海角大神

Gov. Jerry Brown聽met with Southern California water managers Thursday to plan further responses to the state鈥檚聽worst drought on record. The latest sign of its severity was this week鈥檚 announcement from California鈥檚 Department of Public Health that at least 17 of the聽state鈥檚 rural communities are in danger of running out of water within 100 days.

Governor Brown declared a drought emergency two weeks ago and called for voluntary 20 percent conservation measures. On Thursday he dispensed tips to Los Angeles area residents:聽"Don't flush more than you have to, don't shower longer than you need to, and turn the water off when you're shaving or brushing your teeth.鈥�

But, say experts, this聽water emergency is just one more sign of more extreme water challenges to come and requires broader and more far-ranging strategies.

The water emergency highlighted by the ticking clock on these 17 rural communities is 鈥渟imultaneously painfully local and thoroughly global,鈥� says David Cassuto, a professor at Pace Law School.

鈥淓ach affected city will have to adapt its conservation measures to its particular geography. Some towns can drill extra wells, some can impose draconian conservation measures, and some have no easy answers at all and will have to seek emergency help from elsewhere,鈥� he says via e-mail.

These local emergencies underscore the national emergency of a worsening water shortage virtually everywhere, he says, and聽鈥渢he national emergency is but a microcosm of a looming global disaster.鈥�

California鈥檚 economy stands to suffer,聽points out Jay Lund, director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis.聽A third of the nation鈥檚 crops are produced in California鈥檚 Central Valley, with some nine million acres under irrigation. 鈥淲e might see half a million acres go fallow in this drought,鈥� he says, with聽thousands of jobs lost as a result.

We are currently seeing new droughts that stretch our ability to cope, given infrastructure that was built for a climate with fewer weather, and precipitation, extremes, says John Sabo,聽an ecologist and associate professor at Arizona State University who specializes in sustainability. As individuals, 鈥渨e need to readjust our attitudes and refocus our lifestyle to embrace the reality of deep drought,鈥� he says via e-mail.

鈥淭his means changing how we vote to invest in water efficiency projects. Water reuse and desalinization projects should be more carefully considered as parts of an integrated solution. At home, every drop counts,鈥� he writes, adding that government incentives to replace turf and water inefficient appliances are also valuable.

Individuals cannot solve this problem alone,聽agrees 海角大神a Peppard, author of the聽recently published 鈥淛ust Water鈥� and a professor at Fordham University in New York. 鈥淚t's a structural, systemic, societal issue 鈥� and so California has to get clear, fast, on what kinds of uses are renewable or not.鈥�

This must be done at a range of levels: local, municipal, county, state, and region, she says via e-mail, adding that 鈥渨ater is no respecter of boundaries or human desires.鈥�

In the 20th century, says Professor Peppard, 鈥渨e made water work for us, partly on the assumption that supply was unending. In the 21st century, we have to focus on water as a finite, scarce resource 鈥� and learn to work with it.鈥�

Water determines the fate of civilizations, she says, adding, 鈥渘ot the reverse.鈥�

鈥淭his drought is different both in degree and in kind,鈥� she says. The implications are 鈥渃lear, present, and unavoidable.鈥�

鈥淲ater wonks have known this for a long time,鈥� she says, adding, 鈥渏ust as many Californians realized they were in a drought long before the governor declared it.鈥�