We live in southern California, and have always been fully aware that we live in a desert climate. About 14 years ago, we got rid of our lawn and replaced it with a succulent garden and drought tolerant grasses and perennials. About 3 years ago when the latest drought was starting, we started collecting warm up water from showers and dish washing to water the plants, rarely using our hose, and when we do use it, I water at night for less evaporation. We shower less (and don't even stink), and turn off the water when soaping up. We don't buy bottled water. Every time it rains (by some little miracle, it is raining right now), I put out rain barrels and buckets to collect as much as possible for plant watering. Even hanging our laundry out to dry on a clothesline saves water that would be used creating the energy to run a dryer.
Bringing back the desal plant is probably inevitable here in Santa Barbara, but it is very energy intensive. With Gov. Brown finally coming out with mandatory water restrictions, maybe people will realize how much difference it can make to simply conserve.
I was drinking yucky Colorado River water as a kid in the OC. Up north in Berkeley we had delicious Tuolumne River water.
The reason everyone drinks bottled water in SoCal is because the tap water (Colorado River water) is so nasty. It used to be breaking news when the Colorado River actually flowed all the way into the Gulf of California because it was so infrequent.
There was plenty of talk about building desalinization plants around LA back in the 60's for the day that was coming.
Well the day has come. No pity. Drink the good weather. And sit in the dark because so much electricity is from hydro.
Growing up in California taught me the value of water from an early age. One of the reasons I decided to stick around here in the Rust Belt, where we have 20% of the world's fresh water. I came to that realization some 40 years ago. Now the decision has paid off.
I'm not a SirD, waiting for the apocalypse, but the impacts reach far beyond California and will depend how long it goes on before any relief occurs and the long term hotter climate trends. California grows a lot of the world's food and supports a lot of the US economy. If there is significant long-term failure in CA agriculture it will put stress on the rest of the world - not just because people need to eat but because the price increases will see a rush to fill the void. If US almond prices jump so will ours, even though we are a small part of the world market (everyone is except CA - I believe we are the 3rd largest producer and really a drop in the bucket). There is a lot to be said for irrigated agriculture in a desert - turn the water on to grow your hay and turn it off to dry it - much higher quality and less waste. Fewer pests and diseases. Yes the problem has been brewing for a long time but the economic system is not good at valuing long-term gains and externalities like the environment and feeding the poor.
I was drinking yucky Colorado River water as a kid in the OC. Up north in Berkeley we had delicious Tuolumne River water.
The reason everyone drinks bottled water in SoCal is because the tap water (Colorado River water) is so nasty. It used to be breaking news when the Colorado River actually flowed all the way into the Gulf of California because it was so infrequent.
There was plenty of talk about building desalinization plants around LA back in the 60's for the day that was coming.
Well the day has come. No pity. Drink the good weather. And sit in the dark because so much electricity is from hydro.
Growing up in California taught me the value of water from an early age. One of the reasons I decided to stick around here in the Rust Belt, where we have 20% of the world's fresh water. I came to that realization some 40 years ago. Now the decision has paid off.
Companies suck the water table dry, legally, then put it in plastic bottles and sell it to us for a profit. The plastic ends up in the recycling pile or landfill. The lack of water means that homeowners have trouble with gardens and other irrigation.
All of this is legal capitalism.
but is it legitimate?
central planning for sale has consequences
on another note
i gleaned this earlier
there's probably some truth to the points being made
think of the water that could be saved if californians stopped giving a shit and quit their pissing and moaning
Oklahoma is right behind them. All the water in OKC comes from a series of fake lakes, all of which are far below normal level and rainfall so far this year has been far below normal. The groundwater aquifers used by many cities and towns in the state have been getting lower and lower. I figure by the middle of this summer the lakes will be pretty much bone dry and we'll all be using bottled water at obscene prices. Yet the petroleum industry is still happily drilling and fracking away at a rate of several million gallons per well that is rendered toxic and then injected into disposal wells at high pressure to keep the earthquakes going. Everything is FINE!
The Desert Sun has an in-depth report of controversy brewing around the company’s bottling plant, which draws water from adrought-stricken area for its Arrowhead and Pure Life brand water. Because the plant is located on the Morongo Band of Mission Indians’ reservation, it’s exempt from oversight by local water agencies and is able to keep confidential information — such as the amount of groundwater it’s pumping and water levels in its wells — that other plants would be required to disclose. As a result, critics contend, it’s impossible to know just how much of the limited resource the plant is extracting to send elsewhere.
The 37th largest reservoir in California (Lake Cachuma) holds 205,000 acre feet, or 67 billion gallons. Not a trifle, but also not worth getting too fired up about. If big ag can cut back by 5%, that'll amount to more than 100% of domestic water use, I'm guessing.
"Give a farmer a megaliter of water and he makes food, give a city a megaliter of water and they make shit."
I'm sure there are ways for ag in California to become more water efficient, but I'm also sure that they have made a lot of progress in that direction so it gets harder with time. There are a number of issues to be dealt with like salt buildup in the soils if you don't flush it down deep enough (and conversely poisoning the wetlands if you flush too much). I was amazed to read how much water almonds use, though. I suspect it will become a big issue in the Mallee region here. One option would be to restrict agricultural water to the degree that the farmers and the trees can barely survive, or maybe (gasp) subsidize the farmers so they don't go under until the rains return. They allow a lot of water trading and selling here, but I'm not convinced the free market is a particularly good way of addressing the issues of a chronically dry region where water is essentially the limiting factor for economic and ecological health.
In my opinion, overdrawing groundwater is a big problem. It's deficit spending in good times and probably a certain amount of your groundwater should be saved for the droughts.
1.6gpf x 38 million people x 365 days x # flushes per day = over 22 billion gallons of water/ year.
The 37th largest reservoir in California (Lake Cachuma) holds 205,000 acre feet, or 67 billion gallons. Not a trifle, but also not worth getting too fired up about. If big ag can cut back by 5%, that'll amount to more than 100% of domestic water use, I'm guessing.
Faced with California's worsening drought and shrinking local water supplies, Santa Barbara is looking to the sea for salvation. The coastal city is prepared to spend upward of $40 million to reactivate a mothballed seawater desalination plant that opened in 1992 and shut down just three months later.
"We're looking at desalination as a very last resort in the next year," said Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider. "We know it's a very big decision to take—and yet at the same time we've done everything we could with our other water supply options."
Although the Santa Barbara desalination plant was decommissioned in the mid-1990s, the city has spent about $100,000 a year on average to keep the required permits active and to maintain the facility for a faster start-up. The current plan is to restart the facility by producing 30 percent of the local water needs but the plant can ramp up capacity to almost cover the entire water requirements of the city, according to Joshua Haggmark, the city's water resources manager.
The idea of the test bombing run, explains Jacek Siminski of TheAviationist.com, is to demonstrate that the big bomber could be deployed against small sea-borne surface targets. Siminski cites pirates as a likely target, adding that "the term 'using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut' springs to mind."
