Water Storage not up to date.
This article may only be of interest to those living in Fresno County but the idea of adding to a community’s water storage could apply to many other cities and states. We in Fresno County live in a semi desert climate and qualify as a semi-desert because of our average yearly rain fall of about 10 inches. In the early 1940’s, I was taken by my parents and grandparents to visit Friant Dam. The Dam was completed in November of 1944. The population of Fresno according to the 1940 census was 60,685. The current population of Fresno is over 400,000 and Fresno County can count 786,800 residents. Can the reader theorize where this short treatise is going? How much intelligence does it take to understand that our storage capacity has not kept pace with its population. Can anyone defend this senario? I am afraid that there are well meaning individuals who fight every attempt to remedy this ridiculous situation. Yes, our old friends the environmetalists or the “know nothings” that seem to fight every attempt to store water. I sincerely hope that someday we will see additional storage of water by adding a second dam and or by raising the height of the existing Friant Dam. Maybe reason can overcome ignorance. We now have the same 520,000 acre feet of storage that we had in 1944.
Gary E. Marsella