Man, California's future is a bit of a downer:
The scenario is as simple as what unfolded in New Orleans. The
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is below sea level. It is protected by a
network of earthen levees dating to the frontier era, many built by
Chinese laborers following completion of the trans-Sierra railroad.
Through this delta flow the waters of Northern California, which are
channeled southward to the semi-arid reaches of Central and Southern
California via a network of aqueducts and pipelines representing a
multibillion-dollar investment by state and federal government across
75 years of construction.
Ringing the delta is a rich empire
of agriculture and suburban development. Should a magnitude 6.5
earthquake strike the San Francisco Bay Area — almost a certainty by
mid-century, though it could happen today — about 30 major failures can
be expected in the earthen levees.
About 3,000 homes and
85,000 acres of cropland would be submerged. Saltwater from San
Francisco Bay would invade the system, forcing engineers to shut down
the pumps that ship water to Central and Southern California while the
levees were being repaired. This would cut off water to the State Water
Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Keep in mind that FEMA, a few years back, released a report arguing the three most likely catastrophes in America were terrorism in New York, a hurricane in New Orleans, and a quake in San Francisco. Given the uncanny accuracy of their predictions, we're really in a two-down-one-to-go situation. In other words, we're waiting. How much sounder a strategy, then, if we spent the time preparing instead. Maybe Arnold can offer a proposition on that next year.
