No water in California?

[razz]

This sounds serious. If 25 million people and farmers are being slowly weaned from the local main water supply, what does it mean long-term?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/california-drought-means-agency-won-t-allot-water-1.2519927

Amid severe drought conditions, California officials announced Friday they won't send any water from the state's vast reservoir system to local agencies beginning this spring, an unprecedented move that affects drinking water supplies for 25 million people and irrigation for 1 million acres of farmland...

A snow survey on Thursday in the Sierra Nevada, one of the state's key water sources, found the water content in the meager snowpack is just 12 percent of normal. Reservoirs are lower than they were at the same time in 1977, which is one of the two previous driest water years on record.

[bae]

It means perhaps people should have planned better. I believe this book came out in 1986...

http://oregonadventurist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/cadillac_desert.jpg

[creaker]

I think one of the things that gets glossed over with the argument with man made climate change is that climate variations occurs whether it's man made or not. And whether you call it normal or temporary or cyclic or whatever, when it happens you still have to deal with the immediate effects now. Regardless of who is right, it's not going to fill reservoirs or get water to where it's needed - or decide if how land is used in some places is no longer sustainable.

[Miss Cellane]

I remember back in the late 70s/early 80s when California was having water issues, due to lack of rainfall, I think. Most of Southern California depends on water imported from the northern part of the state, which gets more rainfall. They've got former desert that's now farmland, and a huge and growing population.

With the current drought they are experiencing, I'm wonder if they just didn't plan for this, or if they did plan, but the plans didn't work for some reason.

[pinkytoe]

What I find incredulous (if it's even true) is I read that mandatory restrictions are not in place in CA. Here in Central TX where drought is ongoing, we all have levels of restriction wherein we can only water one day a week, no car washing etc. It has become a way of life. Even now, we keep a bucket in the shower and use that water for garden plants. The city gives rebates for ripping up thirsty grass and replacing with xeric plants. Waiting to see if greywater lines will be allowed. Why haven't they been doing those things all along?

[CathyA]

Its all pretty scary. Makes me wonder if our continent will end up being a desert eventually.....at least part of it.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Its all pretty scary. Makes me wonder if our continent will end up being a desert eventually.....at least part of it.

Eventually, it's so close to there. It's the fate they've already chosen, the southwest will dry out and burn, many of the forests other places will be infected and succumb to pine beetles, hurricanes will slam the east coast, the midwest will fry.

California is so easy to love to hate, and blame global problems on an "irresponsible state", and it's easy because California has pretty much NEVER been responsible with water! But really a wider view: much of the Southwest has for many more years been in much *worse* drought that California, it may not have anything resembling the population of CA, so there is that, but the situation there is much more dire. Some climate experts claim that the midwest is going to be much worse hit by climate change than CA. CA doesn't have enough water, but the midwest is simply going to fry. Or so some say. I claim no expertise on that and was surprised by it. Meanwhile more water than actually exists is used many places, the Oliglaga aquifer wouldn't be being depleted if the problem was just California.

Planning ahead? They've NEVER planned ahead in California with regard to water use (and much of it has NEVER been sustainable) and they don't ration. However, some were to their credit quite alarmed about the impact of *climate change* on the state, notably Arnold Schwarzenegger, our movie star politician actually was quite serious about the environmental situation (quite possibly more so than our current governor).

Meanwhile our illegitimate leadership in D.C. has just said Keystone XL will have no environmental impact. Look even I know the tarsands are likely to be exploited Keystone XL or no Keystone XL, there's alternate pipelines though the U.S., there's shipping etc.. It was our phoney environmental leaders (fakes and charlatan sell outs all) that hung their hat on that. But our political leaders are so bad they don't even care about the fig leaf of concern for the environment at this point. Keystone XL and let's contaminate what water remains (in many places where it's running out) with fracking they tell us.

[iris lilies]

Our friends recently moved to Palm Springs area. I asked them about their water bill. "Not at all high" they said and there are no watering restrictions. Now they have desert landscaping and don't require much water, but I noticed in their photos the lawns, actual LAWNS of the area in this desert community.

I do not understand how this is at all sensible, but that is Calif for ya.

[Birdie]

I live in California and my water district put in 20% mandatory water cut back recently. Other districts nearby have their own restrictions but there are restrictions. As a Master Gardener, we have been encouraging the public to reduce their lawns and use more water efficient landscape....for years. This year, if we are allowed to water outside at all, we will encourage some new watering techniques for vegetable gardens.

I have found that I can save 3 - 5 gallons of water daily, just by being more careful. I plan on using the saved water to hand water my vegetable garden. I try to grow most of my vegetables in the spring/summer season. I'm hopeful I have a successful garden.

I agree, that our government has not stressed enough that we need to be much more careful with out water. And now we are paying the price for being wasteful.
I hope the public, in general, can be much more water thrifty from now on. And try to prevent this from happening again.

[Yossarian]

at least part of it.

http://archive.bio.ed.ac.uk/jdeacon/desertecology/deserts4.gif

[CathyA]

And I think of Las Vegas.........and how much water they use........or rather, have to import. to keep this silly place going.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Our friends recently moved to Palm Springs area. I asked them about their water bill. "Not at all high" they said and there are no watering restrictions. Now they have desert landscaping and don't require much water, but I noticed in their photos the lawns, actual LAWNS of the area in this desert community.

I do not understand how this is at all sensible, but that is Calif for ya.This is Arizona for ya, too. There are so many golf courses and resorts around here that use so much water, much of which does not seem very necessary. I like how Tucson handles water - if you own a single family home within the city limits, you have to use low water - mostly native to the Sonoran Desert - plants in your front yard. In your backyard if you want you can grow what you please, regardless of water usage. This seems like a doable compromise to me. Rob

[Teacher Terry]

Nevada has had watering restrictions for the past 17 years that I have lived here. Recently we replaced our lawn with astro-turf and I love it. Good quality is expensive but it is so worth it for many reasons. Originally when it was first made it looked terrible but has come a long way.

[Gregg]

Ongoing CA drought could have a significant impact on the food supply in North America. A huge percentage of the produce grown in the US comes from the central valley. Not a bad time to plant a garden.

[jp1]

They had a guy on NPR the other day talking about this issue. He worked for the state in water planning issues. A couple of things he said jumped out at me. First, only 20% of water use in california is residential, including lawn watering. The rest is farming and industrial. Second, studies of ancient tree rings and so forth have shown that CA has routinely suffered drought, in a couple of cases for over 100 years at a time. Third, significant progress in increasing efficiency has been made since the last major drought in teh late 70s. He pointed out water use statistics for several residential water districts where the population has grown significantly but water usage is the same or less now than it was back then. Forth, because LA gets much of its water from the Colorado river residents there are not as seriously impacted as residents in some other areas.

[RosieTR]

It is serious, for CA and for the food supply (fresh fruit and veggies). Those of us who live in the West think, or should think, about water. Seems like most places do some things right and some things poorly. Here the officials are very dialed in to water issues and issue restrictions very proactively. But the landscaping is mostly grass and the law is against rainwater saving or grey water use. I am not certain the proportion of ag to residential use, though.

[ApatheticNoMore]

The long term answer may be desalination.

San Diego is attempting it:
The Carlsbad desalination project in San Diego County, California, will be the largest desalination plant in the western hemisphere. The $922m project is the first large-scale desalination plant on the West Coast, being privately financed and developed by the Poseidon Resources Corporation (Poseidon).
http://www.water-technology.net/projects/carlsbaddesalination/

However apparently Australia built 4 desalination plants and none of them are used as they can be expensive and energy intense to operate (though as far as boondoggles go, I'd still take it over a bullet train to nowhere :laff:).

Probably not the greenest option, I don't see it as alternative to conservation or to say removing lawns. Just a lot of trouble is probably already baked in the cake, drought, climate change, large urban areas. So ... things being radically bad demands radical solutions - maybe it's worth it and maybe not. I haven't made up my mind. One can say they shouldn't grow water intensive crops in California, and I was thinking they grow rice in California *rice* how ridiculous can you get? But then I realized that other areas in the U.S. that might be better suited to rice like the South have become too poisoned at this point to be good for it either (the arsenic and old rice thing). We may just have to switch to potatoes or something.