California’s Low On Water? Time to Fine the Water Resources Board, Not Its Citizens

Tom Del Beccaro, former Chairman of the California Republican Party, expressed his opinion of how a responsible government should handle California's drought in a recent post on foxandhoundsdaily.com. Del Beccaro states that to combat the current drought, the California Water Resources Board is proposing to fine citizens they call "water hogs" $500 per day. He thinks that instead of fining helpless consumers, California’s government should increase water supplies.

Del Beccaro continues, "It is well known that California is the most populated state in the Union, with more than 38 million people. Its population was just under 20 million in 1970, when the bulk of its current water storage and delivery systems were already built. In other words, the California governments have done very little to significantly increase water supplies in over 40 years, even though its population has doubled during that period of time. California’s current drought was at its worst in 2013, and continues to this day. It is apparently less well known to the public, the media, and government that California has been subject to considerable droughts over the centuries, lasting up to 20 years in a row. In fact, contrary to the notion that California is suffering more droughts than usual, according to Scott Stine, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Cal State East Bay, as reported in the San Jose Mercury News, "the past century has been among the wettest of the last 7,000 years."

Del Beccaro is of the opinion that rather than face the reality that California is subject to drought, the California government has not been doing much, attributing the current drought to global warming and climate change. He says that the California government has other priorities they consider "far more important that ensuring that 38 million people have water."

These priorities include a "high speed rail project, mired in lawsuits and of uncertain costs – at least $68 billion but perhaps double that amount, and a 2004 $3 billion stem cell bond program ($6 billion with interest) that has produced no approved therapies but has, according to the AP, resulted in 'the opening of sleek buildings and gleaming labs at a dozen private and public universities built with matching funds' without any cures in the pipeline.

Del Beccaro points out Singapore as an example of what a responsible government should be doing. He states that Singapore is only 247 square miles with a population of nearly 4.5 million people and has very little land for such things as reservoirs. However, Singapore obviously made water production a priority for its tiny landmass (0.155% of California’s landmass, yet 8.4% of California’s population). Singapore relies on 15 reservoirs, desalinated water, water reclamation, and imported water to meet their water needs. Del Beccaro concludes that is what responsible governments do, and that is one reason Singapore has the third highest per-capita GDPs in the world, despite its size and lack of natural resources. He contrasts that with California, "which is #1 in the country in poverty in no small part because of a lack of water for agriculture," stating that for California "government failure is not only an option, it is standard operating procedure."

calrental.org