California Drought

[flusher]

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.

We also grow over a million acres of alfalfa, another thirsty crop, and export half of it to China. Sure we need that crop for our dairy herd, which is the largest in the U.S. But we should not be exporting water in the form of alfalfa grown in in semi-desert.

 

[beowulf]

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.

I thought those numbers seemed a bit whacky, but we keep hearing them. Never know what to believe. I guess everyone uses or skews the part of the calculations that favor their interests.

Yesterday the news was reporting that the amount of water being released from a local dam to make room for the mountain run-off would, on that one day alone, fill 10,000 football stadiums (referencing the local college's stadium). They also gave an acre-feet calculation but I forgot what that was. I guess that is measurable. Through our mountain property we have had unprecedented amounts of water rushing through and it looks like we may lose our small pond dam as the culvert is being overwhelmed. I was out trying to build an overflow to prevent a complete wash out until the lightning caused me to think I should be inside.

 

[ultrarunner]

Increasing Storage has not been a priority for years and the opposite is now true...

South Lake Tahoe has been spending millions to install water meters... attempted to get a waiver but was unsuccessful....

Basically repiping the entire system to comply... very expensive especially when many are seasonal users.

Also, entire lake communities take water from the Lake where it is easily returned via the sandy soil...

No matter what side you are on, California seems to take a one size fits all approach to many things.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

My property abuts Lake Oroville and I monitor lake level, inflows, and outflows using a state sponsored web site. The site's still up, but the real time graphics displayes haven't worked since this series of storms started. Is it just me or maybe the state doesn't want everyone knowing how much water they're dumping?

 

[dickfoster]

Increasing Storage has not been a priority for years and the opposite is now true...

South Lake Tahoe has been spending millions to install water meters... attempted to get a waiver but was unsuccessful....

Basically repiping the entire system to comply... very expensive especially when many are seasonal users.

Also, entire lake communities take water from the Lake where it is easily returned via the sandy soil...

No matter what side you are on, California seems to take a one size fits all approach to many things.

That's simply because the entire California legislature is populated by citified, democommie, big gubberment nitwits. Another good reason I sign the petition for the State of Jefferson whenever given the opportunity. These fools aren't capable of running their own lives must less ours.

 

[beowulf]

That's simply because the entire California legislature is populated by citified, democommie, big gubberment nitwits. Another good reason I sign the petition for the State of Jefferson whenever given the opportunity. These fools aren't capable of running their own lives must less ours.

!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TSO]

This thread reminds me of a quote from Lawrence of Arabia (1962) "... there is nothing in the desert, and No Man needs nothing."

I was able to visit SoCal in the fall. Beautiful place. I was surprised at how much the mountain areas (not big mountains by any means, Big Bear Lake) reminded me of northern Michigan. I guess I take water for granted... Living in Michigan. Here we can all use and enjoy practically any amount of water we wish, without limit. But when I hear about proposed attempts by States in the S/W to build a water pipeline from Mich, I become irritated and reflect on the quote above. If the desert in which one lives does not supply enough water to sustain the population, it seems logical to move instead to a place with enough resources to sustain such population. The location and rapid expansion of Las Vegas dumbfounds me in such a fashion.

 

[oosik]

If there is a buck to be made - you can be certain there will be land speculators there. Followed by developers. In CA's haste to encourage development - nobody ever gave much thought to a lack of water. Now they feel entitled and want to suck water from other areas to support their development.

TSO - your statement is VERY logical and that's the problem. CA is dealing with a lot of folks with no logic - only greed.

 

[jerrybob]

Watch the movie "Chinatown".........explains a lot about the early water corruption.

 

[TSO]

Watch the movie "Chinatown".........explains a lot about the early water corruption.

That was a fantastic movie ... Worth watching for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, and fans of Jack too.