

American Aqueduct: The Great California Water Saga - r0h1n
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/02/american-aqueduct-the-great-california-water-saga/284009/

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BetterLateThan
Anyone interested in the mind-bending history of moistening the West in
general and California in particular just enough to be advertised as paradise
may want to do themselves a favor and read "Cadillac Desert":
[http://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Desert-American-
Disappearing-...](http://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Desert-American-Disappearing-
Revised/dp/0140178244/). (Not an affiliate link.)

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davidw
> Not an affiliate link

If you're going to take the time to recommend something, go ahead and put an
affiliate link. It's pretty obvious if someone is here solely to spam. We're
capitalists here, and aren't opposed to people making money.

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smutticus
I actually appreciate the non-affiliate link. I'm possibly as capitalist as
the rest, but I appreciate the recognition of self interest by anyone who
removes the affiliate bit from the URI.

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Shivetya
California's main water problems stem from the fact the government subsidizes,
heavily at that, water usage and much of that went towards irrigation. By
doing so they continuously increase demand which in turns makes the problem
worse. Look into the operations of the Bureau of Reclamation

As for Hood, I would agree with the residents, I would not trust that the
promises made today will be kept.

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krob
His article didn't even mention this one, one of the largest in the country,
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Valley_Lake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Valley_Lake)

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fivethree
'I'm not interested in this, i'm not on the west coast.' Y'all should learn
where a majority of America's food comes from if you think this doesn't affect
every American.

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red12ooster
I love the seamless gif banner, how do they accomplish that?

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jhanschoo
It's not a gif but a html video element.

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_mulder_
Be honest, did anyone read the entire article?

I don't like this trend of writing incredibly long articles. It's as if the
length alone somehow makes it more intellectual or credible, or perhaps just
makes the author look good.

An approx calculation, assuming reading speed of 250wpm, means a 12,000+ word
article, like this, will take nearly 1 hour to read.

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maxerickson
Long form journalism is not some new trend.

I'm not deeply interested in the water situation in California, so I probably
won't read this, but I don't see a problem with someone bothering to do a
detailed story on it.

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_mulder_
Personally, I was quite interested in it, I spent 10 minutes reading it before
I realised how long the article was. Clearly others are interested too, as
it's on HN. But who actually read it all the way through? Did you?

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quesera
I read the whole thing. It was interesting, but not linear, and definitely not
dense. But it's _The Atlantic_ , not a daily paper.

It was more of a leisurely interesting-but-not-actionable, flavor-of-the-
story, Sunday-paper-with-a-bagel read. I wouldn't even call it long-form
journalism. It's just bits of history and human interest tied to a current
issue with a sprinkling of character and anecdote. Gratifying, not edifying.

That sort of thing has a place, but generally not what I'm looking for on a
Wednesday morning.

Did you know that Central Valley almond crop irrigation consumes water equal
to 1/2 of a Los Angeles?

