Previous posts to this blog have discussed the severe and unprecedented modern drought being experienced by California and other southwestern American states. California’s water reservoirs are dangerously low due to limited snowfall and their water table being drained rapidly due to over reliance on irrigation for crops and other water uses. Serious observers in media articles have warned California that if this drought continues, its measures to date will not be enough to help all Californians cope with the drought’s effects. California seems unable or unwilling to grasp that it may face an apocalyptic drought. Indeed, the first link and second link, from serious scientific sources, warn that California may be entering a historic drought experienced in that region approximately every 1000 years.
One answer to California’s drought threat can be found in technology being implemented in Israel. Israeli technology has developed an economical way of producing very large quantities of water via a new desalination process. The new Israeli desalinization process is so efficient and is on a sufficiently-large scale to enable Israel to be a water exporter to the Mideast. This could dramatically change Mideast politics to Israel’s benefit, as other thirsty Mideast nations need new water sources. The new Israeli water technology is detailed in the third link and fourth link (which are essentially the same article but its publication in more than one mainstream source gives it added impact). Please look at the photos and information in these two links to see how truly large this new Israeli desalinization facility is.
If California and the American Southwest are truly beginning a dry cycle that will be a “‘thousand year drought,” then California should waste no time in building a network of water desalinization plants using this new Israeli technology. Perhaps the Israelis would grant California a license to use their technology or could be contracted to oversee the building of such plants for California. It makes little sense for Californians to have their land, industries, farms, etc. dry up while they are literally adjacent to the largest mass of water on the planet: the Pacific Ocean. Isaiah 35:1 includes a prophecy that “the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.” While I believe this is primarily a millennial/Messianic Age prophecy, it certainly has had a preliminary fulfillment in how the Jews who have returned to the Promised Land in the modern era have “made the desert blossom” with water-recycling and water-reclamation techniques as well as drip irrigation technology. Add to that list the new large-scale water desalinization technology now being built in Israel. Just a suggestion to the Israelis that I’m sure they have already considered: Given the periodic rocket attacks from Gaza against Israeli territory and given the many thousands of rockets and missiles aimed at Israeli territory from the Hezbollah-controlled regions in southern Lebanon, it is vital that the Israeli Iron Dome and other missile-defense systems be positioned to defend this vital water-production facility from attacks.
There is no reason for California to experience an existential water crisis in the near future. Given that economical, large-scale water desalinization technology exists, why doesn’t the state of California issue bonds to quickly build a large network of water desalinization plants that would provide a massive supply of fresh water to the state? The supply of water in the Pacific Ocean is readily available and inexhaustible, and the demand for fresh water all over the western USA will be very great for the foreseeable future. That should make the bonds very secure, as there is a very strong demand for their production of fresh water. Like the Israelis, Californians could become water exporters to surrounding regions if they built enough desalinization plants. One thing is sure: If the scientific experts are right that California is entering a historic “1000-year drought,” there will be great hardship for the state and all its people if they do not take swift action to secure an alternate supply of fresh water.
One more thought. If California is entering a very severe 1000-year drought cycle, what happened about 1000 years ago? Approximately 1000 years ago, the Anasazi civilization was flourishing in the ancient American Southwest. It faded away gradually and a prolonged drought is one reason put forth by historians for its demise. That a flourishing civilization faded away approximately a millennium ago in the American southwest supports a view that we may be entering just such a drought again at this key juncture in global history. Time will tell, but ancient societies with low technologies had little choice but to abandon their homes and move elsewhere when a prolonged drought struck them. Unlike ancient societies, modern mankind has some impressive technology to mitigate the effects of a prolonged drought. California has such technological options available to it. However, if it fails to have the political will or foresight to take action now to save itself later, it may run out of time to help itself later. That would unleash a crisis of biblical proportions on not just California but the entire nation as well because California produces so much of the USA’s food supplies of vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc. Think of the catastrophic effects of an unending drought on California. It would make many California cities unlivable as soon as they had no reliable water supply. That would unleash an internal refugee crisis of unprecedented proportions within the USA since California is our most populous state.
I think California ought to start building those water desalinization plants…while it still has time.
- http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-droughts-will-be-the-worst-in-1-000-years1/
- http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150212-megadrought-southwest-water-climate-environment/
- http://ensia.com/features/how-a-new-source-of-water-is-helping-reduce-conflict-in-the-middle-east/
- http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/israel-proves-the-desalination-era-is-here/
