Posted on 03/16/2015 5:01:21 AM PDT by HomerBohn
Once upon a time, much of the state of California was a barren desert. And now, thanks to the worst drought in modern American history, much of the state is turning back into one. Scientists tell us that the 20th century was the wettest century that the state of California had seen in 1000 years. But now weather patterns are reverting back to historical norms, and California is rapidly running out of water. It is being reported that the state only has approximately a one year supply of water left in the reservoirs, and when the water is all gone there are no contingency plans. Back in early 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the entire state, but since that time water usage has only dropped by 9 percent. That is not nearly enough. The state of California has been losing more than 12 million acre-feet of total water a year since 2011, and we are quickly heading toward an extremely painful water crisis unlike anything that any of us have ever seen before.
But don’t take my word for it. According to the Los Angeles Times, Jay Famiglietti “is the senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech and a professor of Earth system science at UC Irvine”. What he has to say about the horrific drought in California is extremely sobering…
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.
Are you starting to understand why so many experts are so alarmed?
For much more from Famiglietti, check out this 60 Minutes interview.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, essentially the entire state is suffering drought conditions right now. And as you can see from the map below, most of the state is currently experiencing either the highest or the second-highest classification of drought…
Nearly 40 million people live in the state of California at the moment.
What are they all going to do when the water is gone?
In some rural areas, reservoirs are already nearly bone dry. And in other areas, the water quality has gone way down. For example, in one Southern California neighborhood black water is now coming out of the taps…
Residents of a Southern California neighborhood are concerned about the fact that the water flowing out of the taps in their homes is the color black. That’s right; the water coming out of their faucets is indeed black — not gray, not cloudy — but black. Inky, opaque black water that the water company says is okay to drink.
Those who live in Gardena, California, are understandably skeptical when asked to consume water that strongly resembles crude oil or something emitted by a squid. The water reportedly also has an “odor of rotten eggs or sewer smell,” according to one resident.
Perhaps you don’t care about what happens to California.
Perhaps you believe that they are just getting what they deserve.
And you might be right about that.
But the truth is that this is a crisis for all of us, because an enormous amount of our fresh produce is grown in the state.
As I discussed in a previous article, the rest of the nation is very heavily dependent on the fruits and vegetables grown in California. The following numbers represent California’s contribution to our overall production…
-99 percent of the artichokes
-44 percent of asparagus
-two-thirds of carrots
-half of bell peppers
-89 percent of cauliflower
-94 percent of broccoli
-95 percent of celery
-90 percent of the leaf lettuce
-83 percent of Romaine lettuce
-83 percent of fresh spinach
-a third of the fresh tomatoes
-86 percent of lemons
-90 percent of avocados
-84 percent of peaches
-88 percent of fresh strawberries
-97 percent of fresh plums
Without the agricultural production of the state of California, we are in a massive amount of trouble.
And of course there are other areas all over the globe that are going through similar things. For instance, taps in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo are running dry as Brazil experiences the worst drought that it has seen in 80 years.
The world simply does not have enough fresh water left at this point, and that is why water is being called “the new oil”. The following comes from CBS News…
It’s been said that the wars of the 21st century may well be fought over water. The Earth’s population has more than doubled over the last 50 years and the demand for fresh water — to drink and to grow food — has surged along with it. But sources of water like rainfall, rivers, streams, reservoirs, certainly haven’t doubled. So where is all that extra water coming from? More and more, it’s being pumped out of the ground.
Water experts say groundwater is like a savings account — something you draw on in times of need. But savings accounts need to be replenished, and there is new evidence that so much water is being taken out, much of the world is in danger of a groundwater overdraft.
And if scientists are right, what we are experiencing right now may just be the very beginning of our problems. In fact, one team of researchers has concluded that the Southwestern United States is headed for a “megadrought” that could last for decades…
Scientists had already found that the Southwestern United States were at great risk of experiencing a significant megadrought (in this case meaning drought conditions that last for over 35 years) before the end of the 21st century. But a new study published in Science Advances added some grim context to those predictions.
Columbia University climate scientists Jason Smerdon and Benjamin Cook, and Cornell University’s Toby Ault were co-authors on the study. They took data from tree rings and other environmental records of climate from the Southwest and compared them to the projections of 17 different climate models that look at precipitation and soil moisture. When they made the comparison between past and future, they found that all the models agreed: the next big megadrought is coming, and it will be way worse than anything we’ve seen in over 1,000 years–including droughts that have been credited with wiping out civilizations.
Needless to say, along with any water crisis comes a food crisis.
Virtually everything that we eat requires a tremendous amount of water to grow. And at this point, the world is already eating more food than it produces most years.
So what is going to happen to us as this water crisis gets even worse?
Exactly. These stories always promote the fantasy that California is number 1 in all grown things and its completely false.
The upper midwest is ideal for certain things like the plains are ideal for growing grains. Here in Michigan we’re one of the top wine producers, top tart cherry producers, top 2 or 3 apple and potato producers. Asparagus grows wild here and we farm it between the rows in apple orchards.
Now I wouldn't expect Gov Moonbeam to do much except throw his hands in the air, declare the sky (but no rain) is falling, and demand higher taxes.
Here goes the price of fresh produce.
More like $100B trains...and truthfully, it's a government project...it's not going to even be that cheap.
California total area is 4% water. Michigan is 41.5% water and Florida is 18.45% water.
I believe this is fresh water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area
I suspect what they will try to do is steal water from other states. Especially from Washington state. Just watch, they will want a pipeline from the Columbia River to California. If they try to push the federal government to force Washington to give them water, I hope the environmentalists fight back.
NASA, "Earth Science Program at UC-Irvine", and CBS news aren't exactly what I'd call unbiased toward a certain agenda...
Now granted California does have an issue pertaining to water. Agriculture IS important there, and California IS where (maybe?) most of America's fresh produce comes from because of the fertile, productive San Fernando valley.
Just flat-assed coming out and saying that "the world doesn't have enough fresh water" is just over the top... like someone's trying to sell fear.
Maybe, MAYBE, California doesn't have enough fresh water. Plenty of water here in my part of the world. Yes there is a certain neighboring state trying to get their mitts on some of it.
Maybe California could go buy some water somewhere else, like Oregon or Washington. There are these things called "pipelines", or "aquaducts". Also maybe they could decrease the number of people who are illegally consuming water there, that is to say being there illegally in the first place and consuming water at the same time.
Also it might help to ax some questions about the differing methods used for agricultural irrigation there, with some Israeli help...
Why provoke hysteria, "the world doesn't have enough fresh water left..."
That ain't gonna sell.
Because Brown & C0. can’t get any kick backs with desalination plants but they can with a high speed rail system.
Personally, I’d rather see all of you other 49 states get all of your emigres back...especially the looney tune liberals who came here and promptly ruined CA.
I’ll keep most of the Mexicans...they’re of a better temperment and personality than some FReepers...
Stealing water from Washington may help in the short run, but it is susceptible to climate variations and might seriously limit long term growth in Washington.
For the same cost as a bullet train to nowhere, $120 billion, California could build enough desaltification plants to meet all the states public water needs.
Don’t fight mother nature.
I am not disputing what you write. In fact, I was in Aruba last year and all of their water comes from desalination.
I think the bigger issue is transport and volume. I would cost a fortune to move that water out to the place where they need it.
$100 billion plus for a train to nowhere.
($1 billion to Diane Feinsteins husband company CBRE)
Not a nickel to build reservoirs. Flushing billions of gallons of fresh water into the ocean because of a minnow. No wonder there is no water
If they try to steal our water, there will be a huge fight . People here do not like Californians, although a lot of them came here with their liberal policies.No way should they take our water. California does not even conserve water.They can go dry for all I care.
What about all the water that used to irrigate the San Joaquin Valley farms now running freely into the ocean? The minnows are safe, the farms are desert, the vast amounts of produce grown on the farms an historical footnote to Progressivism.
At my home in VT, I have plenty of fresh water. When the hose to my well burst earlier this winter, I had a garage and basement full of the wonderful fresh water. I would have sent it to Cali if I had known.
Instead, I pumped it into the back yard to eventually leach down to the water table for re-use.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.