In the Desert

Irvine and Orange County are both coastal deserts. The rainfall is within the threshold by which we consider a place "arid" or "desert" by definition. However, because they are on the coast, the ocean has a strong effect on the environment. Still, without a massive amount of water piped from northern California and the Colorado River, the place would not be as green as it is.

Coming out to Indian Wells (east and a little south of Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City, and Palm Springs) really shows the disparity and how much human beings have changed the environment. At one point we were driving along with barren desert on our right, starting at the edge of the street we were on, and a grassy verge, trees, and housing on the left side.

This area would not last a month if the water stopped flowing. There is simply not enough in the ancient underground aquifers to accommodate the vast number of people that live here now. Add in that the cost to live in Orange County means a lot of the new people in this area are those who have left the OC to find affordable housing but still commute into the OC for work, and you have tens of thousands of people in an area designed not to have people at all.

If the water stopped flowing for a week, every single lawn would die. Swimming pools, nearly a necessity in a place that routinely gets above 100 F and often hits close to 120 F, would start to dry up from evaporation. Everything nonnative would start to shrivel and die, including the people and animals. Within a month of not having new water delivered, this entire area would be uninhabitable. The relentlessly hot sun would see to it. The desert sands and winds would start to bury everything in short order as it reclaims this land from the lawns and golf courses.

Orange County would last longer, as the ocean makes things more temperate and the average rainfall is higher. But if the water stopped flowing, you can be assured that it would become a lot less attractive a place to live.

I wonder why the OC doesn't put in a high-cost, high-rewards desalination plant in the area. It is a rich enough area to afford it, they could then take back a ton of water from the sea, and they could ship it all over Southern California, likely at a nice profit.

I also wonder why we don't consider putting another damn on the Colorado. The river barely makes it to the sea any more, what with five states sucking it dry along the way. It is one of the best sources for fresh water in the southwest, and, for as beautiful as most think it is, in the end it is just a big hole in the ground. Why not fill it with water? Sure, that would displace a lot of people, but the southwest needs that water badly (and putting another hydroelectric power plant at the new dam wouldn't hurt one bit either).