2 ms·
California was a semi desert before we built the canals and aqueducts -which is why it was a backwater with few people till that was done and its fertile soil w
by mc32 5y ago
California was a semi desert before we built the canals and aqueducts -which is why it was a backwater with few people till that was done and its fertile soil was able to sustain life.
People (city dwellers) came _after_ the farmers.
So, it might be in need of an update, but I think you're mischaracterizing how this happened.
- epistasis 5y agoGiving people rights to water simply because they took it from the Spanish first is the definition of feudal. We don't allocate resources logically or helpfully, we give people rights because their ancestors got their first, and it is preposterous economically and morally.
- mc32 5y agoExtensive canals and water rights and riparian water rights were not developed till the demand by the Gold Rush, and then after its admission into the Union additional laws and provisions were passed and levees and canals built, and then in the early 1900s water from the Colorado was diverted into Calif. then much later aqueducts to channel water into semi-desert cities. The Spanish may have had a few little channels here and there (for their missions along the el camino), but it wasn't till the Gold Rush people built large elaborate systems for water distribution (for their claims). Then appropriative and riparian rights attracted many farmers into fertile lands. Does it deserve a revisit, sure. It will be fraught and messy, but sure.
- CameronNemo 5y agoThis really depends on where in California you are looking. SoCal? Sure, desert. But the San Joaquin valley was full of freshwater lakes and marshes before the invaders started using it for farming. https://eccentricculinary.com/californias-vanishing-lakes-and-the-hunger-of-the-mines/ https://eccentricculinary.com/californias-vanishing-lakes-an...