s wedding reception. “We are facing unprecedented reductions,” said Hagekhalil, “We have to respond with unprecedented measures.”
My yard didn’t take the news well.
I talk to the plants, trees and shrubs regularly, mostly to encourage them to hang in there. Currently, we are watering three times a week and still our yard is in various stages of decline, with fruit trees that won’t procreate, flowers hummingbirds shun and brown patches spotting the lawn the way our elderly cat has spotted the sofa and living room carpet. Context: I live in the West San Fernando Valley where it’s 185 degrees on Christmas morning, or at least feels that way. My yard doesn’t stand a chance this summer.
But what’s a suburbanite to do in a drought? The Wife is already saving pots of water from the stove to dump on the plants out front. I try to remember to shut off the tap while brushing my teeth and I’ve cut down on the number of cubes I use in my iced tea. No one can accuse me of not doing my part!
However, plenty have accused our state, county and city leaders of not doing theirs. The last major reservoir in California was built in 1979; that’s 43 years ago. But let’s keep studying the problem.
A couple of things worth noting: the world is not running out of water.
Every drop of water that’s ever been on planet Earth is still on planet Earth. It is physically impossible for water to escape our atmosphere. The only water that has ever left Earth went aboard the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and various space shuttles, SpaceX and Soyuz spacecraft. A pittance. So why don’t we have enough water to wash the Subaru on Saturdays? Simple. Weather patterns and climate change have redistributed water from our part of the world to other parts. The water supply in this part of the world is cyclical. Unfortunately, government inaction is perpetual.
Most of us take water for granted. That’s the problem. Access to clean water is one of the foundations of civilization. But water policy is hard and hard ain’t easy in modern American politics.
Still, whoever or whatever we want to blame for our water woes won’t refill our reservoirs and aquifers in time to save my avocado tree. I accept this as the price I pay for living in the West, where the average annual rainfall drops below 20 inches. Last year, 2020-2021, was the seventh-driest in L.A. County since 1877. As our yards brown, we’ll have to wear yellow.
Eventually, it will rain again. We’ll have other wet seasons and lots of snow in the right places and the Oroville dam will gush and the Colorado will flow and pontoon boats will zip once more around Lake Powell like the good ol’ days. And that’s when we’ll forget.
Again.
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