California is Running Dry

[mecch]

California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now?

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-famiglietti-drought-california-20150313-story.html


____


Well are they rationing?  a little bit..

Are the building desalination plants?
Yep. slowly....  They only have 3 plants total??

http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25859513/nations-largest-ocean-desalination-plant-goes-up-near

California should  learn from Spain, the biggest desalinator in the "Western World" (whatever that means.. I though Israel might be up there, and some North African countries....)
http://icex.technologyreview.com/articles/2009/01/desalination-in-spain/

Who should pay?  All America + California.  Its not like the US can let California's humungous economy dry up.

What do you think?

[Wade]

Their economy's been in the toilet for years,
Transforming desert into cities takes lots of water..
Every state has its challenges ,
California has lots of people and I'm assuming lots of revenue,
Sure they'll figure it out.

[Miss Philicia]

Their economy's been in the toilet for years,

That was the case, but it's not currently the case: Brown’s California Overtakes Brazil With Companies Leading World

... meanwhile the "Texas Miracle" is about to whither

[Wade]

Well there we have it..
Guess they can make their own water now.

[mecch]

California's economy in the toilet?  News to me. I thought its GDP is on par with major nations in the world??!!

[mecch]

If I were the next Dem president, a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR public works programme would see practical responses, long range vision, for extreme weather, rising sea levels and desertification.  You don't abandon a country to the elements.  Holland didn't. Why should the US? 
Plus general infrastructure.  And public transport.

[Joe K]

Water is the oil of the 21st Century.  The western US wastes so much water it's sickening.  Take a look at Phoenix, with it's acres of lush green grass, constantly watered, to keep it alive, because THEY ARE GROWING IT IN A DESERT.  Las Vegas and many other cities, same thing.  They have cut water off to California farmers, because there simply isn't enough to go around.

Green grass in Phoenix or water for crops in California?  The answer seems obvious.  The fact that it is not, is beyond depressing.

Joe

[tednlou2]

I posted this video in another thread recently.  It's a "60 Minutes" piece on the drought and how farmers are now taking out ground water.  This causes the ground to drop as much as a foot per year in some areas.  They show a concrete platform, where the ground use to be.  It is damaging infrastructure. 

They show this amazing satellite, which can tell where water is or isn't-- even ground water.  They also show a plant, where they turn sewage water into drinking water.  They say it is cleaner, than regular tap water.  They try to replace some of the ground water. 

It will be interesting to see what happens.  I hear all this about water running out, but then I see all the multi-million dollar homes with huge acreage with lush, green lawns, when the surrounding hills are all brown.  So many swimming pools.  Some homes have more than one pool.  Jimmy K Live (tv show) had a huge, above ground pool filled for just one sketch.  It seems many there don't seem very concerned about it.  Well, at least those we get a glimpse at and who can influence others.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/depleting-the-water/

[Irish Eyes]

California's economy in the toilet?  News to me. I thought its GDP is on par with major nations in the world??!!

According to 2012 numbers if California was its own country it would be the 10th largest, based on GDP according to the wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_California

and scroll down to the 'see also' section.


As for desalination plants, they're buliding one up the road in Carlsbad and is due to go online at the end of this year, providing 50mill gallons per day.

(Hopefully this will help alleviate the rise in ocean levels blamed on the nonexistent global warming theory)

I just did a Google and learned San Diego has been under mandatory water restrictions since last November :-/

www.sandiego.gov/water/conservation/.../prohibitions.shtml

[Dachshund]

Water is the oil of the 21st Century.  The western US wastes so much water it's sickening.  Take a look at Phoenix, with it's acres of lush green grass, constantly watered, to keep it alive, because THEY ARE GROWING IT IN A DESERT.  Las Vegas and many other cities, same thing.  They have cut water off to California farmers, because there simply isn't enough to go around.

Green grass in Phoenix or water for crops in California?  The answer seems obvious.  The fact that it is not, is beyond depressing.

Joe

Actually human consumption is the least of their worries and has little effect. It's agriculture that consumes over 80% of their water. Warmer climates have reduced snow packs in the Sierra's and depleting underground water reserves just can't replenish the massive amount of water it takes to farm a desert. But good luck reigning in Agribusiness.

[tednlou2]

I saw this graphic of where California's water goes.  I mentioned huge homes with swimming pools earlier, but apparently that isn't the problem.  It really is agriculture.  I read it takes something like 50 gallons of water to produce one hamburger.  Not sure if that is just for the cows, or also lettuce and tomatoes. 

Tonight, Bill Maher said it takes 1 gallon of water for a single almond-- going on to say almond farms take 10% of the water.  He said he likes almonds, but sometimes you have to take one for the team.  Seeing how cows (meat and dairy) use so much water and how cows are responsible for a lot of greenhouse gases, perhaps it is time we cut the cows down in our diets.

[mecch]

Hey thanks for that info Ted.
I didn't know California was a meat and dairy state! I though it was fruits and vegetables mostly.
Maybe the us can do more like Europe and start shifting production of certain foods to places it makes the most sense ecologically as well as for the profit of the food companies.
Local is great but if there's no water for a cattle ranch whats the point?
Not that Europe has this all figured out. Still pisses me off when I see so many hot house veges from Netherlands... I mean, I never think of netherlands as all that sunny so they got to be doing this with lights!?
Good luck with the idea of shifting diets based on ecology!  Sounds like big-gov or worse commie pinko talk.    I think you'll have to pry hamburgers out of the cold dead hands for some people.

[RobbyR]

I haven't followed this story too closely, but just seeing the headlines is alarming, as someone who cares about the environment. I hope people will start really conserving water when & where possible, not sure if this idea has been looked at..but..due to California's location right on the west coast & tons of area bordering the Pacific Ocean, how about the feasibility of building de-salinization plants & cultivating that as a new resource for usable water? Like a public works program like we had in the 1930s, back when big things seemed to get done as opposed to now. Something's going to have to be done, the climate models I've seen suggest a horrendous drought the likes of which the West hasn't seen for hundreds of years, for the next century or so. I hope a solution can be found.

[tednlou2]

CA is, for now, going at this on the personal level.  The governor wants water usage cut by 25%.  NBC News says there are 1.5 million swimming pools in CA, so I guess that does add up.  In the graphic I posted, it said 4% was direct usage.  I take that to mean showers, toilets, cooking, washing, drinking, and filling those pools.  That doesn't seem like much, if all that is 4%. 

The Sierra Mountains should be at 5 feet of snow, but there isn't any.  They showed then and now photos of reservoirs.  They are dramatically lowered-- verging on bone dry.  Scientist say possibly worst drought in last 500 to 1,000 years. 

Half of all produce is grown there.  11 gallons of water for a pound of broccoli.  300 gallons for pound of rice.  2,000 gallons for pound of almonds.  Can we live without the almonds?