Anyone who has visited the great state of California in the last couple of years could not fail to notice dramatic signs of a rapidly approaching potentially disastrous  problem.  When you drive down from the north the reservoirs that used to be filled are shockingly low, even close  to  empty everywhere and in the east there is virtually no snow in the great Sierra Nevada Mountains, no sign of a snowpack  that is crucial for almost all the water that has traditionally been pumped  wastefully south to fill the golf courses and pools of southern California.  It seems pretty obvious – California may be the seventh leading industrial power among the “states”  of the world, but without water they cannot come close to maintaining that position.  Ans now many experts feel that the aquatic demands of the great central valley which  provides a significant percentage of the entire agricultural production of the US  is in imminent danger of permanent serious damage as wells are dug ever deeper into the underground water supply.
Governor Jerry Brown has now ordered a 25% cut in water usage in most areas of the state.  For those of you who who missed it, yes that is the same Jerry Brown who was called Moonbeam when he governed  the state 40 years ago  and who has done an excellent job of stabilizing the California economy now at 76, but this kind of drought  may be unmanageable.  Palm Springs – refuge of the very rich and famous – will lose its golf courses and swimming pools, Los Angeles its lawns and the glass of water in restaurants, not to mention anything but short  showers.  Wildfires will be a real threat all over the state.  Agricultural  production will  drop like a rock.There is no doubt about it. This is the real thing, and only prolonged heavy rain and colder weather can  bring things back to where they were not long ago.  Much of California is a beautiful place and the rest of us can only hope that this is somewhere  on the horizon.  But the truth is that there is no sign of it.