The Man Who Made it Rain A true story based on the experiences of J.Dietrich Stroeh The Great Marin County Drought of 1976-77, Our Looming Climate Crisis and the Future of Water in the State of California By Michael McCarthy All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by Contents any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any Chapters information storage and retrieval system without the written permission from the Introduction iv Epigraph vi publisher, except for brief quotations in a review. Prologue: The 20/20 Factor vii 1 Tingsang-la Pass, northern Nepal 1 2 Before the deluge 13 This is a work of fiction based on the true experiences of J. Dietrich Stroeh. Some 3 In the beginning 20 names, places, physical descriptions and other particulars have been changed. For 4 In the classroom 27 5 Warning signs 32 that reason, readers are cautioned that some details in the text may not correspond 6 Pulling the plug 39 to real people, places or events. 7 The good old days 49 8 River deep, mountain high 54 9 Not in my backyard 64 Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy 10 No growth is good growth 72 11 On the bus 87 and completeness of information contained in this book, we assume no responsibility 12 The water wars begin 97 for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein. Any slights of 13 The beauty of Nepal 106 14 The price of doing nothing 113 people, places or organizations are unintentional. 15 The car wash blues 121 16 Getting in the swim of things 128 17 Repercussions to rationing 136 ©2006, Michael McCarthy 18 Endless summer 147 19 The crisis commences 154 20 The turning point 161 QUM 10987654321 21 High times 171 22 The 11 a.m. news 184 Printed in the United States of America 23 Sitting on the dock of the bay 194 24 The Sacramento blues 204 25 Governor Moonbeam comes to town 214 Library of Congress 26 Planning the pipeline 221 Catalogue-in-Publication-Data: 27 The pipeline commences 231 28 A night in Nepal 240 McCarthy, Michael 29 Bad manners 248 The Man Who Made It Rain/Michael McCarthy 30 Looking to desal 254 31 The desal solution 261 Library of Congress Control Number: 2005936995 32 Crisis? What crisis? 268 ISBN: 0-9772371-052495 33 A matter of the heart 276 34 Building the pipeline 286 35 Water and oil 294 Book Design by Focus Design 36 Mr. Stroeh goes to Washington 306 37 Full alert 316 www.focusd.com 38 Show me the money 326 39 Severe and persistent drought 336 40 Stress, the silent killer 345 Published by: 41 Making the prime time news 353 Public Ink 42 Down on the levee 362 43 My cup runneth over 376 314 Sandpiper Court 44 When it rains, it pours 387 Novato, CA 94949 45 The rescue 402 46 After the flood 409 [email protected] Epilogue 414 www.themanwhomadeitrain.com Afterword 416 Acknowledgements 418 INTRODUCTION equitably allocate enough water among everyone’s competing demands by creating the model for a genuinely sustainable water management I was a U.S Congressman from the North San Francisco Bay Area when the program anywhere. This book is a cautionary tale that reminds us that events in this book took place. The 1976-77 drought was a wake-up call to with vision, creativity and cooperation, we can make the impossible work. a population that took water for granted. People in California, as in most developed countries, tend to forget that water is a precious and essential John Burton resource. Many people assume it is their right to use as much water as they Former State Senator and U.S. Congressman want, whenever they want. When Marin County, one of the most affluent counties in California, ran out of water during the drought of 1976-1977, it took the combined efforts of my office and of numerous local and regional agencies to turn the tap back on. Unfortunately, a quarter of a century later, we still haven’t learned the lessons of this book. Struggles over water continue at the forefront of political debates and battles — not just in California, but throughout the world. The most popular lesson of this book is that people, when educated to understand what is at stake, will respond. Water consumption was reduced by 65 percent. A spirit of cooperation existed not only through the neighborhoods of Marin County but also through all the local, state and federal agencies who collaborated on the solution – a pipeline over the four-mile-long Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Droughts come and go, and people forget their lessons and go back to their wasteful ways. That must change. Water conservation and recycling should be second nature, not just a crisis response. There should not be water “haves” and “have-nots.” The hard work and planning that solved the crisis in the 70’s should be used to solve today’s water dilemmas. The kinds of unconventional cooperation that sent water across a bridge could help us find ways to iv v EPIGRAPH PROLOGUE The 20/20 Factor By Michael McCarthy Sometime around 1930, according to old tribal lessons, several traditional Whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting about. Hopi Indian leaders crafted a message to the world. In effect, their message ~ Mark Twain said that there was a rising danger that mankind’s lack of spiritual attention to the planet was going to lead to disaster. The Hopi leaders said that this disaster would take the form of A simple rule governs all commodities. The law of supply and demand says violent storms and trigger many forms of disruption that would eventually that the less there is of any commodity, and the more demand there is for threaten all human beings. This had happened before, they warned, it, the higher its price will be. If that commodity is essential to maintaining and all signs, including ancient prophecies, indicated it was going to life, in times of scarcity people will pay any price for it and do whatever is happen again. necessary to obtain it. That’s how wars start. Their prophecy may be right. Since then, the air temperature in The most essential component of life is water. People can do Alaska has risen seven degrees. Glaciers there are retreating at a rate of 20 without food but we cannot live long without water. Oil may make the world feet per year. The Arctic permafrost is melting and no plans were made for go round, but we can survive without it. Water — fresh, clean drinking this when the Alaska pipeline was built. Climatologists estimate that in 50 water — is about to become a very hot commodity in the world. Water is years there will be no glaciers left in Glacier National Park. the new oil. The seas are rising. Great storms batter the planet. Weather There is a subconscious assumption that the amount of water in records of all sorts, of heat and cold, flood and drought, have been broken the world is infinite. We all know about the water cycle. Rain falls from in every region of the world. Weather forecasters predict much more of the the sky, it flows into the seas and rises through evaporation into clouds, same yet to come . and the cycle repeats itself endlessly. At the same time there is another assumption that the amount of water in the world is adequate to meet the needs of the world’s population. Historically, as the world’s population has grown, the challenge has been to move fresh water to the people, usually in the form of reservoirs and canals. But when you start guarding, measuring and selling it, God’s gift to mankind suddenly becomes a commodity. Since the Industrial Revolution, much of the world’s fresh water supply has become polluted. Our aging water infrastructure is also springing leaks. The world’s underground aquifers are being drained and vi vii it will take thousands of years to replenish them. Population growth in Most of the world’s dams and reservoirs that can be built have already been America has meant poor people moving to desert communities in search built. In California, for instance, every inch of Sierra Nevada snowmelt is of cheap land and rapidly emptying aquifers. Fancy desert resorts and already being stockpiled, while most of the state’s underground aquifers retirement communities are springing up in the deserts, where golf courses are being sucked dry. Meanwhile, California’s population has greatly and swimming pools suck back fresh water like sponges. increased, along with the rest of the world’s. In California, estimates are Ninety-nine percent of the world’s water is found in the oceans, that the population could rise to as many as 48 million people as soon as but it contains salt and is not drinkable. Most of the world’s fresh water is 2020. While there may be efficiencies in irrigation, no more fresh water preserved in a frozen form, either in glaciers or in the polar ice caps. Many will be created for these millions of new residents. of the glaciers in the world are rapidly melting due to climate change. That Water wars are starting to erupt around the world. In California, fresh water eventually ends up in the ocean, mixing with salt. The snows farmers, fishers and environmentalists are already skirmishing over access that replenish these frozen reservoirs are now often falling as rain instead, to the same rivers.