Rural California town is facing the end of its water supply by Dec. 1 (Coalinga)

CNBC ^ | 10/24/22 | Lindsey Jacobson

[Libloather]

Coalinga city officials estimate their small town will run out of water by Dec. 1.

The city, which is typically allocated 10,000 acre-feet of water, has only been allocated about 2,000 acre-feet this year, according to Pro-Tem Mayor Ray Singleton. And that supply is almost gone.

“It was beautifully green just eight years ago. If you look at Google Maps, my yard was green, but like maybe five or six years ago now you look at it now, it’s like the Sahara Desert,” said Singleton. He’s been a resident since 2000 and is raising his family there.

The California valley city, located inland between Los Angeles and San Francisco, is home to an estimated 17,465 people. All the people living in Fresno County, where Coalinga is located, are experiencing a drought. It is the second driest year to date over the past 128 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Coalinga residents have been living under water restrictions, such as no watering their front lawns or washing their cars, and there’s a moratorium on pools. If a resident wants to maintain their pool, they need to sign a contract with the town stating they will provide their own 30,000 gallons of water, according to Singleton. One of Singleton’s current concerns is that the fire department needs to flush out the hydrants soon, and that could use up even more water.

The city is also the site of a state prison and state mental health hospital. The city has no control over how these facilities use water, and Singleton estimates they pull around 25% to 30% of the city’s supply. He said he sees these institutions waste water and called it “frustratingly insane.”

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Coalinga is a weird town name. It came from the railroad in the late 1800s when it was “Coaling Station A” where they filled the train with fuel. It got shortened to “Coaling A” or “Coalinga.

So it’s a town named for beautiful coal!

[krogers58]

Desalination takes massive amounts of energy. Massive.

Sounds like an ideal solution would be nuclear power. It is safe, clean, and cheap.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Evaporation desalination plants takes massive amounts of energy. Reverse osmosis not so much. Israel’s desalination plants use reverse osmosis and generate 600 million cubic meters of fresh water per year, more water than California uses each year.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Coalinga is a pretty little town of 14,000 people. At least it was pretty before the feds cut off their water...

If you are ever in the area, be sure to go to the Horned Toad Derby is in late May over the Memorial Day weekend annually. The tradition began in 1935.

The Coalinga Rifle Club has a 1000 yard range facility west of town that hosts various California State Rifle Championships. These include: California State Long Range, Mid Range, Palma Rifle, Fullbore, Service Rifle and High Power Championships. In the past, the Navy SEALs have trained at the rifle club. It is also the home of the California Grizzlies, Junior National Champions for the last four years. They have recreational facilities for rifle, pistol, shotgun and a 500-meter Metallic Silhouette Range.

[Disambiguator]

At least if will be more than 18” tall.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Ozymandias is such a great poem and it will describe the future Stonehenge perfectly.

The Wiki entry for Ozymandias is good to read. There's a fun story about Shelly's pet name for his wife.

[GaryCrow]

Desalination takes massive amounts of energy. Massive.

Sounds like an ideal solution would be nuclear power. It is safe, clean, and cheap.

Yup, but the eco-weenies hate nuclear power also. They're shutting down the state's only remaining nuke plant. You're not going to run desalination plants off of solar panels and windmills. They're going to have to make some choices of whether they want water or electricity.

It's kind of like the old joke, "What did Democrats use to light their homes before candles?"

Electricity.

[Drago]

A coal town..”Coaling Station A”. (Now a state prison town) I still remember the 1983 Coalinga earthquake (6.2)...felt pretty large near FR HQ where I was at the time.

https://historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HM17EH_back-to-HM17EH.html

https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/facility-locator/pvsp/

[Drago]

Gov. Newscum is feeling the “heat”...(too little too late).

https://www.foxnews.com/us/gov-gavin-newsom-announces-plans-desalinization-water-recycling-plants-california

He is also reviving the last nuke power plant in CA despite his raving looney voter base disliking it:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-03/newsom-signs-bill-to-keep-diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant-open

About time for an “El Nino” precipitation year! (Wait! Shouldn’t that be a “Latinx” precipitation year!!) ;-)

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html

[Tijeras_Slim]

Typical noob opus.

[Mat_Helm]

The City of Coalinga receives its Municipal & Industrial (M&I) water supply through the CVP (Cenrtral Valley Project) Federal water delivery. This comes from the Federal side of the California Aqueduct and is monitored and delivered by Westlands Water District through the Coalinga Canal. The City of Coalinga can purchase additional water for delivery if they could find a willing seller. In many years they sell their surplus water to AG users or others. This is a water management issue and they have never managed it well. With the State in a drought there is very little water available in the state. They could find a source of water up north but the price may be to high. The other problem is how the CVP project allocates water. In an emergency the CVP could find some additional water if the Interior Department had its act together but not under the Biden administration. The SWP and CVP let water flow out the delta to the ocean instead of saving it and care more about fish for Lake Shasta water releases than they do about people or AG. The other problem is not building more water storage. I know because for twenty years I worked for Westlands accounting for all of Coalinga’s water allocations and deliveries. The new water year begins in March. They should be able to make it through December and January, but will definitely run short in February. The CVP is likely to let them run a deficit against next years water allocation because for health and safety reasons they will not turn off the pumps from the Coalinga Canal. But we have never faced this situation where the CVP shuts a city down. Their congressman needs to get on the phone with the head of the Interior Department and the Biden Administration.

[Glad2bnuts]

The preacher man says it’s the end of time
And the Mississippi River she’s a-goin’ dry
The interest is up and the Stock Market’s down
And you only get mugged if you go downtown

I live back in the woods, you see
My woman and the kids, and the dogs, and me
I got a shotgun, a rifle, and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk ‘til dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke, too
Ain’t too many things these old boys can’t do
We grow good old tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Because you can’t starve us out
And you can’t make us run
‘Cause we’re them old boys raised on shotgun
And we say “grace” and we say “Ma’am”
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn

We came from the West Virginia coal mines
And the Rocky Mountains and the western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trotline
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I had a good friend in New York City
He never called me by my name, just hillbilly
My grandpa taught me how to live off the land
And his taught him to be a businessman
He used to send me pictures of the Broadway nights
And I’d send him some homemade wine

But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife
For 43 dollars my friend lost his life
I’d love to spit some beech nut in that dude’s eyes
And shoot him with my old .45
‘Cause a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

‘Cause you can’t starve us out and you can’t make us run
‘Cause we’re them old boys raised on shotgun
And we say “grace” and we say “Ma’am”
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn

We’re from North California and South Alabama
And little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trotline
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
Country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Same shi’ite difference century.

[Mat_Helm]

The other option would be for the CVP to relax their water standard under an emergency and allow several groundwater wells that are near the Coalinga Canal to pump additional water supply into the canal for the City. This is one option that could be considered under an emergency. I would hope that this is being considered. There are wells available but the water is a little to salty to meet Federal standards, but blended in the canal and properly monitored it could be made to work.

[Paul R.]

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede likely has a liquid water ocean larger than all of Earth’s oceans combined.

Granted that transport could be an issue.

So, despite the exaggeration, the point that the water is just offshore is noted.

At present, it’s looking like more reservoirs are needed on the upper half of the Mississippi. Even the Ohio River @ the Olmsted Lock & Dam above the confluence with the Mississippi is being pulled down. Paducah looks better, but the ACE is dredging like crazy. I wonder where all that sand goes...

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I’m thinking the solar train to Hawaii that AOC wants will be another puzzle for the ages. I figure once the whole moronic idea is abandoned it will have produced a half mile of track that stops at the ocean after costing the taxpayers million.

[Paul R.]

See post 33.

Perhaps not in Coalinga, but in many places in the West, water usage and the drought have caused water tables to drop substantially the last several years. Wells get dug deeper, and the water table retreats further. And sometimes that deeper water turns out to be salty or have other contaminants.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“Millions”?

You will never get elected to Congress with those fiscal ideas. The first several millions lines the Congressman’s pocket.

[Paul R.]

"Paducah looks better"

Which may be because the ACE is releasing more water from KY Lake and Lake Barkley. I'm not sure how long they can keep that up...

[Zathras]

Coalinga is in a naturally very dry area and sits directly on the San Andreas Fault.
CA is probably pulling water out of the system for the crop fields near Holister north of Coalinga.
I don’t think the recent rains got that far north.

[Glad2bnuts]

Research the gallons of water needed to produce corn to make fuel to drive our cars. It doesn’t end at “enough to make the corn grow”. It extends into the manufacturing process.

All of it in the name of Wokeness=PC. Ethanol takes more Legacy Fuel to produce, than the energy it supplies. It lowers the MPG on vehicles, corrodes parts in vehicles, and increases the need for “EVIL OIL”.

People forget that Father in Heaven is watching, and he does judge. There are prophecies in Scripture that relate to Israel being taken captive into Egypt. Do we really KNOW who Israel is? The Jews were the nation of Judah, the rest of the Tribes were more plentiful, and were called Israel, Dan, or Jacob when referring to ALL the Tribes. This is the “Time of Jacobs trouble” if we are to buy into “End Times”. Israel was at one time forced to enslave themselve in Egypt to survive. Corn was the crop mentioned, and drought was the reason. What is past is prologue???