(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
For September 8, 2022
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/20220908-California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report.pdf
A Note to Readers
The cover photo above and the last section of this week’s report is the Feature, which celebrates today, September 8, the 100th birthday of the late physical economist, strategic thinker, and eight time U.S. presidential candidate, Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. For 50 years I have been a member of the organizations created by Lyndon LaRouche, and I am proud to acknowledge that my political activity over these decades, and even the writing of these reports each week, was and is shaped by his ideas, influence and inspiration. The tribute to him is written by my associate at the LaRouche Political Action Committee, Barbara Boyd: “On the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Lyndon LaRouche (September 8, 1922-February 12, 2019)”
In this week’s report:
The U.S. Drought Monitor for the West and for California shows little change from last week’s map. The extent and the intensity of the drought was already bad enough.
The heat wave that has been with California for more than a week now, with temperatures in some areas of the state at 115 degrees, has created an even more intense danger as the grass lands are now extremely dry. That means, as fires begin, they spread more quickly and are much more difficult to contain. With forecasts warning of potential lighting storms, the ignition of such fires has the entire fire fighting apparatus of the state on high alert. I excerpt an article on this danger immediately following the U.S. Drought Monitor maps. The article is titled, “Scariest part of the California heat wave could be yet to come.”
Agriculture throughout the drought zone of the country (which is near 60% of the land area nation-wide) has been hard hit by the drought, water supply cut-offs and the high temperatures. The first item in this section is “Western Growers spotlights California’s historic drought in new documentary series,” It features five very short videos that discuss the implications of the drought and water crisis for the country’s fresh produce supply.
The second article provides the statistics on the crop damage that has already occurred this year.
The next section is “A Good Summary Article of Some of the Amazing California Water Management System Projects.” The article is from the Manteca Bulletin, in the Central Valley. The author is Dennis Wyatt, and the article’s title is, “CALIFORNIA’S WATER WORKS.” I only include a few paragraphs of the article in my excerpt.
The Colorado River crisis will not go away, of course. But, will the states negotiate an agreement to cut two to four million acre feet annually from what they usually would withdraw? They are still negotiating, which, I suppose, is positive. But any agreement remains out of sight.
Finally, is the Feature, as discussed above.
