Water and the California dream
Subtitle: historic choices for shaping the future
By: David Carle
Edition: Revised edition.
Publisher: Counterpoint
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 275
ISBN-13: 9781619026179
Subjects: Environmental conditions; Water-supply; Economic conditions; Social conditions; Economic development; Social change; History
Description: "Imported water has transformed the Golden State's environment and quality of life. Land ownership patterns and real estate boosterism dramatically altered both urban and rural communities across the entire state. The key has been redirecting water from the Eastern Sierra, the Colorado River, and Northern California rivers. 'Whoever brings the water, brings the people, ' wrote engineer William Mullholland, whose leadership began the process of water irrigating unlimited growth. Using first-person voices of Californians to reveal the resulting changes, Carle concludes that now is the time to stop drowning the California Dream. With extensive use of oral histories, contemporary newspaper articles and autobiographies, Carle provides a rich exploration of the historic changes in California, as imported water shaped patterns of growth and development. In this thoroughly revised edition, Carle brings that history up to date, as water choices remain the primary tool for shaping California's future. In a land where climate change is exacerbating the challenges of a naturally dry region, the state's damaged environment and reduced quality of life can be corrected, Carle argues, if Californians step out of the historic pattern and embrace limited water supplies as a fact of life"--
Notes: Previous edition: 2003.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Changes and Choices; title: Part I: Frontierland to Fantasyland; title: 1. In Grizzly Days; title: 2. Save the Cows ... Horses Off the Cliffs; title: 3. Gold Fever : Afflicted Forefathers; title: 4. Statehood, State Water and State Laws; title: 5. Railroads and Real Estate, Citrus and Sunshine; title: Part II: Historic Choices; title: Eastern Sierra Water; title: 6. Melodrama on the Right Side of California; title: 7. Life in the Big City; title: How Did They Get Away with It?; title: 8. Did They See Where They Were Going?; title: 9. What If the Los Angeles Aqueduct Had Never Been Built? Part III: Historic Choices; title: Colorado River Water; title: 10. "And lest our city shrivel and die ..."; title: 11. Boom! Sprawling Gridlock; title: 12. People Fumes (I); title: Part IV: Historic Choices; title: Northern California Water; title: 13. A Dam Inside Yosemite and M.U.D. for the East Bay; title: 14. Big Dams Irrigate Big Farms : The Central Valley Project; title: 15. Too Much is Not Enough : The State Water Project; title: Part V: Tomorrowland : Today's Choices in a Hotter, Drier California; title: 16. Who Needs Fish? Who Needs Farms?; title: 17. The Fate of Mono Lake; title: 18. People Fumes (II) : Climate Warming and the Changing Water Cycle; title: 19. Use Local Water Again and Again, Because Dams Are Little Help; title: 20. Visualize Tomorrow; title: A California Dream.