Calming the waters around Santa Barbara

Fleming replies: The term “looting” was used by Brian Fagan on page 238 of his book. He wrote: “Many of us live off looted [water] supplies, brought by aqueduct from the Owens watershed, culled from the Colorado River, and taken from artesian wells, aquifers that will one day run dry.”

In my review I connected Fagan’s reflections on modern-day drought to his own residence in Santa Barbara. I noted from the webpage of the County of Santa Barbara Public Works water supply overview that “the County’s residents obtain their potable water from several sources: groundwater withdrawal, storm runoff collected in reservoir systems, the State Water Project, recycled water and desalination.”

I am sure Barry Keller runs a tight ship and he and his colleagues are doing everything possible to hydrate an area with less-than-sufficient rainfall. However, since the city draws part of its water from Lake Oroville Reservoir, hundreds of miles north and not part of the Santa Barbara watershed, I applied Fagan’s term to the city to highlight several points:

• ▸ The “silent elephant” of drought Fagan refers to stalks the author’s hometown, and has for the past two years.

• ▸ The large-scale situation in Santa Barbara and much of the American West is not sustainable.

• ▸ Well-to-do cities with more resources may be able to stave off drought longer than poorer areas.

I applaud the city for its water efficiency improvement efforts, yet much more needs to be done.