California's Man-made Rivers
Author: Stephen C. Smith
Publisher:
Published: 1961
Total Pages: 32
ISBN-13:
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Author: Stephen C. Smith
Publisher:
Published: 1961
Total Pages: 32
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Jeffrey F. Mount
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Published: 2023-09-01
Total Pages: 378
ISBN-13: 052091693X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKCalifornia Rivers and Streams provides a clear and informative overview of the physical and biological processes that shape California's rivers and watersheds. Jeffrey Mount introduces relevant basic principles of hydrology and geomorphology and applies them to an understanding of the differences in character of the state's many rivers. He then builds on this foundation by evaluating the impact on waterways of different land use practices—logging, mining, agriculture, flood control, urbanization, and water supply development. Water may be one of California's most valuable resources, but it is far from being one we control. In spite of channels, levees, lines and dams, the state's rivers still frequently flood, with devastating results. Almost all the rivers in California are dammed or diverted; with the booming population, there will be pressure for more intervention. Mount argues that Californians know little about how their rivers work and, more importantly, how and why land-use practices impact rivers. The forceful reconfiguration and redistribution of the rivers has already brought the state to a critical crossroads. California Rivers and Streams forces us to reevaluate our use of the state's rivers and offers a foundation for participating in the heated debates about their future.
Author: Mark Arax
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 2019-05-21
Total Pages: 577
ISBN-13: 1101875216
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA vivid, searching journey into California's capture of water and soil—the epic story of a people's defiance of nature and the wonders, and ruin, it has wrought Mark Arax is from a family of Central Valley farmers, a writer with deep ties to the land who has watched the battles over water intensify even as California lurches from drought to flood and back again. In The Dreamt Land, he travels the state to explore the one-of-a-kind distribution system, built in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, that is straining to keep up with California's relentless growth. The Dreamt Land weaves reportage, history and memoir to confront the "Golden State" myth in riveting fashion. No other chronicler of the West has so deeply delved into the empires of agriculture that drink so much of the water. The nation's biggest farmers—the nut king, grape king and citrus queen—tell their story here for the first time. Arax, the native son, is persistent and tough as he treks from desert to delta, mountain to valley. What he finds is hard earned, awe-inspiring, tragic and revelatory. In the end, his compassion for the land becomes an elegy to the dream that created California and now threatens to undo it.
Author: Ellen Hanak
Publisher: Public Policy Instit. of CA
Published: 2011
Total Pages: 500
ISBN-13: 1582131414
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Marc Reisner
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 1993-06-01
Total Pages: 674
ISBN-13: 1440672822
DOWNLOAD EBOOK“I’ve been thinking a lot about Cadillac Desert in the past few weeks, as the rain fell and fell and kept falling over California, much of which, despite the pouring heavens, seems likely to remain in the grip of a severe drought. Reisner anticipated this moment. He worried that the West’s success with irrigation could be a mirage — that it took water for granted and didn’t appreciate the precariousness of our capacity to control it.” – Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times, January 20,2023 "The definitive work on the West's water crisis." --Newsweek The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecological and economic disaster. In his landmark book, Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in the competition to transform the West. Based on more than a decade of research, Cadillac Desert is a stunning expose and a dramatic, intriguing history of the creation of an Eden--an Eden that may only be a mirage. This edition includes a new postscript by Lawrie Mott, a former staff scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, that updates Western water issues over the last two decades, including the long-term impact of climate change and how the region can prepare for the future.
Author: Pennsylvania. Bureau of Resources Programming
Publisher:
Published: 1975
Total Pages: 110
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Eric Kuhn
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Published: 2019-11-26
Total Pages: 289
ISBN-13: 0816540055
DOWNLOAD EBOOKScience Be Dammed is an alarming reminder of the high stakes in the management—and perils in the mismanagement—of water in the western United States. It seems deceptively simple: even when clear evidence was available that the Colorado River could not sustain ambitious dreaming and planning by decision-makers throughout the twentieth century, river planners and political operatives irresponsibly made the least sustainable and most dangerous long-term decisions. Arguing that the science of the early twentieth century can shed new light on the mistakes at the heart of the over-allocation of the Colorado River, authors Eric Kuhn and John Fleck delve into rarely reported early studies, showing that scientists warned as early as the 1920s that there was not enough water for the farms and cities boosters wanted to build. Contrary to a common myth that the authors of the Colorado River Compact did the best they could with limited information, Kuhn and Fleck show that development boosters selectively chose the information needed to support their dreams, ignoring inconvenient science that suggested a more cautious approach. Today water managers are struggling to come to terms with the mistakes of the past. Focused on both science and policy, Kuhn and Fleck unravel the tangled web that has constructed the current crisis. With key decisions being made now, including negotiations for rules governing how the Colorado River water will be used after 2026, Science Be Dammed offers a clear-eyed path forward by looking back. Understanding how mistakes were made is crucial to understanding our contemporary problems. Science Be Dammed offers important lessons in the age of climate change about the necessity of seeking out the best science to support the decisions we make.
Author: California. Department of Water Resources
Publisher:
Published: 1994
Total Pages: 476
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: William DeBuys
Publisher: UNM Press
Published: 1999
Total Pages: 412
ISBN-13: 9780826324283
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA history of the Salton Sea, which has become a prophetic story of mounting environmental crises that impinge on the water supply of southern California's sixteen million people.
Author:
Publisher:
Published: 2015-11-27
Total Pages:
ISBN-13: 9781619480155
DOWNLOAD EBOOK24-page guide that provides an overview of California water - history, major projects, the Delta, groundwater, environmental issues and stretching the supply for the future.