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California: Running On Empty
VictorDavisHanson.com ^ | June 23, 2015 | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 06/30/2015 4:09:06 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued

Domestic and agricultural wells are going dry all over Central California, especially in the corridors south of Fresno to the Grapevine, along the Sierra Nevada foothills, and out west of the 99 Freeway — anywhere there is not a deep aquifer. I have never seen anything quite like this water madness in 60 years, as families scrimp and borrow to drill, or simply move to town to take advantage of municipal wells. I have developed a habit as I drive to work to Stanford of counting the abandoned homes I see west of Highway 41 (sort of like counting those who sit in Wal-Mart not to shop, but to enjoy the air conditioning they cannot afford). The number increases each week. Retired couples — or families in general — apparently do not have tens of thousands of dollars to drill a deeper well, especially given the uncertainty of how fast the dropping water table will soon make their investment superfluous. Without water, there is nothing.

Some dry farmland is turning into vacant parcels. Many rural homes must have potable water trucked in. Hispanics who recently immigrated to California and bought or rented older homes with shallow wells in these areas of the valley countryside have no money to drill deeper $30,000 domestic wells. Nor do many poor whites, who often live in isolated communities in the foothills. Who has the capital to gamble on finding scarce water in dicey granite seams? There is no water in the reservoirs left to recharge the water table or to fill canals that can be tapped for domestic use.

(Excerpt) Read more at victorhanson.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS:
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To: RIghtwardHo
the state is not building the desal plant in carlsbad a Private company is. the state made it very hard for this plant to be build
41 posted on 06/30/2015 7:34:33 PM PDT by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!)
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To: Clintonfatigued

Another common sense article. California is anything but common sense. It is the asylum. And it is going to crash. Just a matter of when.


42 posted on 06/30/2015 8:18:56 PM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (I demand a Constitutional Amendment establishing Marriage as one man and one woman.)
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To: Clintonfatigued

And make no mistake, this is all UN Agenda 21 straight up. It is all intentional.


43 posted on 06/30/2015 8:19:25 PM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (I demand a Constitutional Amendment establishing Marriage as one man and one woman.)
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To: RIghtwardHo
I know they are spending heavy on desalinization plants

Where is this happening?

44 posted on 06/30/2015 8:40:20 PM PDT by Osage Orange (I have strong feelings about gun control. If there's a gun around, I want to be controlling it.)
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To: RIghtwardHo
They are under construction all over the place.

Name um....

45 posted on 06/30/2015 8:43:15 PM PDT by Osage Orange (I have strong feelings about gun control. If there's a gun around, I want to be controlling it.)
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To: Clintonfatigued
All of this because of lousy pagans/pantheists who attribute some heathen religious devotion to the dirt, to the exclusion of necessary survival of humans. These filthy pagans are using "environmentalism" as their excuse and cover. I doubt it has anything to do with the environment. It has to do with returning civilization back to a wilderness. And the stupid kalifornians and their equally stupid, pandering politicians are playing along.

Dawg, these are some stupid humans.

46 posted on 06/30/2015 8:46:21 PM PDT by LouAvul (Liberalism: much more than just a mental illness)
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To: Sivad

? My bro is no commie. He’s a former force recon marine. That was the only family I was speaking about.
We don’t need any help moving left in Alaska.


47 posted on 06/30/2015 10:22:27 PM PDT by vpintheak (Call the left what they are - regressive control-freaks)
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To: Clintonfatigued

And when the Californians pack up and leave they will infest your state and start the voting patterns all over again.


48 posted on 06/30/2015 10:54:06 PM PDT by Organic Panic
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To: 17th Miss Regt

That’s selfish and wasteful. Pennsylvania is short on salt from this year’s snowfall. How about sending or at least drying the brine and giving it to those who could use it?


49 posted on 07/01/2015 3:40:52 AM PDT by Morpheus2009
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To: vpintheak

You stated “commie state” and this 4th
generation Californian is no more commie
than your brother. It is fair to say that
California is a commie LED state but we
conservative Californians bristle at all
inclusive statements like yours, intended
or not.


50 posted on 07/01/2015 8:40:24 AM PDT by Sivad (NorCal red turf ;-))
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To: EQAndyBuzz
Time for state laws to read, “You must be a state citizen for a minimum of 10 years before you can run for elected office.”
We could all stand to have a law saying, “You must be 35 years old before you can run for elected office."
IOW, you need to start out in the real economy before you go into politics. Combine that with term limits . . .

51 posted on 07/01/2015 9:03:13 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion ('Liberalism' is a conspiracy against the public by wire-service journalism.)
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To: Organic Panic

Too late! More Californians at
FR than from any other place!
We’re all commies, every one of
us!


52 posted on 07/01/2015 9:33:21 AM PDT by Sivad (NorCal red turf ;-))
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To: Sivad

I can understand that. Sorry if I offended.
It’s a beautiful place, sad that the commie statists have destroyed it.


53 posted on 07/01/2015 11:50:07 AM PDT by vpintheak (Call the left what they are - regressive control-freaks)
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To: vpintheak

Thanks for your understanding.
Cheers!


54 posted on 07/01/2015 1:06:51 PM PDT by Sivad (NorCal red turf ;-))
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To: vpintheak

Thanks for your understanding.
Cheers!


55 posted on 07/01/2015 1:06:57 PM PDT by Sivad (NorCal red turf ;-))
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To: dhs12345

Imports from across the eastern border


56 posted on 07/01/2015 7:36:32 PM PDT by Ozark Tom
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To: Ozark Tom

Yup. So another state pollutes for CA while CA can claim to pollute less. Stupid!


57 posted on 07/02/2015 8:27:41 AM PDT by dhs12345
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To: South40

June 22, 2014 Jerry Brown pushing depopulation in California: Too many people, not enough water, something has to go!

...

Most of the water in CA is used by agriculture and industry, not households. I think Brown is being theatrical, putting the blame on the little people, rather than where it belongs.


58 posted on 07/02/2015 8:43:57 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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