The Great Thirst
The Great Thirst

Author: Norris Hundley Jr.

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-11-15

Total Pages: 830

ISBN-13: 9780520925298

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The story of "the great thirst" is brought up to date in this revised edition of Norris Hundley's outstanding history, with additional photographs and incisive descriptions of the major water-policy issues facing California now: accelerating urbanization of farmland and open spaces, persisting despoliation of water supplies, and demands for equity in water allocation for an exploding population. People the world over confront these problems, and Hundley examines them with clarity and eloquence in the unruly laboratory of California. The obsession with water has shaped California to a remarkable extent, literally as well as politically and culturally. Hundley tells how aboriginal Americans and then early Spanish and Mexican immigrants contrived to use and share the available water and how American settlers, arriving in ever-increasing numbers after the Gold Rush, transformed California into the home of the nation's preeminent water seekers. The desire to use, profit from, manipulate, and control water drives the people and events in this fascinating narrative until, by the end of the twentieth century, a large, colorful cast of characters and communities has wheeled and dealed, built, diverted, and connived its way to an entirely different statewide waterscape. The story of "the great thirst" is brought up to date in this revised edition of Norris Hundley's outstanding history, with additional photographs and incisive descriptions of the major water-policy issues facing California now: accelerating urbanization

Reservoir Operation During Drought
Reservoir Operation During Drought

Author: Katherine Francis Kelly

Publisher:

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13:

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During the past 25 years, the U.S. has experienced two of its most severe droughts: One in the Northeast in 1962-1967; and the other during 1975-1977 in the Great Plains and the states along the West Coast. Many of the water supply systems in these areas are based upon surface reservoir storage. This report discusses the drought response of three regional reservoir systems within these drought impacted areas. Both single reservoir and multiple reservoir operations are examined. The study areas are the Potomac River and the Delaware Basins (both on the East Coast), and the state of California. The reservoir systems of these regions are chosen for study for several reasons. First, they are hydrologically diverse. California is an arid region. The Delaware and Potomac basins are humid. Secondly, all three are technically, institutionally, and politically complex. Studying complex reservoir systems is more beneficial than studying simpler reservoir because issues involved in drought operation of a large reservoir system are broader in scope and can be narrowed to apply to smaller systems. Thirdly, the droughts in these areas were severe and the impacts of their water supply management were widely felt. Finally, drought operation plans have been developed for almost all of the reservoir systems studied as a result of their drought experience.