Arriving in Sacramento around 11:00 a.m. gave us time to spend the afternoon exploring Old Sacramento. One of our stops was the California State Railroad Museum, where Frick, Frack, and our new friend, Ami, got a chance to view a variety of locomotives, with a heavy dose of the history of the first transcontinental railroad, which started here on its eastward journey to Promontory Point. On May 10, 1869, the Golden Spike was driven in tying our country together (at least, mechanically) from the east coast to the west coast. This evening, we ate dinner with the entire group at Fat City's, also in Old Sacramento. And we had our first meeting, discussing the logistics of the trip and the philosophy of the course. We begin tomorrow with a look at water use in the essential agricultural fields of the central valleys of California, as they struggle through their fifth year of drought.
Quo Vadimus
What's in season over there, agriculturally speaking? Did you tour any government buildings in the capital city?
ReplyDeleteVeni Vidi Vici
Outstanding. Savannah, GA also has an excellent train museum from the antebellum period.
ReplyDeleteI am interesting in learning if the CAL govt has made an serious explorations into the possibility of diversifying their water supply to include desalinization plants. Seems a state suffering through 5 years of drought and being next to the ocean should at least consider this alternative.
Per aspera ad astra.
Dear Mike,
DeleteI did not actually talk to anyone in the government, so I do not know what their response would be. However, I did bring up the subject with all of the contacts that I made today. The general feeling is that desalinization plants are cost-prohibitive. They require too much energy and they currently produce only a small fraction of the fresh water supply needed by California. It would require a massive investment of money to create and operate the number of plants necessary to provide water for the needs of Californians. Additionally, there would be the potential environmental effects of drawing in so much water from the coastal area of the Pacific. Finally, my contacts make the argument that it isn't necessarily the drought that is causing the current crisis (after all, there have been droughts in California before), but the public policies that are compounding these problems.
Quo Vadimus
Outstanding! Savannah, GA has a great antebellum railroad museum as well.
ReplyDeleteSince CAL is suffering through 5 years of drought, AND it is on the ocean,
I am curious about gov't efforts to diversify water supply to include some
desalinization plants.