"Could this be the end of the Golden in the Golden State?"
When I was in the work a day world, I would occasionally travel to the West Coast. I always enjoyed it as it was a nice break from constantly going to Washington DC. That being said, on the plane ride home from LAX or SFO, I would always wonder how people could live out there. Sure the weather is nicer than here. But it is expensive, very liberal, many earthquake faults, and now - it is running out of water.
Recently one NASA scientist predicted that California's ground water will start going dry in a year or so. That would be a huge problem. No - that would be a total game changer for this state. California gets it's water from three sources - groundwater, surface water (like rivers and streams) and to a small extent, desalination. With a persistent drought causing lower than average river flows, and ground water not being regenerated fast enough, that leaves only desalination. And currently there is precious little desalination.
Besides needing to quench the thirst of its 30 million or so inhabitants, California also has very important agri-business. For example, if California had to choose between supplying water to population centers over agriculture, the nation would lose a majority source of some needed food products. For example, besides California producing 90% of all our broccoli, it also produces 99% of walnuts, 95% of celery, 89% of cauliflower, 71% of spinach and 69% of carrots. All of a sudden, most grocery stores nation wide would find either shortages or sky high prices on a variety of items.
Is there a solution? Yes, but it will be expensive for those who live there. California has over 800 miles of coastline, the third highest in the country. On the other side of that coastline lies the Pacific Ocean with an almost unlimited supply of water. The good people of California need to come to the conclusion they should have come to years and years ago. In order to have sustainable population growth AND a thriving agri-business, they need water. Lots and lots of water. Living in what really is a desert, lots and lots of water is not in the equation.
There are plans to continue building desalination plants similar to the one in San Diego which is scheduled to go online in 2016. This will help, but the percentage of water which will come from the next few plants is still very small. Make no mistake - desalination does have its critics and problems. But the end product is still water. Expensive, but fresh and or potable water.
The technology to do this has been around for decades. I am afraid that California might be way too late to this party. And that, will take the golden out of the Golden State.
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