Before The Deluge

Some of them were dreamers and some of them were fools who were making plans and thinking of the future

God grants one miracle each and Santa Barbara got one in the 1990s during the March deluge..this was after the drought when people were painting their lawns green and talking about tankering in water from Alaska

but before the deluge voters approved State Water and Desal....the desal plant was built at a pretty good cost and was on line for about a day, for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, they handed out bottles of desal water and I got one somehow...then the March Miracle filled up the reservoirs and lakes and aquifers..and flooded the streets and roofs leaked after the deluge

so the desal plant sat idle for awhile and was allowed to fall into disrepair..then after some years some parts were sold off rendering the plant useless...it's like buying a  1960s Corvette and not driving it, then selling the parts for some spare change..nonsensical

so it's 2016 and we enter into another drought...this one started in 2010 approx...we've had a smattering of rain here and there and some parts of California have sufficient rainfall, but not here...the bright red Devil Joni sang about has moved here

ok so now they are resurrecting the desal plant at much more expense because Cachuma is really low and the wineries are overdrafting the groundwater basins to keep Valley folks drunk...

I used to live for wine women and song..and still do....fuck the drought!!

but as I passed by the desal plant recently, I thought what a waste..all the city of SB had to do was keep it primed until the next drought and then bring it on line as needed...instead they let it deteriorate and now they are rebuilding it...at triple the cost!!!

and I bet this winter will bring the rain we need

but will it bring any common sense??