One looming problem is the severe drought in southern California, which threatens mandatory water rationing in some cities early next year.

So the pols are trying to keep water coming out of people's taps, which of course requires lots of taxpayer money — $4 billion in bonds for water projects. (Arnold doesn't like honest taxation, so he has become the Bondinator so that the costs get kicked down the road for a bit, while they accumulate added interest. The state's debt stands at $92 billion, according to a 7/10 Lou Dobbs report.)

The rock bottom fact is there is not enough water for a growing population (now 38 million), particularly with environmental concerns like keeping species alive.

After 35 years of hemming and hawing over how to fix the largest estuary in the Western Hemisphere — the sprawl of canals, levees, and flood plains that join the Golden State's two river systems — the state has been told by a federal judge that business-as-usual is now illegal.

A new ruling to stop pumping up to 37 percent of the water that flows through the delta to protect endangered fish species has sent shock waves of concern into the three main sectors that have long competed for it: cities, farms, environment. [...]

The biggest issue, say Mr. Quinn and others, is the clash between the environment, the California economy, and the population, which is pouring in at more than 600,000 per year. [Water Crisis Squeezes California's Economy Christian Science Monitor 9/12/07]

In a choice between saving the smelt or shipping water south to wash the dust off Juan's low-rider , I'll take the fish.

Interestingly, one group in California is talking about the limits to growth — a federal court wants to end any expansion of the prison population because overcrowding is degrading their quality of life.

Hey, what about the rest of us?