California Drought

[Larry Caldwell]

California is and will remain in a drought. California is incapable of solving its water issues. It has been raining for days - we have had about 8 inches in the last two weeks or so - and it is now raining heavily and will continue for several days - but it is going to into the ocean. Or rather, the water in the lakes which is being stored behind dams is now being released to the ocean so that there is room for the rain water pouring into the streams and flowing into the lakes. Agriculture interests have been trying to have more dams built for decades but it won't happen - all political. And it takes 10 plus years to get a dam approved and built and they have not even started. If there was sufficient water storage some of the problem could be alleviated.

But this is California - a state that is too big, partly a desert, and with too many diverse and competing interests. It is the cities vs the rural, north vs south, the farmers vs the environmentalists (Endangered Species Act). Some crops take an unbelievable amount of water to produce (one gallon for one almond, 20 gallons for one ounce of asparagus, 100 gallons per ounce of beef - or so it is reported). And environmentalists want to save every bug and fish that has ever been seen anywhere - or so it is reported. Both sides have detractors and supporters.

Many farmers have had to decide which of their fields or crops they will have to forget about. The artificial turf business is booming. Subsidies are given to homeowners who tear out their grass and put in xeriscape landscaping. The state's economy - which has a huge ag base has taken a multi-billion dollar hit.

There are mandatory reductions in most municipalities. And we all do all we can to save water. In the summer, we and most of our friends, family, and so on, really do try to save water - buckets in the shower to catch water for other uses and so on. But then it was reported that the mayor's LA resident used 2100 gallons a day for a while - so there's that. And we also stand around in amazement on the inability, or unwillingness, of the state to deal with it in meaningful ways - and its complicated by a mix of state and federal law and regulations.

I don't think LA residents get it yet - about how this water issue will move their way. But LA is in a desert - and tho it has been made green with water and lawns, that may all change.

There have been proposals to buy and pipe water from Canada and the Eastern US (where it floods) to California which, even if feasible, would require somewhere to store it.

I don't know what will happen, but I do know that the rain we get goes to the ocean.

Take the figures on ag water use with a grain of salt. Unlike cities, farmers don't dump their waste water in the river. A CAFO like a dairy farm does use hundreds of gallons a day per cow, but that water ends up irrigating fields. Here in Oregon, effluent from small town sewage treatment systems gets piped out onto fields and the solids are used as fertilizer. A town with 10,000 residents could irrigate thousands of acres of almond trees. Large cities, of course, would foul hundreds of square miles of land with excess, so they just dump it into rivers.

As of last week, California reservoirs are at 98% of historical average. They have a long way to go to reach capacity, but things are looking much better.

 

[RNeumann]

Those numbers aren't anywhere near reality. The issue is real, though. For example, California grows a lot of rice and cotton, two ravenously thirsty crops, which is insane in a state that has limited water resources.



When I still lived there, the construction of a hospital in Riverside was stopped - permanently stopped - to save a subspecies of the common house fly. One protected desert rat was found to NOT be a separate species, but it remained protected.




It's Sierra. No "s". The word is already plural.





The problem is not their education, profession, or skillsets.

The problem is their values.

Thanks- I haven't seen a soap box in years!

 

[dragoneggs]

. Good one! Okay, what does SEAwater do to a septic tank if used to flush?

Probably nothing to an anaerobic septic system.

I have had a few very large reef aquariums over the years that required large water changes frequently. I purposely routed my water change system drain bypassing my septic tank based on several opinions and my own concern about upsetting the balance of the septic system. I could be over cautious but knowing that the saltwater kills the grass if I dump it there, I didn't want it to potentially kill or severely ****** the organisms abilities in the tank to do their job over time.

 

[ultrarunner]

Some of the best and also historical rice fields are just outside Sacrarmento in the Deltal and Yolo Causeway... very rich and naturally swapland that was converted to AG...

Now the same water goes to the rice patties but no rice... it is all duck refuge...

A family friend has farmed for generations and last year was told no water for AG... the water MUST flow straight to the ocean for species protection...

I don't have any answers but California is full of things that are head scratchers... just like the NUMMI plant expansion on land held and earmarked for expansion was put on hold due to a family of burrowing owls..

Now that Tesla is there and GREEN... it no longer seems to the issue it was.

 

[TomSeller]

Biggest use of water at a residence is the yard....by far! .

Not at my house

I learned a long time ago that water makes grass grow. And if the grass grows it needs to be mowed. Sooooooo..... 2+2=(not watering the grass means you don't have to mow it)

Grass was intended to dry up in summer and return in spring.

 

[dragoneggs]

Now that Tesla is there and GREEN... it no longer seems to the issue it was.

Except their gigantic battery plant they building outside of Reno. California wouldn't allow it. The green cars aren't as green as greenies would like to believe. That said, I would love one if they were half the price.

 

[California]

I should have included in my post above ...

An example of grandfathered water rights: Sacramento's City Charter said there would never be water meters and the charter grants unlimited flat-rate water to property owners regardless of quantity used. Water was clearly an unlimited resource when that was passed.

This was intentional in pioneer days and served its purpose - the city is essentially green with big shade trees and nice lawns everywhere. Terrain that was uncomfortably hot rainless open grassland in summer became extensively covered with trees and became far more comfortable to live. I think there is better shade cover than nearly any other city in the US.

Of course with no incentive to conserve, it was normal to see excess sprinkler water running down the gutters into storm drains all summer. Nobody cared. The storm drains go back to the river and on down to the Bay Area's water intake systems downstream so what's the problem.

In the last few years legislation overruled Sacramento's prior rights, and this was upheld by the state courts. (Judicial activism! ) My guess is the more numerous representatives from Southern California, who need more water to send south down the Aqueducts, pushed this through. Now water meters are being installed but the pricing remains flat-rate, all-you-can-use.

Values? This is an example where present Californians had to overturn Traditional Values handed down from the pioneers.

 

[California]

Except their gigantic battery plant they building outside of Reno. California wouldn't allow it. The green cars aren't as green as greenies would like to believe. That said, I would love one if they were half the price.

I thought part of that siting decision was Nevada granted huge tax concessions to attract needed economic growth while California is overpopulated already, and was lukewarm to match Nevada's offer and indirectly promote still more population growth.

There may have been environmental issues too. Nobody wants a chemical plant upstream from a population center. While nobody lives in the desert 'downstream' (dry) from that battery plant. Downstream there is the Carson Sink where what minor streams exist, dead end and disappear. That's a perfect location for making batteries, while the NUMMI plant over in the Bay Area is a perfect place to employ a lot of locals and assemble automobiles.

Off topic but I think the Tesla battery arrays are going to be a game-changer in solar and other renewable energy schemes.

 

[dragoneggs]

I thought part of that siting decision was Nevada granted huge tax concessions to attract needed economic growth while California is overpopulated already, and was lukewarm to match Nevada's offer and indirectly promote still more population growth.

There may have been environmental issues too. Nobody wants a chemical plant upstream from a population center. While nobody lives in the desert 'downstream' (dry) from that battery plant. Downstream there is the Carson Sink where what minor streams exist, dead end and disappear. That's a perfect location for making batteries, while the NUMMI plant over in the Bay Area is a perfect place to employ a lot of locals and assemble automobiles.

Off topic but I think the Tesla battery arrays are going to be a game-changer in solar and other renewable energy schemes.

Yeah sorry off topic and yep there was tax concessions and a bidding war but I think California passed. Here is a spring 2016 aerial pic and a rendition of the finished building. Quite impressive. The roof is full of solar panels.

 

[California]

The Reno Tesla battery factory started production last week.