http://www.californiadroughtupdate.org/pdf/20180419-California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report.pdf
“Wisdom is merely the science of happiness, or that science which teaches us to achieve happiness. Happiness is a state of permanent joy…. Nothing serves our happiness better than the illumination of our understanding and the exercise of our will to act always according to our understanding…. Helping each other in the search for truth, the knowledge of nature, the multiplication of human powers, and the advancement of the common good…. For only so much of our life is to be valued as truly living as the good we do in it.”
Gottfried Leibniz essay “On Wisdom” (~1700)
A Note To Readers
Leibniz is the source of the phrase in the Declaration of Independence that defines the U.S. republic with the unique wording of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness:”
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Given the insanity that passes for the U.S. media these days, Leibniz’s appeal to “search for truth” is a damn good idea. For little is found in the discussions and debates about virtually anything.
So, please go back and read the quote once again, and then reflect upon how you shall proceed to spread happiness, understanding, truth, and the “advancement of the common good.”
In This Week’s Report
The U.S. Drought Monitor shows virtually no change from the previous week. The unusual April showers has given us a little break.
But, some are calling the well-below snowpack a “snowdrought.” So, with that, the second section of the report this week has several articles which develop some of the elements of the climate, the weather and the geography of the region in relation to drought. Concluding with a picture of the broader Southwest region, which is no question already in a serious drought.
The Oroville Dam update includes the Department of Water Resources recent report on its construction plans and schedule.
“Still trying to argue for more water storage” is the title of the next section of this report, and includes a myriad of reports on the status of water storage projects, the political battle around them and related areas like the aquifers and the new ground water regulatory system.
But, all the sound and the fury around this leaves something very serious on the sidelines:
The labors of Sisyphus shall be seen by the people of the future as having paled into insignificance when the story of those who fought for building more water storage in California in the early years of the 21st century is told.
Yes, some are making a heroic fight to raise Shasta Dam and build the Temperance Flat and Sites reservoirs, and we acknowledge their effort. But, while those projects must be built and on an accelerated schedule, I must once again remind us all that without really, really big projects like the North American and Water and Power Alliance, and the building of very large nuclear-powered desalination plants by the dozens, we will not serve those in the future who will be part of the 70 or 80 million people living in the state. Yes, the population of the state shall double from its present 40 million in just a few decades. And as President John Kennedy, inaugurating water projects in the west in 1962-63, repeatedly stated, what we build today is not for ourselves but for those who will come after us two or three generations into the future.
The feature this week has two sections: New reports on the progress of fusion power research and some background on how to fund infrastructure with Federal credit.
