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The West without Water documents the tumultuous climate of the American West over twenty millennia, with tales of past droughts and deluges and predictions about the impacts of future climate change on water resources. Looking at the region’s current water crisis from the perspective of its climate history, the authors ask the central question of what is "normal" climate for the West, and whether the relatively benign climate of the past century will continue into the future. The West without Water merges climate and paleoclimate research from a wide variety of sources as it introduces readers to key discoveries in cracking the secrets of the region’s climatic past. It demonstrates that extended droughts and catastrophic floods have plagued the West with regularity over the past two millennia and recounts the most disastrous flood in the history of California and the West, which occurred in 1861–62. The authors show that, while the West may have temporarily buffered itself from such harsh climatic swings by creating artificial environments and human landscapes, our modern civilization may be ill-prepared for the future climate changes that are predicted to beset the region. They warn that it is time to face the realities of the past and prepare for a future in which fresh water may be less reliable.
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The West without Water 9780520268555_PRINT.indd i 27/04/13 1:04 PM 9780520268555_PRINT.indd ii 27/04/13 1:04 PM The West without Water what past floods, droughts, and other climatic clues tell us about tomorrow B. Lynn Ingram and Frances Malamud-Roam Foreword by Sandra L. Postel university of califor nia pr ess ber keley los angeles london 9780520268555_PRINT.indd iii 27/04/13 1:04 PM University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2013 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on fi le at the Library of Congress. isbn 978–0–520–26855–5 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn 978–0–520–94580–9 (ebook) Manufactured in the United States of America 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ansi/ niso z39.48–1992 (r 2002) (Permanence of Paper). 9780520268555_PRINT.indd iv 27/04/13 1:04 PM For my loving family: Don, Daniel, Aaron, and Gene, and in memory of my father, Dr. Gerald Ingram B. Lynn Ingram For Anne Frances Malamud-Roam 9780520268555_PRINT.indd v 27/04/13 1:04 PM 9780520268555_PRINT.indd vi 27/04/13 1:04 PM con t en ts List of Illustrations ix Foreword by Sandra L. Postel xiii Preface xv Acknowledgments xix Introduction 1 pa rt on e f loods a n d drough ts i n l i v i ng m e mory 11 1 • From Drought to Deluge: “Normal” Climate in the West 13 2 3 • The 1861–1862 Floods: Lessons Lost 27 The Great Droughts of the Twentieth Century 41 • 4 Why Is Climate So Variable in the West? 49 • pa rt t wo a c l i mat e h istory of t h e am e r ic a n w est 61 5 Reading the Past: The Earth’s History Books 63 • 6 7 9780520268555_PRINT.indd vii • • From Ice to Fire: Into the Holocene 81<