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Orange County, CA November 5, 2002 Election
Smart Voter

Diminishing Water Supplies

By Timothy L. Johnson

Candidate for Board Member; Orange County Water District; Division 7

This information is provided by the candidate
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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ca/or Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 28, 2002 11:52
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