Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

has reduced populations of resident and migratinggulls, ducks, and wading birds that use the lake forfood and shelter and led to lawsuits over greatly reducingdiversion of water flowing into the lake. In1994, the California Water Resources Control Board requiredLos Angeles to restrict its water diversions andallow water to be restored to the lake.According to a 2002 joint study by a team of scientistsand engineers, projected global warming is likelyto sharply reduce water availability in California (especiallysouthern California) and other water-short statesin the western United States even under the study’sbest-case scenario. The study projects that overall precipitationlevels are likely to remain constant, butwarmer temperatures will cause what would havefallen as snow during the winter to come down as rain.Currently the annual snow pack in California’snorthern Sierra Nevada mountains acts as a naturalreservoir by storing water as snow through the winterand then slowly releasing it as water during spring andsummer when water demand is high. If winter precipitationfalls as rain instead of as snow, it will fill riversand streams at a time of year when the demand for wateris low, and will lead to shortages during spring andsummer when demand is high. Some analysts projectthat sometime during this century many of the peopleliving in arid southern California cities (such as LosAngeles and San Diego), and farmers in the area, willhave to move elsewhere because of a lack of water.Pumping out more groundwater is not the answerbecause it is already being withdrawn faster than it isreplenished throughout much of California and desalinatingocean water is too expensive for irrigation. Tomost analysts, quicker and cheaper solutions are to improveirrigation efficiency, stop growing water-thirstycrops in a desert climate, and allow farmers to sellcities the legal rights to withdraw certain amounts ofwater from rivers.Case Study: Canada’s James Bay WatershedTransfer Project—Rearranging NatureThe first phase of a gigantic 50-year project toproduce hydroelectric power for Canada and theUnited States has been completed, but the secondphase has been postponed.Another major watershed transfer project is Canada’sJames Bay project. It is a $60 billion, 50-year schemeto harness the wild rivers that flow into Quebec’sJames and Hudson Bays to produce electric power forCanadian and U.S. consumers (Figure 15-14).If completed, this megaproject by Hydro-Quebecinvolves building 600 dams and dikes that will reverseor alter the flow of 19 giant rivers covering a watershedthree times the size of New York state. The projectwill flood an area of boreal forest and tundra equalin area to Washington state or Germany. It will alsoChicagoC A N A D AHudsonBayJamesBayONTARIOUNITED STATESChisasibiQUEBECdisplace thousands of indigenous Cree and Inuit, whofor 5,000 years have lived off James Bay by subsistencehunting, fishing, and trapping.After 20 years, the $16 billion first phase of theproject has been completed. It diverted three majorrivers, flooded a huge area of tundra and forest, andbuilt dams that generate electricity equal to that from26 large coal-burning or nuclear power plants.The second phase was postponed indefinitely in1994 because the first phase produced more powerthan could be sold. Opposition by the Cree, whose ancestralhunting grounds would have been flooded,and by Canadian and U.S. environmentalists, alongwith New York state’s cancellation of two contracts tobuy electricity, also helped to postpone phase II.15-6 TAPPING GROUNDWATER,CONVERTING SALTWATER TOFRESHWATER, SEEDING CLOUDS,AND TOWING ICEBERGS AND BIGBAGGIESIIIIINew YorkCityNEWFOUNDLANDATLANTICOCEANFigure 15-14 If completed, the James Bay project in northernQuebec will alter or reverse the flow of 19 major rivers andflood an area the size of the state of Washington to producehydropower for consumers in Quebec and the United States,especially in New York State. Phase I of this 50-year project iscompleted.What Are the Advantages andDisadvantages of Withdrawing Groundwater?Avoid Too Many Straws in the GlassMost aquifers are renewable sources unless the wateris removed faster than it is replenished or becomescontaminated.318 CHAPTER 15 Water Resources