Posted on 03/13/2015 11:09:46 AM PDT by blam
Tyler Durden
03/13/2015
Authored by NASA Senior Water Scientist Jay Famiglietti, originally posted Op-Ed at The LA Times.
Given the historic low temperatures and snowfalls that pummeled the eastern U.S. this winter, it might be easy to overlook how devastating California's winter was as well.
As our “wet” season draws to a close, it is clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought conditions. January was the driest in California since record-keeping began in 1895. Groundwater and snowpack levels are at all-time lows. We're not just up a creek without a paddle in California, we're losing the creek too.
Data from NASA satellites show that the total amount of water stored in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins — that is, all of the snow, river and reservoir water, water in soils and groundwater combined — was 34 million acre-feet below normal in 2014. That loss is nearly 1.5 times the capacity of Lake Mead, America's largest reservoir.
Statewide, we've been dropping more than 12 million acre-feet of total water yearly since 2011. Roughly two-thirds of these losses are attributable to groundwater pumping for agricultural irrigation in the Central Valley. Farmers have little choice but to pump more groundwater during droughts, especially when their surface water allocations have been slashed 80% to 100%. But these pumping rates are excessive and unsustainable. Wells are running dry. In some areas of the Central Valley, the land is sinking by one foot or more per year.
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(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
is that with or without illegals? (sigh)
Maybe they should use all that high speed rail money to build desalination plants instead of stealing water from other stated
California is a pretty arid state in the best of times.
And how much water has been allowed to flow into the ocean for a tiny fish?
Time for them all to move back to Mexico.
If California dries up and blows away, where will the people go?
“Maybe they should use all that high speed rail money to build desalination plants instead of stealing water from other states”
Exactly!
I guess all of those “green” initiatives didn’t help much.
Because it HAS to be Global Warming. What else could it be?
At this point, I’m not opposed to letting Alta California become part of Mexico again.
Does that include Perrier?
Global warming?
Carbon based Energy companies fault?
Oregon has tried to help off-set the water shortage for years. It's the Liberal Technocrat Enviro Tards who have slammed the door, each and every time.
"Oh, how times have changed. With Oregon now leading the way in green power exports with the proposed Shepherds’ Flat Wind Farm, many around the state see the opportunity to export water as the next logical export. Raymond Branxton, a leading proponent of the plan to export water, said recently, “Why wouldn’t we do this? Our state is one of the worst in the entire nation in unemployment and in shortages of state revenue. This extra water, and there is extra, believe me, is like gold or oil. Billions of dollars are at stake. And every single hour we simply watch as over six billion gallons of water goes by, untapped, and empties into the vast Pacific Ocean. I say tap it and tap it now. I am talking with government officials on a regular basis.” It is estimated that Oregon could supply California with approximately 8 billion gallons of water each day without any deleterious effect on either the environment or shipping. That amount of water could easily end, forever, the shortages that have plagued Southern California for decades. At the same time, jobs and revenue would flow into Oregon in numbers never seen before. It is estimated that at least 7,000 new temporary jobs would be created to construct the pipe and that 125 permanent jobs would be created in maintaining the pipe and pumps needed to supply the water. Revenue for this water, at current California rates, could easily top six million dollars per day or more. “That is over two billion dollars of revenue per year for Oregon for something that costs Oregon nothing,” noted Branxton.
“How anyone could oppose this in times like these is a mystery to me,” exclaimed Branxton at a recent secret meeting to discuss water export. “The pipe can go right next to the power lines and we can run the pumps with the wind power. It is simply amazing to me that we have not moved forward on this much sooner. Goldschmidt is long gone — maybe our next governor will have the foresight to put this much-needed plan into place,” Branxton predicted."
http://oregoncatalyst.com/2885-Columbia-River-Water-Next-Export-to-Calif...
Probably to red states.
California wants to ‘make friends’ with Oregon and Washington State, like yesterday.
Okay. I think I can tolerate its existence or ONE more year...
We need to bring in millions more water consuming illegals from foreign countries...Lets increase immigration at all levels...Offer them water subside coupons and then increase the water bills and taxes for all the legitimate tax peons...Increase fines for the tax payers if they fail to comply with strict water regulations and new taxes etc...
That’s the only solution..
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