California Drought Before/After: Is this for real?

originally posted by: knightsofcydonia
“A single plant of marijuana needs about six gallons of water per day to grow. That means industrial grows need between 12,000 and 30,000 gallons of water per day,” according to Quartz. The problem for California is, unlike its ability to regulate and enforce water usage for the wine industry, its hands are tied when it comes to cannabis.



“Marijuana cultivation has the potential to completely dewater and dry up streams in the areas where [cannabis farmers are] growing pretty extensively,” Scott Bauer, a biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), told the business website Quartz.

The bold part is completely incorrect. Even with a super basic system where you are growing in a 5 gallon bucket you don't need to water the plants every day.

And hydroponic systems are essentially closed systems when it comes to water supply.

Ridiculous bit of mis(dis)information.

please do yourself the favor and listen a reply to: ChaosComplex

And this is why I live near Portland... Lots of water...

a reply to: knightsofcydonia

That video is absolutely ridiculous. "Didja know that? No you didn't!" Wtf is this guy on. Not every grow results in illegal damns and fertilizers.

Very few do in fact. Anyone who breaks the law and damages the environment should be punished yes but that guys list of facts is just retarded.

If it was more legalized and regulated they could be harvesting not only active medicines but hemp fiber as well. I don't need to go on and on about the benefits of the industry cause most know them already.

How bout all the people who take long showers? My fiancé is notorious for 30-45
Minutes. Just lettin the water run like crazy while she shaves her legs. Multiply that by just a fraction of the US Population and you have every drop of water that is used for growing x 10 I bet. I get on my girls case all the time I even lowered the temp substantially on the hot water heater so it loses heat faster.

No matter what someone is doing of they are abusing water they are abusing water. Using it responsibly is our charge and plenty do. Punish the ones who don't.

originally posted by: knightsofcydonia
please do yourself the favor and listen

a reply to: ChaosComplex

Hahaha...the first 20 seconds of that video are enough for me.

While I appreciate the gesture, I assure you I need no lessons on the subject. Over-watering, meaning the grower applying too much water to the plant for healthy growth, is a common problem, under-watering is not. That's the last I will comment about the cultivation of cannabis on this thread. You should look for real sources of the information, it is widely available on the internet.

As the water levels go down so to does the quality of the water. The water treatment facilities would be pouring 10,000's of tonnes of chemicals just to make it drinkable. Unless the mains water is from a desal plant. Which is why I drink beer instead.

Wow this turned into a 'how to grow pot' debate pretty quickly. Or more, posters that are anti pot crash any thread with the vaguest link.

Anyway, I digress. It looks bad for you guys over there, BUT we in 2010/early 2011 had some dams well below 10% capacity, some were closing, we were on tough tough restrictions, and still are to a degree, but one week in January 2011 it rained to the point of overflow, and most know about the floods in Queensland in 2011 QLD FLOODS 2011.

What I am saying is, hopefully something like this happens soon for California, minus the damage and loss of life. Just a nice, healthy downpour, that gives it a decent top up.

I had 30+ years of seeing that lake year after year. I am from a neighboring county, but I spent a lot of time in that area. I have seen the lake level, close to being that low many many times. Maybe not as low, but darn close. I have rarely, if ever seen the water levels that high. I do believe we got quite a bit of rain in 2011. If I remember correctly it rained a bit that summer, and it rarely rains in the summer in that area.

originally posted by: bkaust
Wow this turned into a 'how to grow pot' debate pretty quickly. Or more, posters that are anti pot crash any thread with the vaguest link.

Yeah, I really need to stop taking the bait on that topic...

Anyway, I digress. It looks bad for you guys over there, BUT we in 2010/early 2011 had some dams well below 10% capacity, some were closing, we were on tough tough restrictions, and still are to a degree, but one week in January 2011 it rained to the point of overflow, and most know about the floods in Queensland in 2011 QLD FLOODS 2011.

What I am saying is, hopefully something like this happens soon for California, minus the damage and loss of life. Just a nice, healthy downpour, that gives it a decent top up.

Interesting you mention that, I have a friend who moved to Australia a few years back and those floods came up in conversation just a few days ago, pretty much in the same context you have presented. He was saying that Cali was over due for their own extended heavy rains and hoped that they have proper infrastructure to handle huge amounts of rainwater.

a reply to: ChaosComplex

Only major rain I ever saw in Cali about killed me. Caused a major rock slide on a little tiny winding back road in siskiyou county. I saw absolutely zero flooding during a 5 day non stop downpour tho. The mountains get lots of snow and that melts every spring so the landscape is pretty good at dealing with the quick influx of water. The spring melts turn the rivers into deadly deep torrents.

A major city might not fair so well but rural Cali would probably welcome the rain.

the good side of no rain is there is no radioactive fallout
all the rain is in europe but the plants still (or because of) look like crap and everything has slowed or stopped growing and the birds are gone

I'll be forever baffled why the residents of Southern California think they are supposed to have green lawns at all. Don't they know where they even live?

a reply to: ChaosComplex
Yeah, obviously I don't know the weather there at all, but here it definitely goes = drought for years and years and years. Too much water. Drought again. Repeat.

originally posted by: knightsofcydonia
“A single plant of marijuana needs about six gallons of water per day to grow. That means industrial grows need between 12,000 and 30,000 gallons of water per day,” according to Quartz. The problem for California is, unlike its ability to regulate and enforce water usage for the wine industry, its hands are tied when it comes to cannabis.



“Marijuana cultivation has the potential to completely dewater and dry up streams in the areas where [cannabis farmers are] growing pretty extensively,” Scott Bauer, a biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), told the business website Quartz.

This is absolute BS pal all a weed plant needs is about a litre a day if that and you don't even feed it everyday it's every other day so half a litre on average

On topic tho that is a mighty big drop in those lakes I've never seen pics like that before

It's real, very real. My good friend owns a Cabin above Lake Oroville, and he said he's never seen the Lake this low in his entire life.

I have been all over the Sierra Nevada this summer and the lakes and streams are the lowest I have ever seen.

Waterfalls that normally run year round in Yosemite National Park were dry in July. Highcountry lakes that I hiked by are a shell of themselves.

Bass Lake, where they filmed The Great Outdoors, lowest I've ever seen in my entire life.

I would start with banning the water bottle companies from using any California water whatsoever. ~$heopleNation

a reply to: FlySolo

Don't forget to flush. If you use a toilet, you are using a substantial amount of water each time you flush.

Toilet water use can vary significantly. Older toilets can use 3.5, 5, or even up to 7 gallons of water with every flush. Federal plumbing standards now specify that new toilets can only use up to 1.6 gallons per flush (GPF), and there are high efficiency toilets that use up to 1.28 GPF.

Source

I'm not advocating that you wait to flush. Just saying, it adds up. So, if you are thinking that you, as an individual, are only using 1-2 gallons of water a day, that's probably not entirely accurate.

Bishop

a reply to: Bishop2199

Oh I know, that's why I said "its mellow yellow". I don't flush unless I have to. I also don't crank the tap full blast when doing the dishes.

So California will dry out like a cracker. It will become the desert, like the Nile. The Nile once was a lush green wet area too once.

California is going bone dry and taking the Colorado River right along with it. When it all hits the fan, the migration back east is going to be a mutha!

a reply to: Bishop2199

Add to that all the toilets that are running. I heard a running toilet can fill a pool in 2 days. That's 19,000 gallons.

I come across them all the time in public. I mean do people not hear them running? It's not like it's expensive to fix.

I get my hair cut at this place right, well I told them their toilet was running 6 months ago. Every time I go back, it's still running.

People seem to be stuck on stupid. Like all the business parks out here watering their lawns during winter while it's raining. ~$heopleNation

a reply to: SheopleNation

Ah yes . . . Watering the lawn in the Winter while it's raining.

Don't you know, that means you don't have to worry much about losing your watering to evaporation?

Bishop