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4A– Daily News – Monday, July 26, 2010 Opinion Water rights and wrongs D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer’s home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents and businesses of Tehama County. How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 The old proverb "Still waters run deep" is proven true as I gaze upon Mill Creek about a mile from its convergence with the Sacra- mento River. Just weeks ago this view from my deck was of a 50- foot-wide sheet of seemingly placid water, often made tan by the volcanic silt when rain falls upon Mt. Lassen. Today the creek is about half the width in several places where rippling waters flow over glistening rounded rocks. If history serves the view will soon abruptly change to a narrow rivulet that snakes its way through a bed of dry rocks to a much loved swim- ming-hole adjacent to my home. From a purely selfish perspec- tive the reduced summer water flow is fine as I am able to pump all the potable water I need from the aquifer as the temperature of the swimming-hole increases to a level that is ideal for late summer swim- ming and sun-bathing. Sadly though other species are not com- forted by this change - migrating salmon find the waters insufficient for passage to their spawning grounds and other species find it too warm for survival. Their plight has become one of life and death because the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority diverts essentially all the water from Mill Creek and tribu- taries about two miles before it joins the Sacramento in late sum- mer to help satisfy agricultural water needs in the valley. In addi- tion poorly designed and main- tained fish ladders at the diversion dam doom many migrating Coho. The U.S. Geological Survey, (see www.usgs.gov) collects daily water statistics for a wide number of sites though-out the nation including one designated as USGS 11381500 Mill C NR LOS MOLI- NOS CA about a mile upstream from the diversion dam. These data, going back to 1928 indicate that average flow rates range from 107 cubic-feet per second (cfs) in September to 485 cfs in February. It is interesting to note that the low- est average flow rate in the past twenty years was 67.1 cfs in August of 1992, and the highest was a whopping 1,592 cfs in Janu- ary of 1997. This shows how errat- ic natural stream flows can be and also reveals that if the Mill Creek waters were not disrupted, or better managed with seasonal storage, migratory salmon and other down- stream habitats could be preserved while satisfying agricultural needs. Water management becomes a much broader challenge as Califor- nia’s population continues to expand along with the acreage of agricultural land in production. We are entering an era of frequent water shortages and rationing, par- ticularly in the dry portions of the San Joaquin Valley and large cities to the south. Water is now viewed more as a commodity to be traded by aggrandized capitalists and international consortia rather than a free natural resource. Organiza- tions and individuals are selling "rights" to water supplies and although I do not know how the rights were obtained in the first place suffice it to say that folks from dif- ferent parts of the state are fighting over them to satisfy seemingly insa- tiable appetites. Considering these realities I see only three public policy options to address them: 1) limit population growth and agricultural land expan- sions, 2) increase water management and use efficiency, and 3) pay to either pump water from deepening aquifers, transport water from more distant sources, desalinate sea water, or reclaim/reuse already consumed water. Although the first option is arguably the best and most sustain- able it seems un-American to dic- tate family size, regulate interstate migrations, or ban agricultural expansions. As a nation I believe we are best served by treating water with greater respect and frugality by reducing water pollution, using less, and reducing water loss due to evaporation and waste. These steps are necessary to protect what many Richard Mazzucchi Positive Point see as a right for all living things to have sufficient water to survive – to do otherwise is both morally and environmentally wrong. For instance it is wrong to use sprin- klers in the heat of the day when as little as half of it gets to the roots. Flood irrigation using open air aquifers and canals is only somewhat better since a significant fraction of water is lost due to leakage and evap- oration. Bathing cars with potable water and using it in high volume toilets, showerheads and inefficient appliances such as vertical axis washing machines is wrong where more pru- dent alternatives exist. So if you haven’t done so already I beseech you to immedi- ately right such wrongs whenever possible. Lobby to improve water management practices by contact- ing legislators and water manage- ment authorities. Your actions today can preclude contentious and wrong-headed battles over water rights as demand outstrips supply and we must choose which species or groups must go without this essential natural resource. Richard Mazzucchi can be reached at living-green@att.net. Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 4164 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento 94249; (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319- 2102 STATE SENATOR — Sam Aanestad (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 2054, Sacramen- to, CA 95814. (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Some passing views from a distressed cave Commentary It's not usually good column material to write about the problems that beset the process of column- writing, but my cave is distressed -- fire and drum not work. Computer and cell phone being rough equiva- lents of the caveman's tools, when they quit, the work normally done in the cave becomes challenging. The things stop when they should be starting, or they don't stop when you want them to, and then there's the blue screen, the black screen, the "safe" vs. "normal" mode, the back-ups, the "recovery discs," extended service plan and new friends in India, the Philippines and Seattle. Fortunately, the tech support agreement includes a nice man (or woman) who will come right to my cave on Wednesday and install something called a "mother- board." If you are reading this, it means that either my recovered PC, or my 12-year-old laptop with Win- dows 98 and MS Word, succeeded in their jobs, and the column made it to Chip. Fortunately, while some drum- beat and smoke-signal information systems are on the fritz, etchings on tree bark arrive and keep me up-to- date and informed of native rum- blings. Much rumbling on this page seems to involve the conflicts of our American tribe, mostly at odds with elements of Muslim tribes in places like Afghanistan. It seems that no matter how often we were told by our liberal friends that the war in Iraq was a fool's errand and the Afghan battle was the one they called "the good war," now the Afghan war's a distraction, while Bush's Iraq seems a success. Moreover, we have not only those for whom any war since WWII, particularly in the Middle East, is to be criticized and opposed on principle, but also those who find it intellectually fashionable to call into question the very idea that America is justified opposing Islamic terrorism. Set aside the pre- posterous juxtaposition of radical Islamic jihad with conservative- inspired opposition to the expansion of government to never-before- imagined size. Just consider 1) that Osama bin Laden cited the forcible removal of Muslim rule in Spain centuries ago as his first complaint against the west, 2) that bin Laden's complaint about American troops in Saudi Arabia is irrelevant since they left, and 3) that the proposed mosque adjacent to the ground-zero location in New York City is called "The Cordoba House" because Cordoba was the capitol of Muslim-ruled Spain. People can search in vain for any ultimate placation of the Islamist radicals since they proudly state that there is no resolution to their war against us short of our con- version to Islam -- absent that, we may live unconverted if we pay for the privilege of being infidels, and give up promoting any other reli- gion. We have the long-debunked con- spiracy theory that Afghanistan is all about protecting some oil pipeline. Then there's the disingenu- ous canard that it's an illegal war; it had nothing to do with 9/11 any- way, etc. Reasonable people can have reasonable discussions about effectively fighting a war, but that discussion really doesn't include the idea that America deserves its ene- mies and their attacks, or that we should do any- thing other than defeat those that seek America's demise. Finally, we have our weekly purveyor of liber- al wisdom: Tina Dupuy. She seems to have not a thought in her head that doesn't start and end with bashing George Bush, any Republican (espe- cially Sarah Palin) catch- ing her attention in any given week, conserva- tives in general and, in channeling current left- wing arguments against our efforts in Afghanistan. On one topic, she can be forgiv- en for not really knowing any better than the collective conventional wisdom of the liberal intelligentsia: military counter-intelligence (COIN). It hasn't worked before and therefore shouldn't be pursued in the Afghan war, according to Dupuy. French COIN strategy (have suffi- cient military presence as to assure the civilian population of protection, which wins them to your side, while ruthlessly crushing the terrorist insurgents preying on civilians) was working. The French people grew weary of the effort, not unlike Americans during Vietnam, and many citizens now. The successful French military campaign bowed to Don Polson The way I see it civilian demands. Lesson? The Vietnam War was winnable in several ways; the COIN strategy was inef- fective only because of lack of patience to fully implement it. Also, the Tet offensive was such a military defeat of North Vietnamese forces, and Viet Cong guerrillas, that they were ready to sue for terms of peace. Media elites like Walter Cronkite persuaded Americans, untruthfully, that Tet was a win for our enemies. The Nixon bombing campaign brought the North to the negotiating table just in time for American and international anti-war efforts to prevail in a bombing cessation, resulting in intransigence at the negotiating table by the North. Even after all that, if Congressional Democrats had simply upheld the commitment made to provide military equip- ment and support for South Viet- nam, they could well have contin- ued to hold off the North Viet- namese onslaught. The above are examples, not of the ineffectiveness of COIN mili- tary strategy, but rather the necessi- ty of maintaining and supporting the strategy by civilian politicians. Again, lessons for the war in Afghanistan. Don Polson can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com.