California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now?

a reply to: ATF1886

I have a lot of family out in Cali, so I get the scare that is involved, here.

BUT, there is much more at stake here than just water scarcity. Number one, if municipalities and the state in general weren't so greedy for tax dollars, they should put a cap on how many people can move in to communities and futher dilute the water supply to individuals.

They should also wake up to the fact that the vast majority of that state really is a desert, getting minimal rain fall every year. The entire central valley, where a majority of many crops for the world, let alone the US, are grown relies mostly on melt water from the Sierra Nevadas and coastal mountain ranges. But the problem lies in that most residents can't accept that they live in a desert, so they continue to do things like drain and fill swimming pools, water their grass twice a day, and divert water from necessities (like crop irrigation) to recreational things. All of this is done in the name of vanity and luxury, and that is at the core of this problem.

Droughts in California and in the West occur on natural cycles quite often, and from what I've read, we're in one of those, albeit a bit more harsh than normal (if that can be accurately measured). When this happens, residents absolutely need to step up and be better stewards of their natural resources. But think about it--how many pools in California do you think are being drained at this very moment in order to refill for the new summer coming around? Even if it's .01% of all the pools in the state, that's still a ton of what I consider to be wasted water.

But with all of that said, water is not "running out"--at least, the Ohio River that finally crested about 5 feet above flood stage last night here in Cincinnati would disagree with you. Droughts are regional--I guess it's a good thing that people are moving to California at a slower pace these days. It comes in at a +1.4% population growth, ranked 37th in the nation. That's a good thing for the natural resources there. But this drought will turn around at some point--the question is, will it be enough to support the amount of people living there?

The water situation in CA has been an issue for a long time now. However, it hasn't stopped the massive water usage by the fracking companies, not to mention the polluting of water supplies as a result of their activities.

You'd think that surely, if there is an impending water shortage issue on the horizon, all activities using / polluting huge amounts of water would be stopped immediately? I mean, it's something so logical, or is this another case of money talking and allowing the lobbyists the final word over the citizens?

I agree that california isn't all that great with their water utilization.

For example. I work in a high rise tower that has a underground river going right underneath it. The bottom level of the parking garage has sump pumps pumping 30,000 gallons of water A DAY out of the parking lot. it seeps up through cracks in the floor of the garage. The building engineers have had the water tested by the city. It's 100% potable. The city knows this underground river has been there this whole time. It effects the high school a block away where a natural pond keeps forming in the field (They eventually had to move the sports field because the water would keep pooling back up even after they would back fill it with a dozer. )

SO the building engineers are forced to literally toss all this water into the sewer or outflow lines because the city said they can't use it for the toilets or sinks in the building. It's 30,000 gallons A DAY of 100% Potable spring water. No go. SO every day my office building throws out 30,000 gallons of perfectly good water.

So california has some work to do to get their system straight as far as how they manage their water resources.

30,000 gallons a day.

a reply to: ATF1886
The problem in California is lying media, and rich farmers exporting
billions in crops that took huge amounts of water to grow.

Using irrigation in a desert to grow food is likely not the best
long term idea.

The fact they exported 97 billion gallons of water as Alf Alfa to China
was an epic dumb move.

The farmers in California need to pay the same prices for water
as the sheeple, instead they pay up to 20 times less.

Exporting billions of gallons of water as Hay

Somewhere along the way ppl need to realize the media in the US
is owned by money manipulators and they use it to "manufacture consent"
just like Chomsky warned us about many years ago.

The US media is little more then a corporate/government propaganda outlet.

The Wikipedia Article used to state 85% of water use was for Agriculture,
now it has halved that and said the other half is for environmental purposes.

Water in California ( article has been subverted )

Sounds like the billionaire land owners got the Wikipedia folks to make
the story a little less lopsided.

When the billionaires come out to the play truth takes a holiday.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: ATF1886

California has no viable or renewable source of water and certainly nothing cheap. They are in big trouble. The longer the drought persists...

I think solar thermal desalination would work, its used by Cuba.

I think solar thermal atmospheric condensation would work as well,
but I doubt they'd even consider trying it.

My idea for it had no moving parts and was based on the Einstein
fridge for the cooling apparatus, as it has no moving parts, ie. compressor.

Then using Ammonia as the refrigerant, and solar thermal as the
source to heat the ammonia instead of propane or natural gas
as the Einstein fridge uses in RV's currently.

Einstein fridge

The sea breeze at the top of the coastal mountain ranges would likely
be the best spot for this as storing it there would provide water pressure
for distribution as well due to elevation.

originally posted by: JacKatMtn
a reply to: Phage

Wasn't it a recent effort in Cali to recover potable H2O from wastewater?

If so, I hope it was somewhat successful, however, you would think that moving to that level of investment to provide water for the folks, the folks would have gotten the message?

I am all for conserving resources, I guess my problem is that I actually practice that principle so this Cali deal isn't something I lose sleep over, if the folks there, who live in this crisis, don't take it seriously, why should I....

The Fed gov't can't save them from themselves on this one, hell don't they already get a majority of their water from nearby states?... maybe Nestle can bail them out, for a price, and that would be a concerning outcome considering the move to capitalize on H2O....

Nothing new about it - CA has been using reclaimed water for freeway and park irrigation for decades.