W Coast drought questions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a fascinating subject to me as I grew up in the Bay Area and lived through many years of drought. My mother’s family were almond ranchers in Sonoma county.

Apparently the entire west was built up during an abnormally wet period, during which the forests grew as well. Now drought is reshaping the entire landscape.

When I was a child in the Bay Area the fruit and other farms were right up against the city and fresh produce was everywhere. Then the water and land became too valuable and the farmers sold props and water rights to developers.

Desalination is way too expensive to become a viable option for all but the wealthiest. Here is an article about the Santa Barbara de-sal plant, which can only afford to operate intermittently:
https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/pw/resources/system/sources/desalination/default.asp

I wonder what the effect on crops will be. Think about how many almond products are out there.

Hopefully we're all done with almond milk soon. Takes nutritious almonds and uses tons of resources to make them far less nutritious. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2018/sep/05/ditch-the-almond-milk-why-everything-you-know-about-sustainable-eating-is-probably-wrong

[Anonymous]

There was a movie like 18 years ago on TV kind of animated about a family leaving Texas going to Colorado and the floods and fires featuring a child. I can’t find it but for the life of me it was very prescient. Colorado was pretty much the safest place to be

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t Southern CA get its water from the Colorado River? Which presents its own challenges, but I don’t think NorCal supplies water to southern Ca.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Aqueduct

[Anonymous]

California produces 80% of the world's almonds — 2 billion pounds a year — at a staggering cost of 2,000 gallons of water per pound of almonds. Ten percent of California's water is guzzled up by almonds. Almonds have got to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People should be more concerned than they are. Water is being diverted from northern to southern CA. Nestle is taking water they shouldn't. The western third of the US is turning into a desert. Fires will keep happening. People know it is bad, think about moving, but don't.

Doesn’t Southern CA get its water from the Colorado River? Which presents its own challenges, but I don’t think NorCal supplies water to southern Ca.

I heard water is being diverted from Sacramento to LA. Don't quote me on that, but my relative is an engineer who would have knowledge of such things.

[Anonymous]

There was a great piece on NPR about Lake Mead yesterday. I grew up out West and remember academics warnings as a child. There isn’t enough water to sustain growth and farming. Essentially all the farms in Pinal County, AZ are going to go under.

[Anonymous]

I live in SoCal & our Governor recently suggested, not mandated that us citizens here should watch our H2O usage.

I remember around five yrs or so ago, we were told to take five min showers + only water our lawns on certain days.
There was even a special enforcement team we jokingly referred to as the “Water Patrol.”

Hoping it doesn’t go back to that again. 😕

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:California produces 80% of the world's almonds — 2 billion pounds a year — at a staggering cost of 2,000 gallons of water per pound of almonds. Ten percent of California's water is guzzled up by almonds. Almonds have got to go.

But they are the best nut, by far!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:California produces 80% of the world's almonds — 2 billion pounds a year — at a staggering cost of 2,000 gallons of water per pound of almonds. Ten percent of California's water is guzzled up by almonds. Almonds have got to go.

But they are the best nut, by far!

Almonds (1900 gallons per pound) use more water than beef (1847 gallons per pound) per pound! If you eat a lot of almonds and drink almond milk, you hate the environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:California produces 80% of the world's almonds — 2 billion pounds a year — at a staggering cost of 2,000 gallons of water per pound of almonds. Ten percent of California's water is guzzled up by almonds. Almonds have got to go.

But they are the best nut, by far!

Almonds (1900 gallons per pound) use more water than beef (1847 gallons per pound) per pound! If you eat a lot of almonds and drink almond milk, you hate the environment.

Also almond milk production requires 20x the amount of water than diary milk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in SoCal & our Governor recently suggested, not mandated that us citizens here should watch our H2O usage.

I remember around five yrs or so ago, we were told to take five min showers + only water our lawns on certain days.
There was even a special enforcement team we jokingly referred to as the “Water Patrol.”

Hoping it doesn’t go back to that again. 😕

There have been CA water shortages for a very long time. Forty years ago, my grandfather used to take a shower with the water mostly off. He'd turn it on to get wet, turn it off, lather up, then turn it back on only to rinse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in SoCal & our Governor recently suggested, not mandated that us citizens here should watch our H2O usage.

I remember around five yrs or so ago, we were told to take five min showers + only water our lawns on certain days.
There was even a special enforcement team we jokingly referred to as the “Water Patrol.”

Hoping it doesn’t go back to that again. 😕

It won't go back to that again - it's going to be much worse.

Residential users are going to be pitted against agricultural users. Farmers and the ag lobby aren't going to just close up shop, and to some extent we may not want them to. We've talking about almonds, which, we can all live without almonds, but what about the other products currently produced in CA and the west? High food prices are not something that a lot of people will welcome.

And just wait until the ultra wealthy find some loophole to declare their estates as an agricultural concern and therefore not subject to the water restrictions placed on regular people.

[Anonymous]

I live near the great lakes and I know at one point they were going to build a pipeline to divert water to the west. I believe it was shot down due to environmental concerns. With climate change while some parts of the country have been dryer many others have had record amounts of rainfall. I think eventually we're going to have water pipelines similar to oil pipelines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cities won’t be affected. They’ll stop growing almonds and lettuce.

Depends if those farmers have superior water rights, and how much cities are willing to pay to buy those rights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live near the great lakes and I know at one point they were going to build a pipeline to divert water to the west. I believe it was shot down due to environmental concerns. With climate change while some parts of the country have been dryer many others have had record amounts of rainfall. I think eventually we're going to have water pipelines similar to oil pipelines.

It would be better if people just move and live near water resources. The Great Lakes region has pleasant summer temps and no wildfires, few tornados, and few, weak earthquakes. Go stand on the shore of one of the lakes and it feels similar to an ocean!

Golf courses and all non-desert landscapes need to be banned in the desert. Then they need to recycle and reuse 100 percent of their sewage before diverting resources is even considered.