Nuke and desal works just fine in Japan which has 3x the population of California in a much smaller space with no crime, nice roads and trains. The environment is pristine. You should visit - it's a future we'll never achieve.
Japan has abundant rainfall (and clean cities). It is not a desert. Their people also have a strong sense of community and would be much better at committing to shared sacrifice than we in the USA would be. Just look at the response to Covid. Masking in Japan was already commonplace as a preventative health measure. It is considered common courtesy if you have a cough to mask up. If their government told them to conserve water in a crisis, I think there would be a much better response than in the American West.
The water issue is not a new problem. I had a friend living in Tucson who studied the water situation 20 years ago and was already in panic mode back then. He would point out the endless tract home developments and declare, "Future ghost towns!" He and some buddies would even put blood red dye into couple of fountains that nearby housing developments had at their entrances. "A giant fountain? Shooting plumes of water into the air? In the Sonoran Desert???? Fck that!" They actually succeeded- the developments after a while stopped refilling the fountains.
His biggest villains, however, were the golf courses. Go to google maps and search "Tucson golf courses" (or Pheonix). They are everywhere. Fucking insanity. People transplanting from the East/Northeast, wanting to play a sport developed in Scotland... in the Sonoran desert.
I think partly because of my friendship with this person I was always sensitive to water supply. Our front yard is all drought tolerant plants (my next project will be all CA natives). Even at the height of summer I only water once every two weeks with a hose (the back yard is either shady or has fruit trees and I've not found good solutions besides some succulents). We have four 55 gallon rain barrels catching the water off our roof (like surfing, I always let the first rain just go). So whenever it rains, at our house, it's like it rains twice. We also use buckets to catch the warm up water waiting to take a shower. We also have those dual flush toilets that Trump hates.
I know the anti regulatory people will hate this but every new house being built should have rainwater or even gray water reservoirs. Plan ahead. We have a neighbor across the street who DIYed a gray water system to go to his garden and he grows copious amounts of veggies...which my wife won't touch because he's kind of a grundgy guy and she thinks it's coming from his shower.
In Los Angeles the biggest user of water is the LAUSD. All those football fields. That's why they invented Astroturf. They should mandate the change. Yeah I know, more guvmint regalashuns...
But I'd hope even the climate deniers, while maybe denying a human cause, can acknowledge that something needs to be done. Get consensus on that and DO SOMETHING.
And those of you who know me, know that my biggest peeve and something I'm genuinely worried about are the wildfires. Have you seen how much was burned in Sequoia? The Sierra Nevadas (like the ocean) are my cathedral, the place where I most effectively get spiritually cleansed and recharged... and my church is on fire. You know what I would do with a big chunk of that CA surplus....(ironically) controlled burns...
Sorry I talk to much...but this issue is a trigger for me.
A new study uses the U.S. Drought Monitor to put drought into historical context.
www.ncei.noaa.gov