California on the brink…

Have California’s mostly human-caused disasters reached biblical proportions yet? The state has over $40 billion in debt, 10.1 percent unemployment and now a cumulative drought that is starting to bite: for the first time ever, farmers are getting a zero allocation of water from federal sources.

I’m guessing that water czars are willing to sacrifice some agriculture business now in case the drought runs for several years. There doesn’t seem to be a Plan B of what to do if California runs out of water completely, so they may hope to forestall a California of ghost towns and cities by stretching the current quantity as far as it will go.

Today the Governator moved toward future restrictions: Schwarzenegger declares Calif. drought emergency, San Francisco Chronicle, Feb 28, 2009.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday because of three years of below-average rain and snowfall in California, a step that urges urban water agencies to reduce water use by 20 percent.

“This drought is having a devastating impact on our people, our communities, our economy and our environment, making today’s action absolutely necessary,” the Republican governor said in his statement.

California reservoirs (like Lake Shasta shown below, now at 31 percent capacity, down from 74 percent in 2007) have the low-down overpopulation blues.

Source:
California on the brink...
vdare.com