California's Water Crisis

[{ Emilia }]

I've posted this in the global warming thread first but then figured I might as well turn it into its own thread:

What do people think about the drought in California?

I don't really see an easy fix since this is a huge mess that's been a long time coming.

Too many people.
Too much water being consumed.
Way too much agriculture.
Almonds.

San Diego is getting a new desalination plant but it's not like that's going to help a lot. It's very expensive (80% more expensive than regular water supply) and is only going to cover a small amount (7%) of water consumption in San Diego County.

It's easy to blame the fact that having way too many people move into a state that's essentially a desert turned out to be an issue. But private household consumption only amounts to around 20% (I think?) of total water consumption in California.
Per capita water use is still around double that of Maine, mainly due to lawn watering.

But the agriculture seems like an even bigger issue. Almonds in particular are an incredibly water-intensive industry.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

If it was politically possible, a real water market where water is priced based on its true value in the area would be a good idea. Some economists have suggested this but California's water politics are totally screwed up. Nobody wants to have to give up anything, so nothing is done at all. The governor recently announced a 25% usage reduction to be enforced for residential and municipal usage, but agricultural usage is totally unaffected--even though that's 80% of the state's water usage.

It's a crazy situation. The state uses 38 billion gallons of water every day, whereas a billion dollar desalination plant can "only" produce several million gallons of water. Do the math and one quickly realizes just how expensive it is to turn to the ocean for water. This is to say nothing of the intense energy requirements of desalination, which will cause more carbon emissions (since they aren't likely to be done using renewable energy.)

Realistically, the state just cannot support the kind and extent of agriculture being performed there today, and it looks like everyone's going to live in denial of this fact for as long as they can.

ETA: This is a city in the Mojave Desert. (I believe it's Barstow, I'm not 100% sure.)

 

[MacLeod]

Perhaps Sen. Inhofe has some snow can help alievate this crisis.

But as others have said it's population size and large agriculturial that are the issue. It might be painful in the shorterm and not political conveinet but reduce the amount argiculture uses, and cut production for several years in the hope that the water table can recover a bit.

 

[Hatshepsut]

...but California's water politics are totally screwed up. Nobody wants to have to give up anything, so nothing is done at all....

Can you say, "Colorado River Compact of 1922?" First, California will force the upper Colorado Basin states (including Utah) to release more water downstream so it can evaporate in Lake Mead. Then, using its 53 representatives, it will force the U.S. taxpayer to divert part of the Columbia River from Oregon down to the Central and Imperial Valleys. But even Utah is in the game. We have our own massively wasteful Central Utah Project, soon (though we don't know when) to make yet another desert bloom.

Israel successfully desalinizes seawater and uses some of it for agriculture. But they don't grow water-hungry lettuce and strawberries; they grow olive trees, via a drip irrigation that conserves the precious resource.

 

[Mudd]

Almonds are certainly having a moment, here.

 

[HIjol]

Growing up right next to Lake Michigan, and the other Great Lakes, we are lucky to have so much fresh water. I remember learning quite a bit about the Colorado River, and the allocations of water and controversy about California and what it grows/how much water it uses. I remember also learning about the 1922 Compact, and our teacher telling us how the total amount of water to be allocated was calculated. They overestimated the flow by a significant amount, and the end result is that more water is allocated from the Colorado than actually exists in the Colorado! Not sure how that math works out, but it does not add up for me!

This, from Internet sources:

The Colorado is now considered among the most controlled and litigated rivers in the world, with every drop of its water fully allocated.

 

[Ithekro]

Mexico has complained that the Colorado River is not always reaching the Gulf of California anymore.

 

[{ Emilia }]

So since there's no easy fix I wonder what's going to happen. Will we really see a significant scaling back of agriculture in California? That isn't just going to affect California's economy but also the US as a whole.
It's quite fascinating to watch from afar because it's rare that humans have to just scale down a specific development because of nature.

Also: Where are all our posters from California?!

 

[HIjol]

I believe that tbtb will seek out other aquifers/sources of water, and, however far, will build delivery systems to tap (!) them. Pipelines, diversions, new dams, desalianation, what have you. The system and the power is too entrenched to go back.

I do know on thing: I am gettin' me a Stillsuit.
Plus, Crowdfunding, because Mass Production.

Hmmm... the Sheikhs here have more money than Croesus.
Maybe they would be interested in a little business proposition...

 

[{ Emilia }]

Stillsuits?
You think Californians would rather drink their own piss than cut down their almond consumption?

 

[HIjol]

Stillsuits?
You think Californians would rather drink their own piss than cut down their almond consumption?

No, of course not. Californians have shown themselves to be resilient and adaptable. The Uberladies and Lords of Agriculture, however, might not want to give up the Lettuce from those Almonds so quickly

I do recognize this as a very serious problem, and I would not be surprised if the source of Almonds changes from its current, very water-intensive growing "home", to a source more able to supply the climate AND water!

 

[Takeru]

ETA: This is a city in the Mojave Desert. (I believe it's Barstow, I'm not 100% sure.)

That looks ridiculous, lawns and pools on private property should be made illegal, what a waste of water. You want to live in the desert? Decorate with rocks! It can actually look really nice.

I'd let public parks die too if it's not raining and all fountains should be shut off, all of that is completely unnecessary.

I'm not sure about agriculture, sure, they use the majority of the water but limiting that could have severe repercussions for the entire US, it's not just about almonds. Although some limitations seem necessary.

 

[HIjol]

Crop rotations, other locations more suited to a specific crop, change types of crops grown, more creative use of lands available, rows of beets down Rodeo Drive (now THERE is a thought); many strategies and new thinking can and should be employed.

Seriously, a Delegation from the Supreme California Regional Overlords Triumvirate Uber Masters, or whatever they are called, could learn a thing or two if they came here and saw the use of technology to manage and disperse water.

Hideously expensive, but we could find a way to decrease costs and make it more economical.

 

[Mudd]

That looks ridiculous, lawns and pools on private property should be made illegal.

Economics takes care of a lot of it, though.

We put almonds in everything now. I suppose if they become too expensive most of us will move on to something else.

Back in the early 90s when people were getting concerned about the water situation around L.A. I remember the folks in northern California were quite enjoying the situation - lots of resentment toward the South, and people thought it was karmic. Not so much fun now.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

A major issue with California's water usage is that there hasn't been a real water market. You can own a strip of land and literally just drill a well down into the aquifer. People drill deeper and deeper to get at the water. Beyond that, there is no market, no supply/demand-based pricing in any real sense. Of course, the aquifer one farmer taps is the same one all the other farmers are tapping, and while they are ostensibly regulated, enforcement is and has been extremely poor. Like everything else in California, water wells are regulated to hell but no one is really making sure all wells are drilled properly, licensed properly, and you can forget about anyone monitoring for proper usage.

 

[Silvercrest]

They'll probably need to set up a series of moisture reclamation farms. Of course, first they'll need a droid that understands the binary language of moisture vaporators.

 

[MacLeod]

I'm sure they'll figure something out, but they'll no doubt leave it until it reaches the disaster stage.

Crisis what crisis, look at this glass of water that I filled from the tap.

 

[Hatshepsut]

That looks ridiculous, lawns and pools on private property should be made illegal, what a waste of water. You want to live in the desert? ...

...and oddly, the law goes the opposite way: Many cities actually mandate those lawns. They do so in Utah, although Salt Lake City now allows xeriscaping on the parking strip and on "islands" in front yards. The Wasatch front of Utah isn't so hot and arid as the Mojave, yet the attempts to make it look like Indiana are pathetic. We have glorious Norway maples whose leaves have died by August 21 in withering summer scorchers. Winter snow blankets at lower elevations are thinner and don't last as long as they did in the 1980s.

Will we really see a significant scaling back of agriculture in California? That isn't just going to affect California's economy but also the US as a whole.

Especially given most of our off-season veggies come from either there or Mexico. I don't see a voluntary scaling-back; there's a reason they call it "Water Wars of the West." Posts above mine have pointed out market failure on this issue. But mother nature may force it. And a little shooting may become possibility in these water wars yet.

 

[shapeshifter]

I was recently reading an NBCNEWS article citing a possible explanation for the the prolonged CA. drought.

Someone on another forum suggested towing icebergs into the affected area of the Pacific as a means of cooling off the area of warm water.

Sounds fine in theory but the number of icebergs needed to cool such a huge area of ocean probably makes it too foolish a proposition to even consider, but it sounds as good as anything else being proposed.

 

[Mudd]

http://www.cadrought.com/