Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition

Book Review by Joel
Okay. I have to admit this book made me mad. The more I read the madder I got. The mismanagement of our water resources is what this book is about. I picked it up in California to read on the plane. I never realized the water infrastructure in the American West before. I did not realize that southern California was/is a desert. When I think of Los Angeles I think of swimming pools and palm trees, not scorpions and arid land. It was transformed by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers into an Eden by dam building and river water diverting, in some cases from other states.

Water is being used to irrigate land and support huge populations in desert areas where without water it would not support hardly anything. What is irritating about all of it is the money that is being wasted to do it by the government. On top of that is the waste of resources and damage to the environment to provide an unsustainable way of life. It is inexcusable.

This book was written in 1986--about 20 years ago. It was an influential environmental book that exposed some of the practices of the government at all levels. It was difficult to read for me, with a lot of acronyms and archaic information that I really didn’t want to know. I think everyone should read it. I was walking the other day, it was 104° F and at 5:00 p.m., and someone was watering the lawn with timed sprinklers. Of that water, 80 percent will evaporate before it can soak into the ground. I should go give this book to that person. Hmmmmmm…..

Joel.