Editorial: Forget Napa – Sonoma needs to avoid comparisons to Cantona!

Forget Napa – ?Sonoma needs to avoid ?comparisons to Cantona!|

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the stars of our show, “Drought Is the New Black,” in order of appearance: First, a big hand to Low Flush Toilet! (Wasn’t she mesmerizing?) And let’s hear it for Restricting Landscape-Watering Hours? (A truly remarkable performance, indeed!) Next, a giant shout out to Governor-Mandated 25 Percent Drop in Total Usage – definitely an Oscar-caliber comedic turn... And finally, introducing the next household name in desiccation theater – El Nino, he’ll be taking the world by storm before you know it!

Yes, it’s truly time to start getting worried about the drought. And not merely about the now 4-year-old-plus water shortage, but also about people’s awareness of the drought (still seemingly in its infancy) – as in, just how much of a crisis do Californians really think we’re in? To gauge your drought sobriety, please take the following survey. Is this:

A. A major drought that could affect the socio-economic climate of the state for a generation?

B. Just enough of a drought that I’d better let my lawn brown a little if only to keep my neighbors from thinking I’m a complete and utter jerk?

C. One of those cutesy little dry spells that’s really about reestablishing the primacy of succulents.

Too many folks answering “A” are living like a “C.”

How’s this for a cause of major drought alarm: On the Index-Tribune’s homepage at sonomanews.com, our online multiple-choice drought survey reveals that 48 percent of respondents are satisfied that Sonoma residents are doing enough to conserve water. If you include those who chose our allegedly humorous answer (droughts are funny, no?) about having already “done my part,” the “satisfied” quotient rises to 55 percent.

I’m not saying that Sonomans aren’t conserving more water than is typical – apparently we’re doing better than the vast majority of communities in the state. But this is no time to be resting on our parched and brittle laurels.

They say those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And so the last thing we want to do is mirror the mistakes of, that’s right – the lost city of Cantona.

Cantona was a bustling pre-Columbian city of about 90,000, located east of what’s now Mexico City. Situated in a volcanic basin, Cantona was a major producer of obsidian – which helped fuel its economy on the manufacture and trade of farming tools and weapons. (You could almost say the arms business did for Cantona, Mesoamerica what Lockheed Martin did for Bethesda, Maryland.) But an ongoing, extended drought believed to have begun around 500 AD eventually wiped out Cantona; it’s people (what was left of them) ultimately abandoning the region after water supplies dwindled and crops dried up. When did the Cantonans finally blow town? Historians believe around 1150 AD – yes, 650 years after the drought began! Even compared to drought-deniers in California, that’s impressive. Clearly, the citizens of Cantona did not take the threat of extended drought seriously – for centuries.

Fortunately, it’s looking like Sonoma is drought-savvy enough to avoid that awkward fate. Reasons for optimism include the new, and very necessary, drought-awareness campaign being staged by the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership, a public-private coalition of county agencies and businesses that’s already resulted in such outreach events as last week’s “drought drive-up” at Sonoma Valley High, where 400 drought kits were passed out featuring Friedman’s Home Improvement catchment buckets, plus faucet aerators and other water-conservation doodads. The Sonoma County Water Agency is holding regular “drought update” meetings throughout the county and reenergizing its efforts to get the word out – turn off the tap.

Because, despite what some green-lawn holdouts in Sonoma are hoping, El Nino may or may not even bring a wet winter, let alone a longterm answer for the drought. And, unlike the Cantonans, we hardly have six-and-a-half centuries to start taking this more seriously.

El Nino or not, neither do we have six-and-a-half months.

Email Jason at jason.walsh@?sonomanews.com.

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