This is a shortened version of a bulletin just published by an American Environmental organization. It focuses on the water crisis in California and other parts of the U.S.
It is particularly relevant because Canada relies on California and other American states for a significant amount of its yearly fresh food supply, particularly in winter. For the information of Canadians who think that drought could not strike Canada, especially Canada’s coastal rain-forests, British Columbia’s rain-forest neighbour, Washington State, has just declared a statewide drought emergency.
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Mass Immigration Intensifies Water Crisis But There is A Solution
Population Environment Balance
www.balance.org
May, 2015
The average ‘Water Footprint’ of each person in the USA is 2,220 Gallons per Day!! (Atlantic CityLab & Calif. Institute for Water Resources) “Water Footprint” means the total volume of Freshwater consumed :5% directly in washing, cooking etc. and 95% indirectly in the production of FOOD, goods and services for each person.
And U.S. Population continues to grow explosively, from 150 Million in 1950 to appx. 320 Million in 2015.
As of 2015, 83% of U.S. Population Growth, and nearly 100% of California’s, comes from Legal and Illegal Immigration & births to Immigrants (longtime American residents are dying or moving out of California). (U.S. Census & cis.org).
If current trends (1 Million Legal immigrants plus hundreds of thousands of Illegals per Year) continue, by 2023 one in seven U.S. residents will be foreign-born (U.S. Census Bureau). (Already) in 2015, 10 Million of California’s 40 Million Residents are Foreign Born (Public Policy Institute. of California).
But Serious Drought Conditions affect 38% of the U.S.A., encompassing much of the Midwest, Southwest, Intermountain west and West (National Drought Monitor — www.usdroughtmonitor.unl.edu ). The Great Plains Oglalla Acquifer and other underground aquifers are being drawn down well in excess of recharge rates, resulting in possibly permanent damage. Thus, a Serious Threat of another Dust Bowl a la the 1930s is developing. Food Supplies from the Great Plains, as well as California, are at increasing risk.
Consider that California, the U.S.A.’s Leading Source of Fruits, Nuts, Vegetables and other crops, has only ONE YEAR of water left in its above-ground Reservoirs, and the groundwater back-up system is severely depleted by low rain and snowfall and by withdrawals far in excess of recharge rates (hydrologist, Jay Famiglietti, NASA/Cal Tech http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-famiglietti-drought-california-20150313-story.html).
Supposed Techno-fixes (desalination) are very capital and energy intensive; they produce low volumes of water per unit of money and energy expended to create them. And other supposed fixes such as more reservoirs and dams, have seriously negative environmental consequences, including serious damage to Major FOOD sources — e.g., fisheries. Developing new reservoirs is futile if there is no water to fill them.
As an alternative, Californians are being encouraged to drink processed Sewer Water; the process is half as expensive as desalination (David Sedlak, UC Berkeley). San Diegans already are drinking processed sewage! (BALANCE eAlert, December 2014), as are some Orange County residents.
Will California’s Self-Appointed “Food Police” ever say that Processed Sewage Water may be more Organic than most people care to drink, and also more chemical-laden? Probably not, because drinking Processed Sewage Water is Politically Correct. Pushing a zero Net Moratorium on Immigration, the only long-term Solution to The Water Crisis, isn’t Politically Correct — YET!
The problem, more than inefficient use of water and lack of rainfall, is too many users plus an ever increasing number of users.
From a Water, Topsoil (i.e., for Food Production), and Natural Habitat Protection perspective, California (and much of the rest of the USA) is exceeding its long term sustainable human population Carrying Capacity (Note 1)
We reiterate that for each person added to the U.S. Population, One Acre of Farmland or Wildlife Habitat is converted to developed uses. (Pimentel et. al. Cornell Univ. Press)
California Population Growth Estimates vary widely from appx. 400,000 per year (US Census Bureau) to 1 Million per year (world population statistics/California population) And, IF current growth rates continue, California’s population will grow from 40 Million today to 54 Million in 2040! (California Dept. of Demography)]
Given that legal plus Illegal Immigration plus offspring of immigrants is responsible for nearly 100% of California’s Population growth, providing water for that continuing annual human inflow would require adding several additional Reservoirs of Water each year. But there is no Source for that amount of additional annual increase in water supplies, even if California has several Wet Winters running!
And now we see the significance of NASA/Cal Tech Scientist Famighlietti’s Estimate that there is ONLY ONE Year of Water left in California Reservoirs at current rates of usage by California’s 40 Million People!!
And the Water Crises is nearly as Severe in the rest of the 38% of the USA that is suffering from drought. Mass Immigration is responsible for 30% to 60% of the Population Growth in those states, States, which, BTW, rely on the depleting Oglalla and the Colorado and Rio Grande for their Water. It is no wonder that (the Southwest) is “strewn with (the remains of) civilizations…brought to their knees by drought…” K. Parker ‘Population, Immigration & the Drying of the Southwest” (www.cis.org)
Important to note is that the Official Demographic figures are Often Gross Understatements if not in some cases clearly Bogus. [See “Immigration Misinformation: Teeming Masses and Funny Numbers” V. Abernethy, Chronicles, Aug. 2000].
Remember that, IF Current Trends Continue, Mass Legal and Illegal Immigration will account for over 80% of U.S. population growth according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Add in the US-born children of recent immigrants, and immigration accounts for well over 80% of US population growth.
Of course, there are other Negatives to continuing Mass Immigration — if President Obama’s Illegal Alien Amnesty is fully implemented, it will cost American Taxpayers Net (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay) $1.1 Trillion (Rector, Heritage Fdn.)
But there is a Solution to keeping the Water Shortage (Population Longage) Problem from getting much, much worse.
Push the Administration and Congress to enact a zero-net MORATORIUM on Legal Immigration and seal the Borders to stop Most Illegal Immigration.
From a Political-Strategic Perspective, pushing a zero-net Moratorium is Essential to delegitimize the whole Policy of Mass Immigration. (Isn’t our First Obligation to our own Millions of Unemployed and Underemployed?) Also, pushing a Moratorium is Essential to maximize Political Pressure to get some Reductions at least. BALANCE’s Moratorium Push MAXIMIZES Political Pressure and thus is the most efficient use of our Activists’ time and money. (Indeed that PUSH by BALANCE and its 45 ASAP! Coalition Organizational Members led the Clinton Administration in 1996 to advocate a reduction in legal immigration from 1 Million per year to 600,000 per year.)
Refusing to push a Moratorium (as certain Inside-the-Beltway and other Mass Immigration Management [de facto] Groups do), is a Recipe for Failure as the past two decades have shown, since that is merely Defensive.
Such a Refusal is, indeed, Counterproductive — merely pushing for “immigration reform,” legitimizes the continuation of Mass Immigration because it sends the message that Mass Immigration is OK if we just tweak it a little bit. And it is even worse to push for “Controlled Immigration for the National Interest” because that sends the message that Mass Immigration IS in the National Interest. As well, being merely Defensive increases the chances of passage of Bad Bills, e.g., Illegal Alien Amnesties, and the Issuance of Unconstitutional Executive Orders.
We are a co-Sponsor of the ASAP! (Alliance to Stabilize America’s Population) Coalition which, with the agreement of Activist leaders of over 45 other organizations, decided to push for a Moratorium AS A FIRST PRIORITY, over two decades ago.
Having a zero-net Moratorium goal is key as a long-term objective because it is reasonable and Essential for long-term Environmental Protection and for Sufficient Resources, INCLUDING WATER, for survival (and it would still allow admission of appx 150,000 immigrants per year, including spouses and minor children of U.S. Citizens).
A zero-net Moratorium is The Necessary Condition for achieving U.S. Population Stabilization, long term Environmental Protection, Budgetary Solvency in State and Local Government (especially for our Health Care and Educational Institutions), Tax Reduction, Unemployment Reduction and Social Cohesion … and for protection of our Food and Water Supplies.
