California's Pipe Dream

Borrowed a few National Geographics from the local bibliotheque for reading material on the plane; I've found a new personal goldmine. I love the shots in the mag and normally there's an intriguing story or two, but there's no way I'm subscribing - I'm stingy these days. I found the local library's stash and cashed in.
An issue from the end of 09 about the state of the world's ever-growing population's dependence on an ever-stretched and evolving water supply was entirely fascinating and alarming. Amid all of the cool charts on how the world's cities acquire their water, how costly it is, and how that supply is running thin, was a story about California's intricate and imbalanced water system that has become almost exponentially perilous as the state's population swells and structures age.
Discovery Bay, just east of here. What a fun-filled water paradise - in the middle of a freaking desert. Pretty much a microcosm of entire Southern California.

The story touches on the dyslexic water system of the state, where the vast majority of water falls in the north but of course the vast majority of people live in the south. This in itself wouldn't be an issue, except for the shady water history behind LA's original growth, the fact that much of the state depends on now-crumbling structures built by 19th century Chinese laborers, and the southern areas' continued rapid growth despite an incredibly obvious but unaware lack of water. Desalinization offers a very pricey partial solution for an ass-broke government, but not much.

Also of note in the issue: that giant, enormous Three Gorges dam China is building? It is expected to be so heavy so as to move the earth's tilt by about an inch. Dam! Also, also of note in the issue: the farms that feed the country and big cities of the heartland like Denver? They depend heavily on a giant underground aquifer under the continent that is being drained much faster than it can be naturally replenished. What will happen when one of the country's main food baskets runs out of water? Mmm soylent green.
Thanks, China.

Thanks, heartland.