California Drought

ericm979 · Jan 10, 2017

Marc Reisner's Cadillac Desert is a good history of California water politics for those who are interested. He's a good writer; it's not dry reading. Haha.

We've gotten 11 inches over the last three days here in the Santa Cruz mountains (central CA, part of the coast range). Lots of trees down, slides, power outages.

ultrarunner · Jan 10, 2017

My friends on Last Chance Road have been getting a lot... 7 miles on a dirt/gravel road in from the Pacific Ocean...

For years the road would be just about impassible in winter unless you had the right vehicle... the last 5 years that really has not been a concern...

dmccarty · Jan 10, 2017

oosik said:
...
Trying to set up a multiple supply system for non-potable/potable home use would be a nightmare of problems.

I guess about 10 years ago, one of the local cities was allowing new housing developments to use treated sewage water to irrigate lawns. At one of the developments, a half dozen or so homes here built, sold, and occupied before it was noticed that the treated sewage lines were connected as the fresh water supply to the homes. Surprisingly to me, it took awhile for the home owners to noticed the water quality. Never heard/read if the city still allows the treated sewage to be used for private home lawn irrigation. I know the city was using the treated sewage to water medians and such.

Later,
Dan

ultrarunner · Jan 10, 2017

At one of the sewage treatment plants the plant super took treated water right out of the discharge pipe and drank it... it sure made for a interesting press conference...

All to make a point the treated water was safe... this was before people became concerned about pharmaceuticals in the waste water...

California · Jan 10, 2017

ultrarunner said:
At one of the sewage treatment plants the plant super took treated water right out of the discharge pipe and drank it... it sure made for a interesting press conference...

All to make a point the treated water was safe... this was before people became concerned about pharmaceuticals in the waste water...

There's a hilarious photo of President Nixon looking at a glass of water he was handed at a treatment plant, he's unsure if he's supposed to sip it for the news cameras there and nobody has told him what to do.

oosik · Jan 10, 2017

Drinking treated waste water - intended for irrigation only - doesn't speak well of what people have come to expect of their drinking water. Long ago - I was at a conference in New York city. Stayed at one of the largest hotels. Called down to the desk and asked what the third little faucet, on the sink, was for. You could hear the anxiety in the persons voice when he said - "you haven't been drinking out of the cold water faucet, have you". The third faucet was treated/filtered water for drinking only. The local yokel had come to town.

jerrybob · Jan 10, 2017

ultrarunner said:
At one of the sewage treatment plants the plant super took treated water right out of the discharge pipe and drank it... it sure made for a interesting press conference...

All to make a point the treated water was safe... this was before people became concerned about pharmaceuticals in the waste water...

You should have put a Bay Ruth candy bar in his glass for a good laugh.:laughing:

TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark · Jan 10, 2017

TSO said:
I was surprised at how much the mountain areas (not big mountains by any means, Big Bear Lake)

Not big? 10,000 feet isn't big? Big Bear Lake sits in a bowl at almost 7,000 feet. That's higher than most mountains in the U.S. The mountains around it and near it go over 10,000 feet.

What's your definition of a big mountain?

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

That's politicians and bureaucrats in general. Always has been since the dawn of recorded history. That's why government does a poor job at most things.

ultrarunner · Jan 10, 2017

^^^ Quickly learning the same can apply to large corps...

Last year we made a very large expenditure on a new network and hardware... it was needed.

Just learned under the sale all of the computers will be crushed and the network replaced...

It does make one wonder...