A recent article in The Atlantic monthly by two Harvard historians1 proposed the establishment by the President of the United States of a Council of Historical Advisors. The reason is obvious: as the truism puts it, those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it. This truism applies to the issue of water. Mid 20th-century California history is full of instruction for the present generation in its search for solutions to the West’s recurrent droughts and water insecurity. It brings to light a fact of enormous import for policy discussions on water conservation, the Salton Sea, and water security; namely, there is no shortage of water on Planet Earth.