California Drought

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Don't they already have a dam everywhere water can be stored? All the conditions have to be right to build a storage reservoir. I don't know, I'm just asking.

Not even close. They could build hundreds more smallish dams. Thousands of very useful micro-dams. The nice thing about small dams is that they don't destroy thousands of acres of house fly habitat (or whatever the endangered "species" du jour might be), and if they fail, they don't wipe out entire cities.

 

[check]

Not just the Columbia River, but from BC and AK, too. Business | Diversion Project Would Deliver B.C. Water To California | Seattle Times Newspaper Alaska Offers Californians An Additional Water Spigot - NYTimes.com

That is about the funniest thing I ever heard. BC's water going to California! LOL!

 

[ForestGrump]

Yeah I saw those but it isn't much considering the state of things. Funny thing ,one minute he's sticking his thumb in Trump's eye and the next he hat in hand looking for a handout from him.

Guess which state pays into the federal coffers the most. Guess which state pays more into federal coffers than they get back. I let you guess which 4 states are covered by the state you are bashing to make up for their lack of payments into their federal coffers. We are the worlds 6th largest economy. We should leave the union, take Oregon, Washington, BC and Alberta with us.

 

[Mousefield]

That is about the funniest thing I ever heard��. BC's water going to California! LOL!

They have talked about getting our water for decades; lots of people here would be opposed to that . To bad as so much ends up in the ocean anyway. Instead of pipelines they were talking about tankers to transport it. Besides my sister that lives near Sacramento told me a couple of days ago they have lots of water.

 

[IH3444]

It's on it's way HS.
Santa Barbara - Desalination

 

[downsizingnow48]

Useful write up on the San Diego desalination plant commissioned 2015.

Seawater Desalination | San Diego County Water Authority

 

[beowulf]

For the curious, and for those who want to know more than I want to know, and who are interested in California flood planning and history:

http://www.water.ca.gov/sfmp/resources/Attachment_C_History.pdf

And a recent article re dam levels and capacities:

Oroville dam, Northern California reservoir capacities, river levels Wednesday, February 22, 217 | Fresno Bee

 

[lilranch2001]

Guess which state pays into the federal coffers the most. Guess which state pays more into federal coffers than they get back. I let you guess which 4 states are covered by the state you are bashing to make up for their lack of payments into their federal coffers. We are the worlds 6th largest economy. We should leave the union, take Oregon, Washington, BC and Alberta with us.

There are a hellofalotta Midwesterners that would say bye bye

 

[NoTrespassing]

Some of the experts are now calling the drought over. They say if ground water is low it's due to over pumping, not the drought.

California's wet weather has some believing the drought is over - ABC News

Kevin

 

[NoTrespassing]

United States Drought Monitor > Home

Days of heavy precipitation continued to improve mountain snowpack, but created areas of flooding, especially downstream from the favored upslope areas. As of February 21, the daily Sierra Nevada snowpack was 186% of average for the date and 151% of the April 1 climatological peak. The North Sierra 8-Station Index for February 21 showed 230% of average precipitation for this date, and the Central Sierra San Joaquin 5-Station Index for February 21 showed 230% of average precipitation for this date, both of which are above the 1982-1983 record for the date; the Southern Sierra Tulare Basin 6-Station Index for February 21 showed 223% of average precipitation for this date, which is very near the 1968-1969 record for the date. Over a foot of precipitation was reported for the week at several CoCoRaHS stations, including 16.60 inches at Honeydew in Humboldt County, 15.36 inches at Alta Sierra in Nevada County, 14.54 inches at Big Sur in Monterey County, and 13.80 inches at Monte Sereno in Santa Clara County. Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, which have been the epicenter of drought in California in recent weeks, received much-needed rainfall. Over 8 inches of rain was reported at two stations near Santa Barbara and over 6 inches at Ojai (6.97 inches) and Thousand Oaks (6.59 inches) in Ventura County. Streams were running full which helped refill depleted reservoirs in the area. Lake Cachuma rose 24 feet in just one day, which is remarkable and most welcomed. Even though the reservoirs were responding quite favorably, they still have a long way to go before we can classify this area as drought-free. As of February 22, Lake Cachuma was at 82,011 acre-feet, or 42.4% of capacity, Jameson Reservoir was at 52.5% capacity, Lake Casitas at 42.3%, and Lake Piru at 31.7%. These values still represent a significant hydrological drought. Generally a one-category improvement to drought conditions was made from central California to the Los Angeles basin. Areas of D0-L were left in the San Joaquin Valley where wells were still in jeopardy and groundwater aquifers will take many more weeks or months to recharge. D3 was eliminated but D0-D2 were left in place along the Central Coast where the reservoirs were still below average and groundwater has yet to be recharged. D0-D2 were left in place in southern California where the precipitation was not as heavy and longer-term precipitation deficits remained. With the removal of this D3, D2 is now the worst drought condition in the state; August 6, 2013 was the last time California had no D3.

Kevin

 

[jb92563]

Something I've never seen mentioned in CA or other coastal places is the use of a parallel water system for salt water or non-potable water for toilets, etc. in which quality wouldn't matter much, if any.

Use potable fresh water only where needed.

Bruce

I work for a SOCAL water utility and we do have a recycled water available in a parallel system.
Those recycled water customers are for agriculture, golf courses, water parks and some industrial.

It would be cost prohibitive to create a parallel system to service a half million households with recycled water, especially since our revenues from new housing is down.
We will have a hard enough time keeping up with the future water needs if all the open spaces here get subdivisions.

60% of our water comes from the California Aquiduct which is our supply from Northern California, the remainder comes from wells, some of which are very salty due to disolved minerals.

Seems like Ocean water filtration might start looking good if our water costs from the aquaduct keep rising.

Also I noticed a competition for an X-prize on HeroX.com to produce water captured from the air, which may produce some promising technologies.

 

[turnkey4099]

I work for a SOCAL water utility and we do have a recycled water available in a parallel system.
Those recycled water customers are for agriculture, golf courses, water parks and some industrial.

It would be cost prohibitive to create a parallel system to service a half million households with recycled water, especially since our revenues from new housing is down.
We will have a hard enough time keeping up with the future water needs if all the open spaces here get subdivisions.

60% of our water comes from the California Aquiduct which is our supply from Northern California, the remainder comes from wells, some of which are very salty due to disolved minerals.

Seems like Ocean water filtration might start looking good if our water costs from the aquaduct keep rising.

Also I noticed a competition for an X-prize on HeroX.com to produce water captured from the air, which may produce some promising technologies.

Water from air? Seems that is stealing moisture that would hit the ground somewhere downstream, like severa hundred miles or so.

California has to wake up and admit they already have more population than the water supply can handle.

 

[bigdeano]

California has to wake up and admit they already have more population than the water supply can handle.

That's what the wall is for, but I suppose the Cal government doesn't want it.

 

[California]

Wall? At the airport?

"most (53%) of those arriving between 2011 and 2015 came from Asia; only 22% came from Latin America"

Article - origins of California immigrants.

I went looking for numbers on domestic - state to state - immigration but didn't see anything recent.

 

[kloudbuster]

I think he was referring to illegals

 

[California]

I think he was referring to illegals

According to that article a quarter of immigrants already here are undocumented. But the chart above shows Hispanic immigration - both legal and undocumented - has fallen from the large numbers of several years ago. So a wall against Hispanics isn't going to have much effect on demands for water. What we need to solve the water shortage is more people moving from California to other states where the water is. I'm all for that, it's too crowded here.

 

[bcp]

There is no water shortage, there is a people excess.

Bruce

 

[noller9]

Feast or Famine. I noticed more green in the photos on the news of California and the rain. Hopefully you get a break

 

[RedNeckGeek]

It's ridiculous to even hint that the water problems in CA are linked to population. Yes, cities are growing because the climate is still good and the systems can still be gamed if you need support. But the elephant in the room is that the majority of water gets flushed out to sea to keep the snail darter happy and the SF delta at the right salinity, and what goes to the cities is just a drop in the bucket. Then throw in the healthy dose of what agriculture needs to feed the world, and you'll have a much clearer picture of the impossible balancing act that's being attempted.

The bigotry and prejudice being displayed in this thread is shameful. :thumbdown:

 

[dragoneggs]

It's ridiculous to even hint that the water problems in CA are linked to population. Yes, cities are growing because the climate is still good and the systems can still be gamed if you need support. But the elephant in the room is that the majority of water gets flushed out to sea to keep the snail darter happy and the SF delta at the right salinity, and what goes to the cities is just a drop in the bucket. Then throw in the healthy dose of what agriculture needs to feed the world, and you'll have a much clearer picture of the impossible balancing act that's being attempted.

The bigotry and prejudice being displayed in this thread is shameful. :thumbdown:

I'm not disputing your claim but some facts to back up your argument would go a long way in combating the prejudice.