(Pamela Cosel, Headline USA) It’s ironic that with the vast Pacific Ocean at its doorstep, the city of Los Angeles and other nearby communities have set watering restrictions for residents. Limitations are due to the drought that the city says began in 2012.
On June 1, water conservation rules took effect as passed in May by the Los Angeles City Council. Outdoor lawn watering is allowed just two days per week. Time limits are just eight minutes per watering day.
LA has abandoned its plans for a desalination plant and will demolish four dams, according to Legal Insurrection. Yet its neighbor to the south, San Diego, began work on just such a plant in 2012.
“A few short weeks ago, the state’s coastline protection unanimously rejected the development of $1.4 billion desalination plant in Huntington Beach that would have converted ocean water into municipal water for Orange County residents,” wrote Legal Insurrection.
The project could have produced as much as 50 million gallons of water per day, if it were built. Members of the California Coastal Commission voted against the idea.
The dams that are scheduled to be torn down are J.C. Boyle, Copco No. 1 and No. 2, and Iron Gate. This is being done “to restore health of the river, fish and communities along the river, including several in the Upper Klamath Basin.”
Rejection of such an idea does not make sense. The ocean certainly contains enough supply of water to serve humanity. Climate change activists say that icecaps are melting, therefore, desalinating and using what’s right there at the continent’s edge surely wouldn’t empty the ocean.
The theme of the “One Water LA 2040Plan” finalized in 2018 states it clearly: “All Water is One Water.”
Critics of Newsom say he has “recklessly allowed the state’s reservoir supply to be depleted by niche industries.”
“They let too much of the water out of the system for industrial agriculture users,” said Barbara Barrigan–Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta.
“Our water resources and public trust resources like salmon fisheries have been squandered for almonds and other unsustainable crops.”
San Diego is successfully running its seawater desalination plant, built via a public-private partnership. The project is locally controlled and drought-proof with the added benefit that it is south of fault lines, thus creating a secure water supply.
Perhaps the LA officials should take a tour and meet with San Diego. Instead, LA is burying its head in all of that beach sand.
