China suffered through its worst heat wave in over six decades last summer, causing widespread drought and loss of food production.
If this had happened in the United States, Democrats would have blamed the drought on climate change, called for the end of fossil fuel use and production, and pushed for even more renewable energy subsidies.
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What Democrats definitely wouldn’t have done is call for an ambitious national infrastructure project to increase water capture and storage. But that is exactly what China is doing.
Last month China’s leader released plans for a $154 billion water infrastructure building plan, including the construction of new canals, reservoirs, and storage facilities. This national “water network” will make it easier for the nation to mitigate the next dry summer.
It’s not that Democrats invest nothing in our nation’s water infrastructure. President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill included $8 billion for infrastructure projects over five years. But this money will only go to “repair aging water delivery systems, secure dams, complete rural water projects, and protect aquatic ecosystems.” In other words, no new dams or reservoirs, only the repair and maintenance of existing water storage.
Considering both our growing population and climate change, the maintenance of the status quo is not enough. Our nation desperately needs new water storage, especially in the arid West.
There used to be a bipartisan consensus in this country for the construction of water infrastructure. Long before climate change was a twinkle in Al Gore’s eye, the federal government built tens of millions of acre-feet of water storage across the West.
California wouldn’t exist today without water storage. Left to nature, the Los Angeles River Basin could support maybe 250,000 people tops. But thanks to human terraforming, Los Angeles now supports a population of almost 4 million.
Somewhere along the way, however, Democrats decided that preserving what they consider to be natural was more important than building the infrastructure needed to support growing human populations. The bipartisan consensus on water storage construction fell apart and, as a result, California hasn’t added any new water storage capacity in decades.
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Considering that China, India, and Russia have no interest in sacrificing their own economic growth for reductions in carbon emissions, we should be doing everything in our power to adapt to a warmer world.
Nothing about today’s modern urban United States is natural. We have been terraforming this continent since the day we arrived. If we are going to continue surviving here, we are going to have to start building new water infrastructure again.