My dad was the geotechnical engineer who designed and built Lopez Dam.
I was at the dedication, along with my brother, in 1969.
Afterward, on the drive home to San Diego, my dad went into great detail about the extreme difficulties that the entire engineering community was constantly facing while growing the water capacity for California, for Californians.
The entire engineering profession is consistently facing the endless “expanse” of personal opinions on how to manage all of the endless requirements and critical needs to the entire population of California. The vast majority of people have absolutely zero understanding of the severity the state has in supplying sufficient water to the ever-growing population.
That majority only choose to complain and accuse. Excuse me: bitch and moan. All the while blindly watering their lawns, washing the dishes, taking showers, and on and on. With zero thoughts of where all of that water is coming from.
Eventually everyone will find themselves praying for water.
John Gizienski
Northridge
This article appears in Dec 4-14, 2025.
California has no problem supplying free water to Big Ag that uses 90% of the water in the state, owned by billionaire hedge fund managers who put signs up all over the Central Valley asking taxpayers to fund water storage and delivery projects. Socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the rest of us.
John,
Great comment, thanks for writing. I hear you loud and clear. When I moved here from Portland 10 years ago, I noticed a few striking differences: (1) we had moratorium on development permits due to the drought conditions, (2) rules had been established that limited car washing, and (3) the Land Conservancy of SLO had purchased 16,000 acres of prime land to prevent development. Also learned, as Steve mentioned, that roughly 94% of our available water is legally allocated to crop production, including wine. Your assessment that the majority of Californians are blind to the importance of water conservation is mostly true, but it appears as though there are systems in place to keep it in check and there seems to be an atmospheric pattern that continues to keep Lopez, Nacimiento, Santa Margarita Lake, and Whale Rock Reservoirs replenished. Lastly, SLO County grows at at a rate of only about 1% per year which limits water supply demands. It’s cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas that will likely have serious water resource problems, but not so much here in SLO County.