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PDF
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Type:
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Working Paper |
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Author:
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Ostrom, Vincent |
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Date:
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1960 |
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Agency:
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Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Bloomington, IN |
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Series:
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URI:
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https://hdl.handle.net/10535/4182
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Sector:
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Water Resource & Irrigation |
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Region:
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North America |
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Subject(s):
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Workshop
water resources
resource management
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Abstract:
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"California's water 'problem' arises from a personal preference congeries relevant to an area yielding limited water supplies. Semi-arid Mediterranean Southern California coastal regions provide climatic amenities attractive to population. These same weather conditions are expensive to water resources. By contrast, more abundantly supplied Northern California has not attracted large populations. Yet in the modern metropolis a relatively abundant water supply is essential to meet a variety of requirements. The resolution of this paradox is central to California water resource development.
Marked contrasts in water yield and population distribution can be noted in comparisons of the south and north coastal areas of California. The south coastal area comprising Ventura basin and the Southern California coastal plain contains over one-half of the state's population with less than two percent of the state's natural run-off. By contrast, the north coastal area has less than three per cent of the state's population with nearly forty per cent of the state's water crop.
The problem of geographic redistribution of water supplies is further complicated by extreme seasonal and cyclical variations in floods and droughts."
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