Posted on 05/03/2008 5:56:16 AM PDT by kellynla
Two parched years - punctuated by the driest spring in at least 150 years - could force districts across California to ration water this summer as policymakers and scientists grow increasingly concerned that the state is on the verge of a long-term drought.
State water officials reported Thursday that the Sierra Nevada snowpack, the source of a huge portion of California's water supply, was only 67 percent of normal, due in part to historically low rainfall in March and April.
With many reservoirs at well-below-average levels from the previous winter and a federal ruling limiting water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the new data added a dimension to a crisis already complicated by crumbling infrastructure, surging population and environmental concerns.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
ping
what, the raindances in SF aren’t working?
YEP!!!
LOOONNNNG past time!!!!!
So why aren’t we doing it???
Oh wait, this is California. I forgot. California mantra: Nuclear is BAD. Nuclear is BAD. Nuclear is BAD. Jane Fonda is GOOD.
No fishing, no hunting, no forestry, no digging, no building, no water = Mars!!
my mother in law lives in Charlotte NC and they had rationing all last summer....as a result, people’s water bills dropped...that meant less revenue for the Water Board....so they raised people’s water bills to make up for the shortfall...you can imagine how that went over with the public!!
There was a push for dam construction in upper Carmel Valley. Liberals defeated that one too.
To pacify liberals the general population goes without sufficient potable water for extended periods like clockwork.
Lately we are seeing the result of pacifying liberals to deny ourselves updates and increases in the ability to produce and refine oil and we are listening to them preach that we should pacify them even further by denying our selves secure borders or a strong defense presence in the middle east.
I suspect we will get what we deserve in the next 15 or twenty years for listening to this insanity and it won't be pretty.
I pray for our grandkids.
If instead of sending Billions to Africa every year we built desalinization plants there, new economies will sprout up there as well as food production due to new farming opportunities.
The most efficient way to get more fresh water is to work with the sun creating more clouds, which has the added benefit of actively managing the climate. Clouds reflect both sunlight up and surface heat back down so are powerful tools for influencing the weather.
Rather than build desalination plants we might put more of our waste heat to useful work. Factories and power plants could transfer their waste heat to saltwater evaporation ponds. That would turn waste into useful fresh water which is airlifted for free to farm fields and reservoirs. The ponds might also support saltwater algae farming, which will efficiently absorb huge amounts of CO2 while creating biodiesel, alcohols, and animal feed.
These are conservative ideas. Leftist environmental ideas are about destroying, restricting, and controlling others out of envy.
The waste heat from nukes could be used to desalinate water "for free" as power is produced. Desalination would be an ideal use for fitful sources of energy, such as wind. Imagine fields of turbines and solar cells built off sunny coastlines. Coastal cities would no longer have to suck the nation's interior dry.
“Oh wait, this is California. I forgot. California mantra: Nuclear is BAD. Nuclear is BAD. Nuclear is BAD. Jane Fonda is GOOD.”
And how many nuclear plants have they built in Rhode Island...
you can pull your foot out of your mouth now. LMAO
“Rather than build desalination plants we might put more of our waste heat to useful work. Factories and power plants could transfer their waste heat to saltwater evaporation ponds. That would turn waste into useful fresh water which is airlifted for free to farm fields and reservoirs. The ponds might also support saltwater algae farming, which will efficiently absorb huge amounts of CO2 while creating biodiesel, alcohols, and animal feed.”
Excellent.
Has this been done anywhere?
Besides, RI’ers so not chant mantra's. They are to busy being the training ground for the NYC and Boston Mafia, and preventing Teddy from driving on their bridges.
couldn’t care less what they’re doing in CT...
my point is, don’t come on a CA thread and criticize what is being done here; when you clowns in RI don’t have one damn nuclear plant in your state...comprendo...
the “CA criticisms” on FR have gotten reeeeeeeeeeel old...
and as we all know, any new nuclear plant construction has to pass Congress before anything can be done!
“California should be embarrassed. This state has one of the longest coastlines that would allow for it to tap an unlimited source of water from the Pacific Ocean but it won’t build desalinization plants. How pathetic indeed.”
Excuse me, but before anything can be built off the coastline of CA, I believe it has to go through the CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...
hello?
Why? As long as the activity takes place entirely within the state of California (no interstate commerce) then the state should be the only one which needs to give its approval.
Could have sworn I read several reports about the massive Sierra Nevada snowpack this winter.
Water issues are being used to control growth, not help it. Water issues are being manipulated everywhere in the west, as a method of stopping growth and limiting property use. There are campaigns in several states to give control of all water rights (outside of cities) back to the Indians. They are putting meters on wells, and charging people for the amount of water they use over a certain amount. In WA State they even tried to pass a law making it illegal to put a rain barrel or cistern on your own property because they claim that if that water were to run off of your property, it wouldn’t belong to you anymore.
As for me, I have quit delivering goods in my truck to warehouses in California. because you fools wish for my dog to die in my truck in the heat because I cannot keep the truck on in the summertime because of your stupid anti-idleing laws.
Look up the California Anti-idle laws for details. It is a "hot-button issue for many truckers (Myself included). It is also another reason why you folks have to pay more for the goods you receive. Most of the drivers in our company refuse a good percentage of Owner-Operators no longer accept freight into California.
Ive told my sister in Hayward, if she wants to see me. come to my house. Or wait till I drive out in my car. As far as I am concerned, you folks in California can live with the consequences of your stupid legislation and legislators. For, you see, I firmly believe that you get the government you want and because you elect them, its the government you deserve.
And if you don't want non-californians commenting, don't post on a public site. There is a reason why California makes for such rich fodder for comment.
When I lived in Guantanamo Castro cut our water supplies off following the missle crisis. The Navy hauled a shipload of water in (tasted like crude oil) and we were limited to 2 gallons a day for a family of 4. Even before that, we frequently had water rationing.
We eventually built a desal plant, but it wasn’t much better than the water from the tanker.
I’ve always been curious: how did so many farms come into being in California if water is so scarce?
Because for starters, such construction would have to be in compliance with Federal regulations and hence the reason why there haven’t been any new nuclear plants built in 30 years. Besides, CA doesn’t own the Pacific coastline. And anything built out there would have to pass Congress.
“I’ve always been curious: how did so many farms come into being in California if water is so scarce?”
irrigation
Put in a pipe from the med to the dead sea.
And who are the U.S. Senators from RI?
Unless and until the Lefties are replaced in Congress,
NOTHING is going to dramatically change...including nuclear power plants, drilling, oil refinery & desalination plant construction.
Perish the thought.
“And if you don’t want non-californians commenting, don’t post on a public site.”
The problem I have with clowns like you is that you come on CA threads and bitch & moan about CA but you & and your state of RI are doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM THAT ALL AMERICANS & AMERICA FACES...
gezzzzzzzzzzzzzz....let me know when you “get it!”
” I firmly believe that you get the government you want and because you elect them, its the government you deserve.”
This coming from a Rhode Islander who has a couple Libs in the U.S. Senate...now that is RICH! LMAO
Re: rationing all last summer....as a result, people’s water bills dropped...that meant less revenue for the Water Board....so they raised people’s water bills to make up for the shortfall...
Same thing happened in some communities here in North Texas. And we're not wild about it either.
As for the RI senators? I think they are Reed And Whitehurst. I don't keep up on RI politics too much anymore, as the RI gov’t has screwed up that state so much, I and my family voted with our feet. Of course Voinivich and Brown ain't much better, but we are working on that.
Oh, you want others to solve the problems that are of your own making. Soooooo Sorry. There are consequences to the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) principle, which are similar to those with the LODI (Let Others Do It) principle.
“””This coming from a Rhode Islander who has a couple Libs in the U.S. Senate...now that is RICH! LMAO”””
Yeah, well Unfortunately the Mayor of my former hometown didn't win but he gave it a good shot, and they did get rid of that R(H)INO Chaffee. But, RI is so screwed up that I voted with my feet. (My taxes went down. My income went up. I live in a functional part of Ohio that is not nearly as crewed up as some of the other cities. (But we are working to fix even those cities. All we have to do is get rid of that “progressive” notion that actions have no consequences and someone else will fix the problems we made.)
Would you be willing to do the same? Or are you planning on waiting for those from the other 49 states to come pull you fat out of the fire???
“””””yeaaaaaaaaaaaa...we “steal” water from God to feed his children...
gezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
I knew I was wasting time with you when I started. LOL””””
Silly me, I thought maybe you were short of water because you weren't getting enough from the Colorado river, or the Lake Mead Reservoir (among other out of state, or “shared” sources).
You see, I thought God put it there for ALL his children, not just those in CA.
” I thought God put it there for ALL his children, not just those in CA.”
of course, you clowns in RI grow all your own food....
gezzzzzzzzzzzzz...what a maroon...
“Silly me”
nuff said...
“Same thing happened in some communities here in North Texas. And we’re not wild about it either.”
....in fairness to the Water Board, they’ve got a lot of water/sewer municipal bonds outstanding....they’ve got to meet the interest payments on those bonds....if they should default it will kill their credit worthiness...the average Joe 6-pak doesn’t think that way and he’s irate...he says “hey, I quit watering my lawn; quit washing my car; did my part to conserve and now you’re raising my bill...[bleep] you!”
of course, you clowns in RI grow all your own food....
gezzzzzzzzzzzzz...what a maroon...
“Silly me”
nuff said..
Actually, after talking to some of the warehouse folks in RI, CT, MA and ME. less is bought from CA because it is cheaper to get it from TX, FL, NJ, locally, S.America and other Locals. Not to mention the problems we have been having getting driver to CA. to p/u what little is bought.
Lets see, now Lettuce, spinach, and other green leafy vege’s from YUMA,, strawberry's, citrus, tomatoes, etc. from FL, onions, apples, pears, etc from WA, Potatoes, cheese, etc from ID, and numerous other stuff from other sources. I think all these neat and nifty CA regulations are in the process of pricing CA out of the market.
But thats alright. Once CA agriculture dies to protect a little fishy, you folks out there will have plenty of water of the impoverished masses of California.
Water is usually not scarce in the agricultural regions of California.
The water situation in the west is a result of geography. Evaporated water from the pacific starts to drift over the United States into California. In the easternmost part of California, running north to south, is the high Sierra Nevada mountain range. As the air moves over this range, much of the water precipitates out and falls on the mountains. This water then collects into rivers which flow back out to the west to the pacific again. The agricultural region of California is in a valley from the foot of the Sierra Nevada all the way back to a smaller mountain range in the west, following the rivers.
You can think of it as farmers "stealing" from the other western states, because if the Sierra Nevada did not exist, the water would move inland until it fell onto the Rocky Mountains, and would provide water to the whole west. The Sierra Nevada is what is causing the the whole region from Nevada Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Parts of the Rocky Mountain states to be a desert.
Rivers such as the Colorado are used in California, but generally not for agriculture, just cities.
“It is way past time for CA and the rest of America to start building nuclear desalination plants.”
Nooooo, no, no.....they must be powered by ethanol and biofuels.
It’s a perfect government program. The desalination plant couldn’t make enough water to grow the corn to make the ethanol that powers the plant.
Completely understand. Here, though, it's more a matter of the individual cities agreeing to purchase water for an agreed upon total price per year. Since we were forced to use less water, the locals did not get the required revenue to pay the local water district.
No matter how you slice it though, the homeowner usually ends up getting the short end.
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