Posted on 03/23/2015 10:34:56 AM PDT by blam
Eric Holthaus
March 22, 2015
As California limps through another nearly rain-free rainy season, the state is taking increasingly bold action to save water.
On Tuesday, the California state government imposed new mandatory restrictions on lawn watering and incentives to limit water use in hotels and restaurants as part of its latest emergency drought regulations. On Thursday, California Gov. Jerry Brown announced a $1 billion plan to support water projects statewide and speed aid to hard-hit communities already dealing with shortages.
Last month federal water managers announced a "zero allocation" of agricultural water to a key state canal system for the second year in a row, essentially transforming thousands of acres of California farmland into dust.
This week's moves come after the state has fallen behind targets to increase water efficiency in 2015 amid the state's worst drought in 1,200 years.
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(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Oh, in addition, CA, the tribes and environmental groups backed by federal agencies wants to remove the 4 Klamath River hydropower dams which will eliminate any control of the river for anything but “natural flow” for salmon, including storage of water.
Interesting to note that there is almost no snow pack (<20% of normal) in the far north this year. That means no river water this summer because the river water comes from snow melt. It doesn’t rain in the summer at all.
While what you said was true.The state legislature is so heavily Democratic Party I just can’t imagine them doing what needs to be done. As someone posted to me earlier the states water system was designed for 20 million its not twice that. California is an arid-mediterannean climate. And like you said you cant have all those people and the fertile San Joaoquin and Sacramento Valleys. Unless they go into massive de-salinization plants the future is bleak. What I imagine they will do because they are Democrats and not real people...LOL .Is screw Big Agriculture to accomadate the growing population.
Freegards
LEX
I have been keeping up with this and the last 150 years have been an anomaly for California. Most of the time it is dry.
If that is the case and history then what are the options for the populace of that state. There isn’t enough water resources to support them.
So look for land values to eventually fall as well as farmland prices to fall. The production of all those vegetables will have to move somewhere else.
So global warming is the supposed cause this time. What caused global warming 1200 years ago, cow farts? Yup, all B.S.
No it’s not. The Aquifers are drying up and are not being replenished. California is using 8.3 Billion Gallons of Groundwater a day and the those aquifers cannot ever regain.
Farmers in the Central Valley and others places and have a year maybe two before those resources dry up and it’s gone.
There are few options and Brown and others should have been planning for the water future of California 50 Years ago and didn’t.
Everyone was screaming with their hair on fire about a global warming 100 years from now and nobody paid attention to this?
Figures. What could they possibly hope to refill these aquifers with? Surely not ocean water....
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Well, his own Democrats used to call him Governor NO, back in the ‘70s.
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I have standing water and cat-tails growing in my yard. I’m okay too.
I would not say that in public if I were you. The EPA will declare your land a protected marsh and confiscate it.
Is there anything even heroic that could be done... like shipping trainloads of snow down from the north next winter?
Since there will be no water for the agricultural centers of California - there will be no growing season - which means there will be no requirement for illegal workers.
Hmmmmmm ..??
The drought chart above does not show Mexico, but from the looks of it, Mexico will be spared the worst. Maybe the ag jobs will go south.
Plus, this is WITHOUT farming.
“Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.”
What caused global warming 1200 years ago, cow farts?
Dinosauer farts.
Is there anything even heroic that could be done... like shipping trainloads of snow down from the north next winter?
A typical tank car holds about 220 tons of liquid the density of water. A coal car could be packed with snow at a third of the density of water. 15-18 cars to carry 1000 tons, it could be worse.
Whew! I was worried for a minute that we might have actually put the delta smelt environment at risk! Glad to see that the people have to suck it up so the smelt can go on unmolested by little things like water storage!
The Huntington Beach, CA desalination plant will be providing water by 2018. The plant capacity is also 50 million gallons per day.
Sacramento is full of idiots and California is full of voters who enable such idiots, but there are pockets of sanity.
Thanks for posting this, good to hear it.
Simply not true. Only 14% of California water goes to residential use, and that includes lawns. 6% goes to industry and 80% goes to agriculture. You can blame illegal aliens for a lot, but the water shortage is not one of them.
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