Posted on 09/04/2018 7:51:39 PM PDT by Galatians328
I cant argue with you on that. Instead of capturing the runoff from the monsoons, they watch it go downstream.
I have read that 95% of that water evaporates.
Their excuse around here is that it costs to much to capture it. Then cry like hell because they fear water shortages.
GD there are some stupid people in this state.
My husband called SRP a few months ago to ask how much water was in the aquifers. He was transferred from person to person because each one said they had no idea what he was talking about. I told him to ask about underground water storage instead. At last he got someone but that person would only tell him that “Yes” there is underground water storage but wouldn’t disclose how much or where. Those people were no help at all.
There are a couple of ways to fix this, although they are both gigantic undertakings. First, there is an existing but unused plan to dam up a river in Alaska, and route the water from that reservoir to a river that goes through Canada. Through various schemes, water would be diverted south down through Idaho to Nevada. There it can be used for irrigation. When it evaporates, most of it would hit the Rocky Mountains as rain or snow, and go back west down the Colorado.
The second is to terraform the west. For centuries, both Native Americans and Americans tried to make a living in agriculture in the west, and used a lot of bad practices. Natives would chop down trees without replanting, leaving the soil to blow away. Ranchers in the 1800s brought sheep and cattle, which overgrazed the grass, leading also to the soil blowing away. The soil has never recovered, and can't hold water. Therefore it either evaporates or runs off. Developing good soil, ranch by ranch, would hold more water in the ground, and would replenish aquifers or feed rivers.
Don't forget the NIMBY factor when it comes to building reservoirs, plus California's rabid "environmentalists" who think the world should never change and want to kill everyone but themselves to "save the Earth." Brown is spending all the state's money on a railroad to nowhere and providing welfare to illegal aliens anyhow.
Good thing Cal raised 3 billion for drought control. Actually money down the drain.
There is a web site for the estimated capacity of them.
Here in Mohave county it depends. I understand that the Kingman area has enough for 400 years at the present rate of use. And Mohave county is growing because of the access to the Colorado River.
***In Oklahoma they built so many lakes after the dust bowl that few states have more miles of shoreline.***
True. Lakes everywhere in Oklahoma. But Optima Lake is still dry after forty years.
That 2nd item, “terraforming the West” is most interesting. Drought tends to beget drought, at least until Mo Nature decides to do a big pattern change. Restoring the soil itself could help mitigate droughts both through better water retention and by that retention (less runoff) increasing rains themselves. But, as you said, it is QUITE a project.
How to green the world's deserts and reverse climate change | Allan Savory
50 Years Ago, This Was a Wasteland. He Changed Everything | Short Film Showcase
The whole purpose of California’s DemonRAT elite is to impoverish the entire state and rule over the dependent masses. The more dependent, the more entrenched in power they become.
Yes it does, I have to be so stingy with my water for my orchard up here in Northern California that the only thing I will get this year is apples (small) and a few small pears.
Plums, cherries, Apricots, Pluots, and Peaches all dropped their fruit early this year.
The house garden was invaded by deer because there was no forage in the rest of the area, knocked down the fences and ate every thing including the tops of the potatoes, and I thought they were poisonous.
And no I didn’t shoot them, although I should have.
If the IDIOTS in Sacramento could ever get it through their heads that one good water year does not eliminate 8 years of drought, then with another 8 years to follow, we could build some storage capacity.
BUT NO! MOONBEAMS CHO CHO IS MORE IMPORTANT!
One good water year doesn’t cut it, if you have 3 or 4 years of drought you need at least 10 years of above average rain/snow fall to make up for it.
If 2 million illegals in Kalifornia flush 4 time a day, and each flush is 3 gallons, that’s 24 million gallons of water per day, not including bathing if they do that sort of thing. Build the wall and Kalifornia and the West will have more than enough water!
Yep...They have no need for what’s left of the middle class in CA. They’ve made that clear. It’s like the state is run by some freakish cult.
I believe the problem, while serious, is over-sensationalized. The problem with the system is two fold. One, when the Colorado river water supply was allocated years ago, it was apparently after a few years of particularly wet weather. So estimates of the average annual flow in the river were overly optimistic. This is the "structural" problem they refer to - the very structure of the agreements is flawed. Two, while the upper basin users have been using less than their allocation, the lower basin users have been using more - due to extra reserves from these wet years.
The upshot is, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the system - the reservoirs are doing exactly what was intended, evening out the natural ups and downs. They do need to re-evaluate average flows now that they have a couple more decades of data to work with, come up with realistic allocations, and then stick to them! The left coast isn't going to like that, because their supply of Colorado river water will be cut significantly. Well, it's going to be cut significantly one way or another here soon - unless CA tries taking over the upper basin dams by force.
Yes this issue is near and dear to me. I've spent a fair amount of time fooling around in the desert southwest and love it. I've also had several great trips to Powell and am looking forward to going there again. In fact I'll be out in that neighborhood next week - not at Powell, but not far away either, camping right on the Colorado.
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