Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Water – Part I

In the next three essays, I am going to discuss a water problem that three different places in the world have, and then I am going to describe the three very different ways that each of these places has approached the problem. 
One place had vision, and as a consequence developed a smart aggressive approach. The second place was cautious and did not develop the necessary vision soon enough, and consequently catastrophe is approaching. The third place has about as much vision as a blind mouse, and if foresight is going to be required to remedy its problem, there is no hope.
Like I said, problem that each of these three places share is water. All three of these places are arid, and in all three places rain falls almost solely in the winter, and largely in the north. In all three of these places irrigation and water engineering are vital to economic survival and growth.
The first place is Israel.
In the mid 1990s,Israel realized that the main groundwater aquifers, namely the Sea
of Galilee and the Jordan River were on the verge of collapse.  This was a turning point as Israel then realized that they could not rely solely on natural water. A significant drought in 1998-2002 pushed Israel to make a decision, as this drought prompted the Israeli government to promote large scale seawater desalinization, and now desalinization outstrips conventional water resources. With determination added to their vision, desalination supplied about 40% of Israel’s drinking water in 2015, and the goal is for Israel to supply 70% of its drinking water from desalination by 2050.
Israel’s approach is a good example of how foresight morphed into a vision, and when mixed with determination has led to a solution.
The second place is Capetown, South Africa. About ten years ago, the city was warned that it would require additional water resources in the future. But they procrastinated. In 2014 the six dams that supply water to the city of Capetown were full. But a prolonged three year drought since then has turned their situation from potentially bad to near-catastrophe. Cape Town’s reservoirs are dangerously low, at slightly more than a fifth of their capacity. That’s even worse than it sounds, since the last 10 percent of the water is hard to get.
Four desalination plants are now being built but are only about 50% completed and new water wells are being drilled. A plant to reuse effluent is being built, but their hesitancy to act when they were warned, has now caused the city to advise its 4 million residents that they are approaching “Day Zero,” the day that the city will be forced to shut off taps to homes and businesses because at that time the reservoirs will have gotten critically low!
Responding to this approaching crisis, the city had put in place strict water limits; each person is allowed 13 gallons (50 liters) of water per day. For scale, that’s roughly the amount of freshwater that goes down the drain in three or four flushes of an older toilet. As a result of this mandatory strict water conservation dictum and the lowering of the city’s water pressure, which resulted in a lesser flow rate, and fewer leaks, “Day Zero” has been pushed back from April, 2018 to 2019.
It’s not just the citizens that have had to make do with less water. The farmers were significantly affected too. According to The Verge, citing a city report, the water quota set aside for agriculture is 60 percent lower than in pre-drought years. Once farmers hit their limit, they were cut off, says Janse Rabie, who represents the South African agriculture lobbying group, Agri SA. “These strict water curtailments cost farmers dearly,” Rabie says in an email, “It also had an enormous impact on farm workers (particularly seasonal workers) who could not be employed or had to be let go.” Here water means jobs.
Capetown’s approach has been a combination of lack of foresight and too much wishful thinking that things would just get better. This combination when mixed with procrastination has led to the present problem in this South African city.
The third place is California. Does it have the vision and determination of Israel or will it suffer from the consequences of procrastination and lack of foresight similar to Capetown, So. Africa?
What can Californians realistically look forward to?
State tuned!

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