If that happens, the elaborate infrastructure built to deliver water to the state’s 38 million residents and 27 million cultivated acres may not survive the challenge, new research suggests. Already the drought has led to the “greatest water loss ever seen in California agriculture,” said a study last month by researchers at the University of California at Davis.To the left of California, there is an ocean of water. Why is desalination not the answer?
For Sutton, whose family has farmed the region for three generations, any outing to church or the local store was apt to include an awkward exchange with a neighbor worried about what could happen if the drought lingers for a fourth year.
“It is unparalleled crisis, unlike anything we’ve experienced,” he said. “People are emotional. There’s a fear of losing farms that have been passed through families for generations.”
Monday, August 18, 2014
WaPo: "West’s historic drought stokes fears of water crisis"
"As of last month, nearly 60 percent of the state is officially in an “exceptional” drought — the highest level, above “severe” — and meteorologists are seeing no immediate change in a relentlessly dry forecast. Indeed, scientists are warning that the state’s cyclical droughts could become longer and more frequent as the climate warms."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
18 comments:
Because, global warming!
That might work as a supplementary source of drinkable water for the people living in the coastal areas, like San Diego, San Francisco.
But...California is HUGE. People who live on the East Coast have no concept of the distance, open spaces and terrain difficulty in getting around in the State. For example for me to drive to see relatives in So Cal. Redondo Beach. It is at LEAST a 10 to 12 hour drive, most of that going 80 mph on a flat freeway through the central valley. Almost 700 miles. This is the equivilant distance of driving from Philadelphia to Atlanta. Through 7 States. Most of us who make this trip, do it in one day or one driving session with, of course potty breaks.
The biggest need is for agricultural water. The ability of desalination plants to provide such a HUGE quantity of water and then transport it over and through the Coastal mountain ranges would be not only cost prohibitive, it would be a massive engineering project. You might as well ask, why the East Coast doesn't use desalination and transport water to Kentucky. With all the enviro-nazi's and unions putting up roadblocks the entire way, it is unlikely such a project would be completed in the next 75 years. Much too late to be helpful. The Central Valley will be a dust bowl, already IS, long before such a thing happens.
The reality is that there are way too many people in California, and especially in the South Coast/LA area than the land and water sources could EVER support. Southern California is an illusion based on tricks such as those perpetrated by Mullholand.. What he did back in the turn of last century could never be repeated or even thought of today.
The reality is that California is reverting to its historical NORMALITY. The people in some areas will have to move or adapt.
There was a time in this nation when we built huge infrastructure projects. Those days are gone. Now we pay people to sit on their asses.
Tiny infrastructure projects take way too much time and cost millions and billions. A new turn circle is 8 million dollars. Fixing 1 mile of road and adding an underpass for bikes takes years to build w/ cost over-runs.
Roads that need repair sit unrepaired. Not enough money. We have plenty of money to waste, but never enough money for things we actually need.
Government union labor and union rules: Short work days, long breaks, a drop of rain? time to call it a day, silly bureaucratic nonsense, waste, the removal of competition are all factors.
Our best days as a nation are behind us.
+ drought? This is a horrible combination.
Another thought on using desalinated water for agricultural purposes.
The cost of the water would cause the end user of the product....everyone nationwide at the grocery store, to experience a rise in costs that would be unsustainable. Costs would go up. People won't buy. Production goes down to equal demand. Most of the farmers and ranches go out of business anyway.
The only people who would benefit from an expensive desalination plant, would be the wealthy who would continue to live in the coastal enclaves. The rest...the poor and working classes would be even further depressed into a permanent underclass. Which is what the Democrats are aiming for anyway. A culture of rich who can afford water, food, homes....the rest who mow lawns and clean the houses and live on the scraps.
I lived through a 2-year long drought in California in the mid-'70s. It was not not good, can't imagine what twice that long would be like.
We are getting too much rain - it would be nice if we could share some. Tell Moonbeam to get busy building some new water pipelines.
No worries - I am sure our betters in the Imperial City have plans to fix this right after they fix Obamacare, LGBT issues, Equal Pay for Equal Work, have the cost of sex change surgery included in all insurance policies, find the Soc Sec Lockbox and put back the trillions they stole, etc etc
I weep for the avocados.
I lived through a 2-year long drought in California in the mid-'70s. It was not not good,
Me too. The drought was quite severe and people were running around like Chicken Little. "We're all gonna DIE!! No water. It will take decades to refill Lake Shasta....." Then we had a wet winter, an El Nino I think, and suddenly not only was the lake at capacity, it was over filled. We will likely, at some point, see a change just like before.
The bigger difference we have now, especially for the agricultural areas is the deliberate starving of that area of water in the irrigation canals by diverting it into the Sacramento Delta to save some bait fish, instead of continuing to let the rancher/farmers use the water as always. Again....the enviro-nazis strike. Fish over people.
The drought IS serious and people need to cut back on frivolous watering. Swimming pools should be banned. Watering golf courses should stop. Ornamental landscaping? Sorry. Gotta go. Some of the wells in our area are seeing lowered water tables. Others are holding firm where they are.
The conservation efforts and mandatory cut backs are a joke. I went to a restaurant where they no longer serve water unless you ask. Ok...saving some. THEN used the restroom and both toilets were running running running with leaking toilet flappers that would cost about $4 to replace and the total water loss makes few glasses of water not drunk a miniscule drop in the bucket.
If they were serious about saving water they would fix their damned toilets and other water leaks. I blogged about this some time back Nothing has changed.
However, given the hysterical drama queen nature of some people and the government's penchant to use any crisis to further tighten their hand around our throats.....I don't believe them.
Thing is, is that lack of water is a serious issue for the entire southwest, not just California. As what I'm hearing/reading is that the area is returning to a more 'normal' dry cycle of which the last hundred years have been an aberration in seeing more rainfall. There is a reason, or at least a theory, that this region lost most of its original inhabitants due to droughts lasting hundreds of years. I don’t have a clue what the answer might be for more water, especially for agricultural use, as I agree with DBQ that desalination is not a viable solution for that problem. We may all just have to relocate, though ample fresh water is becoming an issue in other areas of the country too.
I was going to comment, but I read others first. DBQ covered everything I might have said...
I read NV uses four times as much water per capita as CA. Lake Las Vegas was blamed in part.
You can't have a shortage without price controls.
There's no shortage of BMWs in California, yet it hasn't rained BMWs in years.
You can get all the BMWs you want.
You're being logical again.
What's the matter with you?
Dust Bunny Queen said...
The reality is that there are way too many people in California, and especially in the South Coast/LA area than the land and water sources could EVER support.
Draft them, send them to Iraq, tell IS they're Yazidis, and do a Benghazi on them.
On top of the crisis created by natural drought conditions, California is also beset by a political scheme to cut off water to the Central Valley, the fruit basket, in order to save a non-native bait fish.
Our water here is sucked out of the Great Lakes, a nearly inexhaustible source.
Crap. Now I'll be accused of water privilege.
I don't agree with DBQ's statement that California is overpopulated. Even during a drought such as this, the population's water needs can be met. It is agricultural water needs that can't be met.
Realistically, if the drought continues, the agriculture sector will get thrown under the bus. It is 1% of the economy and uses 77% of the water. Add in the fact that most of the workers in it are here illegally and the probably outcome is pretty obvious.
Oh, sure, most Californians are supposedly "liberal", but that's *before* you ask them to sell their homes at a loss and leave the state so Mexican rice-pickers can stay employed.
Nobody is picking rice by hand.
I don't agree with DBQ's statement that California is overpopulated.
That isn't what I said. There are areas of California where a population exists that cannot be sustained by the resources available. Los Angles Basin is one of the prime examples. Without the engineering projects (that can never be done today), decimating Owens Valley and draining their lake, stealing the water from the San Fernando valley, ruining Mono Lake etc.
It is all an artificial illusion. The Los Angles Basin has always been a rather dry arid place. Very little water and had some small amount of dryland agriculture, cattle and sheep.
Now I know that most BIG cities are artificial as well, but LA is the biggest fake out of all. The ONLY reason LA exists is because of the artificial sources of water, basically stealing it from other areas. Swimming pools, green golf courses, beautiful landscaping. Dry up that source of water and the whole thing will collapse and people will need to move away.
There are too many people for the readily available resources.
Post a Comment