Calif. Drought

[Cat_Driver]

Same thing with saving gas. Ca. said DRIVE LESS save gas, buy a prius, THEY DID - now the State isn't making enough from the fuel taxes so they RAISED THE FUEL TAXES because people are saving fuel. Now they cry THERE IS NO WATER, two days later it's flooding all over the state, and take one guess where all the excess water is going......RIGHT OUT TO THE OCEAN. Not one brilliant liberal spent one thin dime on a way to catch the billions of gallons of flood water for future use. WHY when they can cry and tax.

 

[cqaigy2]

Same thing with saving gas. Ca. said DRIVE LESS save gas, buy a prius, THEY DID - now the State isn't making enough from the fuel taxes so they RAISED THE FUEL TAXES because people are saving fuel. Now they cry THERE IS NO WATER, two days later it's flooding all over the state, and take one guess where all the excess water is going......RIGHT OUT TO THE OCEAN. Not one brilliant liberal spent one thin dime on a way to catch the billions of gallons of flood water for future use. WHY when they can cry and tax.

I like hamburger.

 

[ultrarunner]

Part of the problem is the State's extensive water system, developed over the last 150 years can no longer be used as designed due to environmental lawsuits over the Delta Smelt.

It's not just the farmers... major cities will get zero water project allotment... which ranges from 40 to almost 100% of their drinking water.

The local representatives have been trying to at least capture some of this water without success.

So... a few legal decisions shut down a costly to construct and functional system...

As a side note... cities like San Francisco by pass the State Water project and intercept water at the source and are not subject to the curtailment.

 

[orezok]

I too live in the desert somewhat north of Palm Springs, and I can tell you that level of usage is not necessary for personal use. My property is 98% native and has no landscape. I do have 30 Mondale pines for a windbreak, 7 fruit trees and a garden. In the winter when there is some rainfall, we use about 50 gallons per day mostly for personal use. That baseline would be constant year round. In the summer when the trees and garden need water due to the extreme heat and no precipitation it increases to about 100 GPD. This also includes water for the evaporative cooler which is significant.

Golf courses are a tremendous waste of water and due to the increased transpiration, the humidity in Palm Springs is much higher than where I live. 110* heat and high humidity makes for miserable living conditions so people in PS run their A/C 24/7 to compensate and end up with $500 to $700 monthly summertime electric bills.

A waste of both water and electricity!

 

[RobertN]

My wife is from Indio, just outside Palm Springs. She said the valley was mostly low humidity in the 60's and 70's when she was growing up. In our trips over the last 20 years, till her Dad passed a couple years ago, she would comment about the high level of humidity. Lots of golf courses, lots of water.... My understanding there are a lot of weels there. The older neighborhood my FIL lived in(where my wife grew up) was(still is) on a well.

Golf courses are a tremendous waste of water and due to the increased transpiration, the humidity in Palm Springs is much higher than where I live. 110* heat and high humidity makes for miserable living conditions so people in PS run their A/C 24/7 to compensate and end up with $500 to $700 monthly summertime electric bills.

A waste of both water and electricity!

 

[orezok]

All of the domestic water in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs to Indio) is from water district wells. A few of the 124 golf courses in the valley use recycled water, but most pump. The acquirer is in serious decline. Agriculture uses mostly Colorado River water from canals with some supplement from wells.

An interesting side note is that the Indian tribes are suing the water districts for "mis-use" of their water. The claim ownership of all the water. The outcome will be interesting.

The attached shows how much land the Indians own. It's almost half of Palm Springs and the neighboring city.

 

[flusher]

All of the domestic water in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs to Indio) is from water district wells. A few of the 124 golf courses in the valley use recycled water, but most pump. The acquirer is in serious decline. Agriculture uses mostly Colorado River water from canals with some supplement from wells.

An interesting side note is that the Indian tribes are suing the water districts for "mis-use" of their water. The claim ownership of all the water. The outcome will be interesting.

The attached shows how much land the Indians own. It's almost half of Palm Springs and the neighboring city.

If it's their land, then the Indians have the water rights. CA water law is clear on that.

I have the rights to the water on and under my 10 acres. No surface water, but my well is drilled to 154 ft depth (third strata of the acquifer), water level in the well is at 90 ft, the 1.5 hp submersible pump hangs at 120 ft. Get about 30 gal/min from that pump. The driller estimated that the well could pump 100 gal/min with a larger pump.

During the past 5 years, thousands of acres of pasture and hayfield around here have been converted to orchards (almond, trellised olives for oil, plums for prunes, English walnut). Canal water from the irrigation district provides a lot of the water for these trees, but the drillers have been busy installing new wells to handle the drought conditions that have persisted around here the past decade. Those trees have to be watered year round (unlike hayfield and pasture) so this will put an increasing demand on the ground water around here. My concern is my well going dry and having to dig another deeper well. Don't know if that will happen in my lifetime (I'm 72) but anything is possible.

 

[orezok]

If it's their land, then the Indians have the water rights. CA water law is clear on that.

From the Ca Water Resource Board "...water right is a legal entitlement authorizing water to be diverted from a specified source and put to beneficial, nonwasteful use. Water rights are property rights, but their holders do not own the water itself. They possess the right to use it. The exercise of some water rights requires a permit or license from the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), whose objective is to ensure that the State waters are put to the best possible use, and that the public interest is served."

Yes the Indians have the right to use the water under their land, but they want to control ALL the water in the valley. That needs to remain a State function as the local Indians have shown little regard for the environment. Billboards on highway Indian land, uncontrolled toxic waste dumps on Indian land, sub-standard trailer parks on Indian land, etc.

 

[ultrarunner]

The Bay Area is experiencing a real gully washer at the moment...

Miracle March?

 

[downsizingnow48]

Looks like essentially zero snowpack in Sierra Nevada range.

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