swell: Yes, there are still people living quite close to the Salton Sea. They are mentioned in the New Yorker article.

The key question is whether the state will honor its obligation to rehabilitate the Salton Sea -- an expensive proposition. If the state reneges, troubles will rise. Best, Don Bauder

A couple of geologic points. The Sallton Sea, for all intents and purposes, existed before the formation of the Gulf of California. The area that roughly includes the Coachella and Imperial Valleys and the western half of the Mexicali Valley and the Colorado River delta in Mexico, is called the Salton Trough. The Colorado River has been filling the Salton Trough with sediments for almost 6 million years. That sediment covers over 3000square miles and is up to 3.5 miles deep. Only about 4-5 million years ago, what is now the Baja Peninsula began to split from the mainland of Mexico and the waters of the Pacific began to create the Gulf of California. The area of the Coachella and Imperial valleys, as far north as Indio, would indeed be part of the Gulf of California today, except for the sediments deposited over millions of years by the Colorado River were already in place. The south end of the San Andreas,near Box Canyon 40 miles from Palm Springs, ends in the Brawley seismic zone and the area includes the Elsinore, Imperial, Laguna Salada and San Jacinto fault zones. About 5 yrs ago, there was a 7.2 earthquake in the area. The epicenter was in Baja, along the Laguna Salada fault about 30 miles south of the US/Mexico border. It would take something a hell of a lot bigger than that for your "prediction" to come to fruition. As they say, ocean front property in Yuma.

danfogel: As I used to say in speeches: "Phoenix doesn't have a coastline. Seismologists tell us it will have a coastline." Best, Don Bauder

Or, could just be Mother Nature's natural cycle of wet or dry periods? I'm just wondering if the Govenor will institute a building moratorium now that we are in a drought.

JustWondering: Oh yes. There are fascinating paleoclimatology studies that I have gone over. It's quite possible that the 20th century was aberrationally wet in the Southwest. Think of the consequences of that: our infrastructure may have been plotted and constructed based on weather expectations that were erroneous.

John Wesley Powell, a remarkable man, explored the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon in the 19th century. He concluded that there was not enough water for extensive development and farming in the West. The railroad trusts denounced him and paid off Congressmen. Now some astute people suspect that Powell was right. Best, Don Bauder

"...our infrastructure may have been plotted and constructed based on weather expectations that were erroneous."

If that turns out to be the case, and this dry period lasts for an 'extended' period, Southern California may become the Detroit of the West.

JustWondering: You are exactly right. I am not saying it will happen, but scientists say it CAN happen. There is a definite likelihood of such a calamity occurring. This is complicated by climate change. The heat could rise substantially at a time when the drought intensifies.

The prudent thing to do -- yes, the CONSERVATIVE thing -- would be to plan for a calamity, knowing it may not come. I think there is enough evidence for a sharp reduction of, and possibly a moratorium on, real estate development, at least in the most vulnerable locations. Best, Don Bauder

Wanted to "thumbs up" your comment and article, but am not allowed to!

eastlaker: I can't help you on that one. That's not my department. Best, Don Bauder

So instead of doing something REAL to fix the water problems in CA (like building reservoirs, desalination facilities or renegotiating ancient water rights for agriculture) we have symbolic measures to limit Californians' energy use.

The one water tip that makes sense,

If it's Brown flush it down. Jerry is proving to be almost as incompetent as his predecessors - which is hard to do

Not that fighting global warming is a bad thing by itself. But thats a global issue and there is a water crisis in CA which Brown has done essentially nothing to address

ImJustABill: Climate change and the water crisis are problems that are linked. The consequences of both separately and combined are scary. Poiticians, including Brown, have been dancing around both crises. Best, Don Bauder

ImJustABill: So who would address these possible looming woes more thoroughly than the Brown that you have flushed? Meg Whitman? Best, Don Bauder

Twister: That is an excellent analogy. After fires, San Diego goes right back to doing what it was doing. Then, surprise, another one comes along.

The fires will be worse if San Diego has a shortage of water. Best, Don Bauder