Re: Growing Seasons
Amy Rupp wrote:
>
> My grandfather is a farmer in the lower Rio Grande Valley, and boy
> that poor river is sucked dry by the time it gets there, and literally
> is trickles through the border towns down to the Gulf of Mexico.
>
> I am always wondering at states like CA, AZ, and NM, which are perfect
> growing places because they are warm and dry, and water can be easily
> manipulated by irrigating (but it's harder to SUBTRACT water). But
> isn't this incredibly draining on the water supplies, and doesn't
> it upset the natural flora / fauna?
>
> I do worry about the water usage.
The Colorado River suffers at least as badly from the same problem as
the Rio Grande as it exits into the Gulf of California. And the
builders in southern Calif want more and more and to hell with the
environment (can you tell I'm from northern California). The "water
wars" out here continue beyond any intelligent thought, by any of the
parties. Do they affect the flora and fauna?? Of course. The idiots out
here almost cost the world the supply of pacific salmon, not to mention
many other fish stocks, by bottling up the water flow in western rivers
for the sake of "development". Then there was the selenium problem
contaminating the run off water shed, and , and , and
I know there is a soap box around here someplace...
It is up to all of us to do what little we can to get some
reasonableness into both sides of these issues.
--
John | "There be dragons here"
| Annotation used by ancient cartographers
| to indicate the edge of the known world.
John Jones, Fremont CA, jijones@ix.netcom.com, USDA zone 8
