Free Republic

It's going from worse to worst each week in California. Suffering in its third year of drought, more than 58 percent of the state is currently in "exceptional drought" stage, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map. That marks a huge jump from just seven days ago, when about 36 percent of the state was categorized that way. Exceptional drought, the most extreme category, indicates widespread crop and pasture losses and shortages of water in reservoirs, streams and wells. If the state continues on this path, there may have to be thoughts about moving people out, said Lynn Wilson,...

Tyler Durden 08/01/2014 As we previously commented, when scientists start using phrases such as "the worst drought" and "as bad as you can imagine" to describe what is going on in the western half of the country, you know that things are bad. However, in recent weeks the dreadful situation in California has gone from bad to catastrophic as the U.S. Drought Monitor reported that more than half of the state is now in experiencing 'exceptional' drought, the most severe category available. And most of the state – 81% – currently has one of the two most intense levels of...

LIVE VIDEO AT THE LINK A 102-year-old water main broke in Westwood Tuesday, sending water flooding into streets and the UCLA campus, stranding people and vehicles and prompting the closure of Sunset Boulevard on Tuesday. The water main break sent a geyser gushing into the air on July 29, 2014. (Credit: KTLA) The water main break sent a geyser gushing into the air on July 29, 2014. (Credit: KTLA) People were stranded by the rising water, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department, which was called to the incident shortly before 3:30 p.m. Three people were rescued from parking structures,...

Pete Saunders, The Corner Side YardJuly 27, 2014 drought monitor UNL Debates still persist about the impact of climate change, but from my perspective, the early results are in. We are now reaching the point where cities, metro areas and states will have to consider taking bold and assertive measures to even maintain their current quality of life levels. And we are also reaching the point at which alternate futures for our cities must be considered. That future could very well mean fewer people in the dry West and coastal areas of the East and South, and more people in...

20 Signs The Drought In The Western United States Is Starting To Become Apocalyptic July 17, 2014 | Michael Snyder When scientists start using phrases such as "the worst drought" and "as bad as you can imagine" to describe what is going on in the western half of the country, you know that things are bad. Thanks to an epic drought that never seems to end, we are witnessing the beginning of a water crisis that most people never even dreamed was possible in this day and age. The state of California is getting ready to ban people from watering...

Cities throughout California will have to impose mandatory restrictions on outdoor watering under an emergency state rule approved Tuesday. Saying that it was time to increase conservation in the midst of one of the worst droughts in decades, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted drought regulations that give local agencies the authority to fine those who waste water up to $500 a day. Many Southern California cities, including Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Long Beach, already have mandatory restrictions in place. But most communities across the state are still relying on voluntary conservation, and Californians in general have fallen...

This might be some background reading on this: FoxNews: California expected to set mandatory water curbs for first time Over one hundred years ago, folks in California were planning their future by planning on aquaducts. Occasionally, Louisiana has too much water (flooding) and Texas too little. The key number in all of this is that Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas is at about 400-500 feet above sea level. That means an aquaduct system could be built such there could be four to five stations that raise the water 100 feet or more. Louisiana has a number of river systems (besides the Mississippi...

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Neighbors are tattling on neighbors for wasting water and some are taking their drought shaming to social media. If you’ve ever had the feeling you’re being watched while you water your lawn, there’s a good chance you are during this historic drought. In Sacramento, water wasters can face fines, and the enforcer may be someone who lives right next door. Terrance Davis with the city department of utilities says he’s seeing a trend of drought shaming. “Our water use complaint calls have gone up exponentially from the last 2 years,” he said. Karen Halbo lives in River...

Water-Guzzling Pot Plants Draining Drought-Wracked California BY HARRIET TAYLOR California cannabis growers may be making millions, but their thirsty plants are sucking up a priceless resource: water. Now scientists say that if no action is taken in the drought-wracked state, the consequences for fisheries and wildlife will be dire. "If this activity continues on the trajectory it's on, we're looking at potentially streams going dry, streams that harbor endangered fish species like salmon, steelhead," said Scott Bauer of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Studying aerial photographs of four watersheds within northern California's so-called Emerald Triangle, Bauer found that...

California's drought is creating a deluge of tattletales, after government officials encouraged residents to snitch on their neighbors for wasting water. The state declared a drought emergency five months ago, but residents have only cut their water usage by about 5 percent, reports The New York Times, cutting back much less than the 20 percent Gov. Jerry Brown asked for in January. And since people aren't heeding the warnings from the state, cities in the state are asking residents to report their neighbors for wasting water, and are finding that people are all too willing to tell on each other....

DANIELLE WIENER-BRONNER, The WireJun. 20, 2014 ï‚‚Months after we all started fretting over the prospect of a global coffee shortage, it seems we might actually start to feel the caffeine-related effects of Brazil's massive drought and Central America's coffee fungus, in the form industry-wide retail price increases. The Washington Post reported back in February that coffee costs were expected to rise later in the year: For now, retail prices for coffee are stable. Roasters typically have enough supplies to cover themselves for a few months. But if the price of the Arabica (pronounced uh-RAB-ick-uh) beans continues to rise, consumers could...

"The meteorological service needs to "provide accurate data for weather forecast and meteorological and climatic information required by various fields of national economy in good time," Kim said, though he appeared to place blame on outdated equipment and scientific method. The Washington Post notes, however, that the "strain on the faces of those being lectured is quite evident" per Rodong Sinmun's photos; CNN describes Kim as appearing "red-faced."

With the severe drought that has been blanketing most of the country, and the wildfires ravaging Colorado this summer, now is the time to take steps to prepare for the unexpected...

Tyler Durden 05/29/2014 In early 1978, a song entitled "Dust in the Wind" by a rock band known as Kansas shot up the Billboard charts. When Kerry Livgren penned those now famous lyrics, he probably never imagined that Dust Bowl conditions would return to his home state just a few short decades later. Sadly, that is precisely what is happening. When American explorers first traveled through north Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, they referred to it as "the Great American Desert" and they doubted that anyone would ever be able to farm it. But as history has shown, when that area...

Call them the fortunate ones: Nearly 4,000 California companies, farms and others are allowed to use free water with little oversight when the state is so bone dry that deliveries to nearly everyone else have been severely slashed. Their special status dates back to claims made more than a century ago when water was plentiful. But in the third year of a drought that has ravaged California, these “senior rights holders” dominated by corporations and agricultural concerns are not obliged to conserve water. Nobody knows how much water they actually use, though it amounts to trillions of gallons each year,...

Becky Oskin May 22, 2014, 12:56 PM The forecast for a drought-busting El Niño this winter has Californians as giddy as kids at Christmas. An El Niño is the warm phase of a natural Pacific Ocean climate cycle driven by sea surface temperatures. The redistribution of hotter versus colder surface water triggers changes in atmospheric circulation that influences rainfall and storm patterns around the world. Warm water is piling up in the equatorial eastern Pacific Ocean right now, similar to the pattern that preceded the strong 1997-1998 El Niño, when California was drenched by a series of winter storms. The...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein will try to fast-track farm-friendly drought legislation through the Senate over the objections of environmentalists, who the senator complains have done nothing to help her adapt California's aging water system to deal with climate change and the addition of millions of thirsty residents. Feinstein's bill alarms both environmentalists and Bay Area House Democrats, who fear she would tilt California water policy away from the state's devastated salmon runs. Asked about opposition from environmental groups, Feinstein said, "Well, that's really too bad, isn't it? I would be very happy to know what they propose. ... I have not...

Half Of The US Is In A Drought Mike Carlowicz, NASA Earth ObservatoryMay 14, 2014 Drought - NASA Earth Observatory U.S. Drought Monitor. As of May 6, 2014, half of the United States was experiencing some level of drought. Nearly 15 percent of the nation was gripped by extreme to exceptional drought. For the Plains and the Southwest, it's a pattern that has been persistent for much of the past several years. The map above was developed by the U.S. National Drought Monitor, a partnership of U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the University of...

While researchers have sometimes connected weather extremes to man-made global warming, usually it’s not done in real time. Now a study is asserting a link between climate change and both the intensifying California drought and the polar vortex blamed for a harsh winter that mercifully has just ended in many places. The Utah State University scientists involved in the study say they hope what they found can help them predict the next big weird winter.

One of the criticisms levied against hydraulic fracturing, particularly during recent periods of drought, is the amount of water used in the process. However, energy companies are seeking to reduce water use during hydraulic fracturing, even as research shows more water is used in other activities. The numbers put things into perspective. The amount of water used to frack a well varies, but most reporting entities put the figure in a range of about 3 to 6 million gallons of water. In Pennsylvania, the average amount of water per well is about 4.4 million gallons, according to State Impact Pennsylvania,...