Wednesday, December 12, 2012

News articles and links from December 12, 2012


Water supply

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From LA Times - Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012

Coalition response...Reality -- a place seemingly absent from this report -- tells us that California receives far more water than it can use, at least for the foreseeable future. Unlike the other western states, our supplies are self-contained and generated almost entirely within our borders. A little bit comes in from Oregon, but we don't use it much; and much more flows past us in the Colorado River which we've chosen to tap into in a big way. But far more water falls in the unpopulated forests and meadows that cover the top half of the state and most of it flows into the ocean from the North Coast and through the Golden Gate, unused.  

Surely those huge volumes of natural water supply would have to be counted into the equation if there is any validity at all to the concept of a "water footprint."

But in fact, there is no validity to the concept. The very notion of a "footprint" is borrowed from the fallacious rhetoric of environmental extremism. It is intended to define a negative impact. But what does the Pacific Institute count as part of our footprint? Evapotranspiration!!! --- a natural process that is simply a form of recycling that is essential for the survival of all life on the planet. Even worse, only counted as bad is the evapotranspiration that occurs from crops -- not at all from forests.  

The point is that if we take a realistic look, we will see instantly that the immeasurably vast quantities of water that leave California as runoff or water vapor makes us a net exporter of water by an immense degree. And that means we don't have to begin getting into the silly business of trying to estimate how much water we import in apples from Oregon vs. how much we ship out in lettuce from the Imperial Valley.

WATER SUPPLY

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From Imperial Valley Press - Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012

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From Modesto Bee - Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012

Blog
By Mark Grossi
From fresnobeehive - Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012

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From Redding Record Searchlight - Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012

DELTA

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From Aquafornia - Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012

PEOPLE

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From Desert Sun - Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012

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