Two major sources of outside supplies of Orange
County water will imminently dry up.
A few harsh realities need to be addressed
immediately. An ever-increasing population across the
desert southwest is putting more pressure on
politicians to fight inane court cases over water rights.
Recently, after a 10 year battle with Arizona, California
won a court case allowing California to keep shares of
what had once been Arizona's portion of Colorado River
water. Arizona leased these shares to California many
years ago and, when they petitioned to get them back
for their own residents, California took the issue to
court. Is this really water management? Aren't we
ultimately putting off politically distasteful decisions to
the next generation (if it actually takes that long)? The
fact is we cannot continue our rate of expansion and expect water resources to magically be available. What is required is a firm public understanding of what our resource limitations are and find ways of living within these limits. The alternative is to pay an ultimately terrible price in severe water restrictions and drought-like conditions. We cannot continue expecting water to be available from far-away sources without penalties somewhere along the way.
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