Posted by
Playful Walrus on Monday, July 28, 2008 6:08:08 PM
The animals-before-people crowd continues to attack. Now they are complaining because County of Los Angeles engineers operate the flood control and water conservation system in a way that focuses on conserving water instead of providing habitat for ducklings.
So far, it is just a story in the Los Angeles Times. But southern California is already having to deal with less water because of a judge’s orders to protect a fish in northern California, thereby making an expensive and long-used water conveyance system that delivers water to southern California less effective...by court order. If local water conservation efforts are thwarted to help ducks, it will be even worse.
Without the flood control and water conservation system, there would be no “rivers” in the Los Angeles area. Streams used to flow quickly along the short distance from the mountains to the ocean along frequently-changing courses – this would be during the infrequent rainy days. The rest of the time, there wouldn't be any streams. During unusual downpours, floodwaters would rip through the area, because there were no established deep rivers to channel the waters. Either way, it wasn’t like there was ever a steady, navigable river with enduring habitat. Building the flood control and water conservation system (including major dams and the Los Angeles and the San Gabriel “rivers”) allowed safe development of the area - which we all know the envirowhackos hate. Manipulating stormwater and reclaimed water so that it soaks back into the groundwater table is needed now more than ever. The ducks will just have to deal.