Vanishing Sea

[Jamo]

Originally Posted by Gunner

Mediterranean is more a description of climate than geography. You'll note that most areas of the Med are scrubby, sandy territory that's not terribly arable or fertile. Cultivation in Italy and Greece is largely olive trees because they're extremely hardy and don't require irrigation in most years. Also consider the entire top of Africa, which is "Mediterranean." Most of the area is not some lush resort jungle, or anything like it.

A map of underlying geography and ecology shows that the LA Basin has a few arable regions, but can fairly be described as a scrub desert, chaparral or similar low-water, hardy-growth zone. It doesn't have one tenth the water it needs for its population and never did; IMVHO squatter's rights don't entitle it to half the water in the Western US.

Those vast stretches of desert north of the Grapevine - you know, the ones posted with b*tch signs every mile or so - are even less naturally arable and have an even lesser right to someone else's water.

I might change my mind the next time I fly over and see a lot more native-plant landscaping and a lot fewer pools.

You really do just grab bullsh!t out of the air and type it up don't you.

The area north of the Grapevine does not receive water from anywhere else...they draw from aquifers below ground. The area west of Bakersfield was the Tulare Lake basin, where water from the Kings and Kern Rivers reached their terminus. The Kern, like the Mojave, is generally an underground river once it leaves the mountains. The ground in these areas are far more productive than the Sacramento Valley, which is why fruits and vegetables are grown around Bakersfield while rice for Korea is grown around Sacramento. As for LA, the San Fernando Valley always a had enough water for agriculture...ever since the original Spanish land grants. Same for the Beverly Hills, Riverside and Orange County areas. The need for more water came from urban growth...due to Mulholland and his pack grabbing the streams in the Owens Valley and inviting folks in cheap. That labor supply drove the industrial machine in the 30s, 40s and since that created the economic power that California generally has been. The areas you note are full of water...only a moron would judge the presence of water based upon the appearance of the land. Only a bigger moron would dismiss arid land as being non-productive.

As for those "b!tch" signs...I represent most of the folks you're talking about and that you allege take water from elsewhere...in this case, you're way off track. The end point for ag water from Shasta ends about a 100 miles north. This is what screws up everything...morons who know little about the subject giving opinions from their city addresses.

I really haven't enjoyed your presence here since day one...you've started sh!t repeatedly, told Ron and me how to do our job, and generally have grown into an absolute PITA. You've gotten a few suspensions already. And now I caught you in a lie based on arrogance or stupidity or both while you tell other folks off.

Had enough...we no longer have patience around here. Don't like it...suck eggs.