California governor orders mandatory water restrictions

[gotbeer]

California's wealthy lagging in water conservation

 

 

 

Newport Beach, like Beverly Hills, has seen a steady drop in water use over the last few months. Officials say they have limited lawn watering to four days a week in the spring and summer and slap water wasters with fines. 

 

Edited April 5, 2015 by gotbeer

[Blarg]

Well as long as Newport Beach and Beverly Hills is on board I will change my watering schedule from 3 to 4 days a week to save water.

[Jay]

Agriculture is 80 percent of water use in California. Why aren’t farmers being forced to cut back?

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/04/03/agriculture-is-80-percent-of-water-use-in-california-why-arent-farmers-being-forced-to-cut-back/

 

Of course, California is a huge farming state. If the Midwest is the nation’s breadbasket, California is our sprinkler garden. It produces two-thirds of our fruits and nuts. California makes more money off agriculture than any other state in the nation. In 2013, farmers sold almost $50 billion of food.

 

All of which sounds staggering until you realize that California is a $2 trillion economy. As many have pointed out, all the calls for urban water conservation seem puzzling. Is it worth squeezing the cities when farms consume 80 percent of the water that people use in California, while they generate only 2 percent of its economic activity?

[Tank]

saw something yesterday that said the amount of water necessary for growing almonds is THREE TIMES the amount of water used by all of LA county residents in one year.

 

i like almonds as much as the next guy, but if this is accurate, i'm more than happy to give up my share of almonds for a while.

[Jay]

California's Almonds Suck as Much Water Annually as Los Angeles Uses in Three Years

 

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/01/almonds-nuts-crazy-stats-charts

 

 

It takes more water to grow almonds in California than it does to provide water for all San Francisco and Los Angeles homes and businesses combined.

[red321]

Almonds and Pistachios are a very lucrative market, especially for shipping overseas. That's nice and all, but if this is the new norm water wise it's about time we start thinking of sustainability and how we can better balance farming needs along with everything else.

[mtangelsfan]

saw something yesterday that said the amount of water necessary for growing almonds is THREE TIMES the amount of water used by all of LA county residents in one year.

 

i like almonds as much as the next guy, but if this is accurate, i'm more than happy to give up my share of almonds for a while.

 

These things don't happen in a vacuum.  It isn't so much not having as many almonds to eat, it is how many people are going to lose their farm, job, home due to those kind of cutbacks.  There is no easy answer but I think it is important to remember that there are families who count on that.

 

Perhaps it is time to put some energy into figuring out if there are ways to do that without using so much water. 

[red321]

MT - in this case I don't think you have the same issues because those farms can convert to growing other crops. And look at the water issues in the Central Valley...those workers are living in towns that are simply running out of water. Great...they have jobs but they can't actually subsist.

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2015/04/02/397097050/amid-drought-central-valley-residents-face-rising-water-prices

 

Fernandez says the drought made matters worse by making the cost of water unaffordable, and here's where the story gets complicated. Cantua Creek is a small community of about 400 residents. They are mostly older, retired or disabled farm workers on fixed incomes. Their water supply is passed through the local water district to Fresno County. Recently, that district tripled the price of water. County officials tried to raise water fees in Cantua Creek by about $30 per month to cover the increase, but the community said no. Even if you have to shut the water off by May, we can't afford it.

 

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/09/02/residents-of-central-valley-town-out-of-water-due-to-drought-speak-out-east-porterville-tulare-county-wells-tanks-delivery-ration/

 

In the Bay Area, our drought has prompted many people to use less water. But in the town of East Porterville, about 75 miles southeast of Fresno, there is no water. For the people living there, day-to-day life has become a struggle.

“Forget about the lawn, forget about the car. You don’t realize how much you need the water until this happens,” East Porterville resident Mari Mejia told KPIX 5.

The dusty flatlands of Tulare County, where its 94 degrees as the sun goes down, and the ice cream man draws a crowd. But ice cream is no longer the most popular delivery in this neighborhood, it’s water.

“They fill it up once, sometimes twice a week. It depends on how much water we use,” said East Porterville resident Yolanda Serrato.

“This water tank, believe it or not, it’s like I just won the lottery,” Mejia said.

Most homes here depend on shallow, private wells, and one by one, they are going dry. That means the only drinking water comes in donated bottles. For everything else, the county is delivering and filling storage tanks for household use.

Edited April 7, 2015 by red321

[Tank]

These things don't happen in a vacuum.  It isn't so much not having as many almonds to eat, it is how many people are going to lose their farm, job, home due to those kind of cutbacks.  There is no easy answer but I think it is important to remember that there are families who count on that.

 

Perhaps it is time to put some energy into figuring out if there are ways to do that without using so much water. 

 

i whole heartedly agree with you.

 

common sense has to be applied here, and as red so well said, sustainability is vitally important. there's such a huge profit to be made from growing almonds, however, that it's going to be tough to ask farmers to stop growing them (if that's the best option). i imagine the cost of switching your farm from almonds to tomatoes would also be very expensive.

 

i hope there are some smart people figuring out solutions to these difficult issues. 

[Tank]

pretty good article:

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/05/_10_percent_of_california_s_water_goes_to_almond_farming.html

 

"Though economics drive the seemingly improbable logic of California’s water exporting, that’s no reason to rush to boycott almonds. As this viral infographic fromMother Jones shows, it takes more than a gallon of water to grow a single almond, and it may take 220 gallons of water to produce a large avocado. But pound-for-pound, there’s an order of magnitude more water needed to get meat and dairy to your plate. A stick of butter requires more than 500 gallons of water to make. A pound of beef takes up to 5,000 gallons. More than 30 percent of California’s agricultural water use either directly or indirectly supports growing animals for food. (As Slate’s L.V. Andersonrecently wrote, one of the single most effective actions to combat climate change would be if everyone in the world went vegetarian overnight. It would also likely wreck our economy.)"

[mtangelsfan]

Sadly, these are issues that should have been looked at and researched decades ago.  Now, we are in the place where by the time the proper research and development will simply take too long.

 

I do think desalination is something that should happen and maybe it is time that we, the american public, started paying for it with a bit higher prices of food. 

 

If you could use desalination to provide water for agriculture that would pretty much take care of everything.

[Jay]

They grow almonds and pistachios literally out in the middle of the desert.

 

http://www.paramountfarms.com/

[Angel Dog and Beer]

I leave for work this morning with dark grey clouds marching towards our city, and my neighbor is watering his nice green lawn. Started pouring 30 mins later. SMH.

[red321]

Sadly, these are issues that should have been looked at and researched decades ago.  Now, we are in the place where by the time the proper research and development will simply take too long.

 

I do think desalination is something that should happen and maybe it is time that we, the american public, started paying for it with a bit higher prices of food. 

 

If you could use desalination to provide water for agriculture that would pretty much take care of everything.

 

Desalination comes with it's own issues. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to run a desalination plant, and then there is the brine left over from the process which needs to be  disposed of...which can destroy marine life in the surrounding area which has it's own economic impacts.

[mtangelsfan]

Desalination comes with it's own issues. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to run a desalination plant, and then there is the brine left over from the process which needs to be  disposed of...which can destroy marine life in the surrounding area which has it's own economic impacts.

 

I'm sure it does but water is going to have to come from somewhere.  Considering all of the great inventions and progress of humankind, I can't believe that desalination cannot be done safely and without negative impact to the enviroment.

[Hollyw00d]

rich people dont' believe in conservation????  Who would have thought!

[gotbeer]

I'm sure it does but water is going to have to come from somewhere.  Considering all of the great inventions and progress of humankind, I can't believe that desalination cannot be done safely and without negative impact to the enviroment.

 

It can absolutely be done safely and without negative impact to the environment.  But the price for a gallon of water would rival a gallon of gas though.

[Jay]

The impact would be much smaller to simply move the almond business elsewhere.

[gotbeer]

Also for desal, environmentally, most of the power would probably have to come from nuclear if used on a wide scale basis.  And considering we are in California, nuclear could have it's own Fukushima type consequences.  

 

I still think the best way to get water to arid regions in the nation is by pipeline from too wet regions.  If you take their water say once their levels get to above 90%.  it's probably enough to feed CA, TX, and the other areas under drought right now.  And it would probably prevent all the flooding in areas where the water has no where to go.

[Tank]

I leave for work this morning with dark grey clouds marching towards our city, and my neighbor is watering his nice green lawn. Started pouring 30 mins later. SMH.

 

he's not growing almonds, is he?

[Tank]

solar energy is the best source for whatever energy needs desalination will require.

 

it's cheap and so very readily available here. why we're not jumping all over this is as mysterious to me as stonehenge.

[Hollyw00d]

Because ever since Solyndra, the "Rs" are convinced solar power will never work and isn't real

[gotbeer]

solar energy is the best source for whatever energy needs desalination will require.

 

it's cheap and so very readily available here. why we're not jumping all over this is as mysterious to me as stonehenge.

 

I think the main problem with solar, at least on the big plants scale, is that it's so dang big.  And as the one near the border is showing, has a bunch of environmental implications.  Like pretty much killing all wildlife in the area.  

 

Now, why every new house and building in Southern California isn't mandated to have solar is a different question.  But it probably has more to do with the Electric Companies monopolies.

[red321]

The book Cadillac Desert is a bit dated but it is a pretty fascinating look at water usage in the west...and the fact that we are so focused on development we have never taken in to consideration if there is enough water to support all this growth. Not just California, but the west in general. It talks about how every development plan should require a detailed understanding of where the water will come from to support said development and if the water doesn't exist...neither should that development.

[Jay]

The water pipeline idea is intriguing... would it cost more or less than the bullet train?