The National Case for Water Conservation — Answer to Donald Trump
We will show show below that some key states for Republicans and Trump have records of drought, including of course, California, but also his largest state, Texas. Nothing motivates more than political self interest. Since 1998, there have been federal guidelines for water conservation, which states can adopt.
But in this case, we have to remember that Trump runs hotels where he may have to upgrade bathrooms to water conserving toilets, showers, and sinks, when remodeling, and where clients want bountiful showers. Trump also has 17 golf courses, which require lots of water, while neighbors in drought have to give up watering their own lawns.
States cannot be left to impose water conservation alone in areas where resources are shared by states, as in the seven Colorado River Basin States. Throughout history, governments have had water sharing compacts with other states or nations. Even when a state overall may not be in severe drought, their are regions of the state that are in various stages of drought, and still sharing multistate resources. Just because a state gets a lot of falling water in some regions, which Trump tells us he calls “rain”, doesn’t mean that it is captured in reservoirs, or occurs with snow in winter, and is stored in snowpacks. Also, the records show that droughts can occur at any time, and it is best to do long-term plumbing with such periods in mind.
First we present the drought scale, with numbers that apply to California today. All of this material is from http://www.drought.gov/drought/states.
Here is California’s drought history from 2000. Trump has the Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles, on the Paulo’s Verdes bluffs. Most of the state was in Severe Drought, D2, from 2013 through 2017. California is the most populous state, and has 55 electoral votes, out of a total of 538 electoral votes. Republicans are set on reversing the Democratic takeovers in House districts in Orange County and elsewhere in the state. There are only 7 Republican representatives left in the state. Devin Nunes, Trump’s House Intelligence Committee defender, has his district in the very water dependent San Joaquin valley.
Now for the second most populous state, Texas, with 38 electoral votes, and with recent drought from 2011 to 2015.
Now we present Florida, which is Trump’s new residence, and home to his palace and club at Mar-a-Lago, and home to his Trump National Miami golf resort. Florida has 29 electoral votes, tied with New York, and is the largest swing state.
Next is Nevada, where Trump has his Trump International Hotel Las Vegas. The drought periods match those in neighboring California. Nevada has 6 electoral votes, and is a Democratic or a swing state.
Arizona borders California and Nevada, which is a Republican state.
Here is the drought record from the key Senate Climate Change denier, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, where Trump’s first head of the EPA Scott Pruitt was from.
Wisconsin was a swing state for Trump, and has 10 electoral votes.
