Introduction to Water in California

by David Carle

Overview

It takes 8 gallons of water to grow a tomato, 616 gallons to make a burger patty. In fact, the food each of us consumes per day represents an investment of 4,500 gallons of water. In this densely populated state where it rains only half the year, where does all that water come from? This book tells the story of California's most precious resource, tracing the journey of water in the state from the atmosphere to the snowpack to our faucets and foods.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520260160
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	02/20/2009
Series:	California Natural History Guides , #76
Edition description:	First Edition, Updated with a New Preface
Pages:	292
Product dimensions:	4.50(w) x 7.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

David Carle is a former park ranger and the author of California Natural History Guides about water, fire, air, and soil (UC Press), as well as other books in water history and management, including Drowning the Dream: California’s Water Choices at the Millennium and Water and the California Dream. His most recent UC Press book is Traveling the 38th Parallel: A Water Line around the World (2013).

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	Introduction--Water Web: Connected Californians	xi
	Tapping Into a Planetary Cycle	1
	A Great Water Wheel	3
	The Vital Molecule	18
	"Normal" Weather: Anything but "Average"	23
	Droughts	23
	Floods	29
	California Water Landscape	35
	Pristine Waterscape	37
	Groundwater	48
	Hydrologic Regions	52
	North Coast Region	52
	Sacramento River Region	58
	North Lahontan Region	61
	San Francisco Bay Region	64
	San Joaquin River Region	65
	Central Coast Region	68
	Tulare Lake Region	71
	South Lahontan Region	74
	South Coast Region	78
	Colorado River Region	81
	The Distribution System	85
	Expanding Watersheds	87
	The State Water Project	92
	The Central Valley Project	103
	Colorado River Delivery Systems	110
	The Los Angeles Aqueduct	115
	The Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct	118
	The Mokelumne Aqueduct	123
	The North Bay	125
	Challenges to California Water Management	133
	Extinction Is Forever	135
	A Thirsty Garden	146
	The Salton Sea	153
	Animal Impacts	155
	Beneath Your Feet	157
	Out of Sight, Out of Control	160
	Can You Drink the Water?	164
	Giardia	166
	Mass Medication	167
	The Bottled-Water Phenomenon	169
	The Problem Is Us	171
	Where Does Your Dog Go?	174
	Unchecked Growth: Messing with the Cycle	175
	Meeting the Challenges: California's Water Future	179
	The Public Trust	181
	Restoration	184
	Calfed	187
	The Debate Over Dams	191
	Build More Behemoths?	193
	Off-Stream Dams?	194
	Raise Existing Dams?	195
	Raze Existing Dams?	197
	Storage in the Bank	200
	Transfers: Water As a Commodity	204
	Short-Cutting the Cycle	208
	Squeezing the Sponge	211
	Clean Water	215
	Lemonade from Lemons	216
	What Future Do You Choose?	219
	Acronyms and Abbreviations	225
	Historical Timeline	227
	Agencies and Organizations	235
	References	237
	Photo Credits	245
	Index	247

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Prescient and timely. . . Carle's obvious skills as an educator flow through the book as he reels in the reader with engaging hooks. . . The book is broad enough to be widely read and yet specific enough to serve as a text book."—North County Times

"A colorful overview of nature and politics."—Chico Enterprise-Record

"A straight-forward, non-political look at the history of water development in the Golden State."—The Record

Editorial Reviews

Carle’s writings are not so much a political statement as eloquent statements of historical fact.

Stockton Record

Prescient and timely. . . Carle’s obvious skills as an educator flow through the book as he reels in the reader with engaging hooks. . . The book is broad enough to be widely read and yet specific enough to serve as a text book.

North County Times

A straight-forward, non-political look at the history of water development in the Golden State.

The Record

A colorful overview of nature and politics.

Chico Enterprise-Record

"Prescient and timely. . . Carle's obvious skills as an educator flow through the book as he reels in the reader with engaging hooks. . . The book is broad enough to be widely read and yet specific enough to serve as a text book."--North County Times

"A colorful overview of nature and politics."--Chico Enterprise-Record

"A straight-forward, non-political look at the history of water development in the Golden State."--The Record

"Carle's writings are not so much a political statement as eloquent statements of historical fact."--Stockton Record

From the Publisher

"Bottom Line: You cannot hope to fix a "broken" system without some basic understanding of its history, function and opportunities for change. I give Carle's book FIVE STARS for providing that information."

David Zetland