Dry State

As a native Californian, I've been hearing all of life that LA and the rest of Southern Cal was built from a desert and eventually this desert would take it back again. Of course, everyone thought this desert reconquista would happen in some distant, apocalyptic future, certainly not in our lifetimes. That's why I'm surprised to read that the state is blocking new development projects until the developers find their own water sources that will last 20 years.

If you don't live in California, you might think this is a rather obvious move -- no building until you know where the water for the project is going to come from. But in California, where development is KING, it's mostly been done the other way around: build, then find the water. (See the movie Chinatown, about the California Water Wars, as one obvious example.)

So is this just another one of California's infamous droughts, or is California's natural ecosystem finally starting to take the land back?

It doesn't look good: “We have bad hydrology, compromised infrastructure and our management tools are broken,” said Timothy Quinn, the executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. “All that paints a fairly grim picture for Californians trying to manage water in the 21st century.”

This isn't great news for the California economy...especially for those like my brother who has a business in the housing industry. But I'm thinking if it wasn't a water shortage, then the gas prices would be slowing down development anyway. Can anyone still afford to commute to work in the city from some new house on the desert edge of suburbia? Time to be creative and think of some new ways of living. As long as it involves lots of new cabinetry made by my brother!