During a recent research trip to the state archives, I came across a speech that Gov. Earl Warren gave to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in September 1949
It was a tough time in the state. Unemployment had reached 12 percent a few months earlier, though it was beginning to decline.. There had been a serious drought the previous year. Warren outlined major challenges for the state: terrible traffic, schools in shambles, overcrowded prisons. But what worried him most was water.
“As we look forward to the next century and to the next 10,000,000 who will certainly come here [Note: he underestimated; California’s population was just over 10 million at the time], there are certain problems that we must solve.
“The first, in my opinion, is the problem of water.
“Every person added to our population adds to our need for a water supply. It has been that way since the beginning of civilization in California.
“It will probably always be our greatest problem.”