shootingstar Posted February 24, 2022 Share #1 Posted February 24, 2022 Those who live closer to action might explain if anything more is needed for impending situation: Citing drought, US won't give water to California farmers (msn.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickinMD ★ Posted February 24, 2022 Share #2 Posted February 24, 2022 Water shortages have been getting greater and greater in the Southwest, and especially in Nevada and California. The article cited says, "unfortunately we can't make it rain," as if that's the only way for California to get fresh water! Thoughout the 2000's, there should have been lots of research into cheaply converting salt water into fresh water by passing it through plastic membranes, etc. Even Georgia tried to change it's border with Tennessee so it could claim a river. The Georgia Governor's solution was to ask the citizens to "pray for rain," not to fund Georgia Tech to study ocean water desalination. Desalinating sea water WILL become a necessity in the future as will water-sharing grids between localities. The longer the country waits, the worse it will get - beginning with Americans paying more soon for California produce. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisL Posted February 24, 2022 Share #3 Posted February 24, 2022 37 minutes ago, MickinMD said: Water shortages have been getting greater and greater in the Southwest, and especially in Nevada and California. The article cited says, "unfortunately we can't make it rain," as if that's the only way for California to get fresh water! Thoughout the 2000's, there should have been lots of research into cheaply converting salt water into fresh water by passing it through plastic membranes, etc. Even Georgia tried to change it's border with Tennessee so it could claim a river. The Georgia Governor's solution was to ask the citizens to "pray for rain," not to fund Georgia Tech to study ocean water desalination. Desalinating sea water WILL become a necessity in the future as will water-sharing grids between localities. The longer the country waits, the worse it will get - beginning with Americans paying more soon for California produce. A desalination plant is opening near me to the chagrin of environmental groups who delayed the project for years. I didn’t open the link but the water wars in Northern CA have been going on for years. Much of that water comes from the Sierra Nevada snow pack which has been down lately. Rain in lower elevations also helps. But the farming groups often cite doomsday scenarios to bring attention to the matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheep_herder ★ Posted February 24, 2022 Share #4 Posted February 24, 2022 19 minutes ago, ChrisL said: A desalination plant is opening near me to the chagrin of environmental groups who delayed the project for years. I didn’t open the link but the water wars in Northern CA have been going on for years. Much of that water comes from the Sierra Nevada snow pack which has been down lately. Rain in lower elevations also helps. But the farming groups often cite doomsday scenarios to bring attention to the matter. None of this in the article, just government reporting what is being done and why. Like Mick said, food shortage means higher prices for what is grown. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted February 24, 2022 Share #5 Posted February 24, 2022 Karen says not my problem, I don’t buy food from farmers. I get all my food in the grocery stores. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheep_herder ★ Posted February 24, 2022 Share #6 Posted February 24, 2022 5 minutes ago, Longjohn said: Karen says not my problem, I don’t buy food from farmers. I get all my food in the grocery stores. I was going to laugh, but decided it best warranted a sad face. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted February 24, 2022 Share #7 Posted February 24, 2022 I learned everything I know about California water resources and corruption from the film, "Chinatown". "In his 2004 film essay and documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself, film scholar Thom Andersen lays out the complex relationship between Chinatown's script and its historical background: Chinatown isn't a docudrama, it's a fiction. The water project it depicts isn't the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, engineered by William Mulholland before the First World War. Chinatown is set in 1938, not 1905. The Mullholland-like figure—"Hollis Mulwray"—isn't the chief architect of the project, but rather its strongest opponent, who must be discredited and murdered. Mulwray is against the "Alto Vallejo Dam" because it's unsafe, not because it's stealing water from somebody else.... But there are echoes of Mullholland's aqueduct project in Chinatown.... Mullholland's project enriched its promoters through insider land deals in the San Fernando Valley, just like the dam project in Chinatown. The disgruntled San Fernando Valley farmers of Chinatown, forced to sell off their land at bargain prices because of an artificial drought, seem like stand-ins for the Owens Valley settlers whose homesteads turned to dust when Los Angeles took the water that irrigated them. The "Van Der Lip Dam" disaster, which Hollis Mulwray cites to explain his opposition to the proposed dam, is an obvious reference to the collapse of the Saint Francis Dam in 1928. Mullholland built this dam after completing the aqueduct and its failure was the greatest man-made disaster in the history of California. These echoes have led many viewers to regard Chinatown, not only as docudrama, but as truth—the real secret history of how Los Angeles got its water. And it has become a ruling metaphor of the non-fictional critiques of Los Angeles development." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtyhip Posted February 24, 2022 Share #8 Posted February 24, 2022 Who else is doing a garden this year? I know I am. But, I have no idea how much is down in that well. 60 gpm water supply, but for how long? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisL Posted February 24, 2022 Share #9 Posted February 24, 2022 26 minutes ago, donkpow said: I learned everything I know about California water resources and corruption from the film, "Chinatown". "In his 2004 film essay and documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself, film scholar Thom Andersen lays out the complex relationship between Chinatown's script and its historical background: Chinatown isn't a docudrama, it's a fiction. The water project it depicts isn't the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, engineered by William Mulholland before the First World War. Chinatown is set in 1938, not 1905. The Mullholland-like figure—"Hollis Mulwray"—isn't the chief architect of the project, but rather its strongest opponent, who must be discredited and murdered. Mulwray is against the "Alto Vallejo Dam" because it's unsafe, not because it's stealing water from somebody else.... But there are echoes of Mullholland's aqueduct project in Chinatown.... Mullholland's project enriched its promoters through insider land deals in the San Fernando Valley, just like the dam project in Chinatown. The disgruntled San Fernando Valley farmers of Chinatown, forced to sell off their land at bargain prices because of an artificial drought, seem like stand-ins for the Owens Valley settlers whose homesteads turned to dust when Los Angeles took the water that irrigated them. The "Van Der Lip Dam" disaster, which Hollis Mulwray cites to explain his opposition to the proposed dam, is an obvious reference to the collapse of the Saint Francis Dam in 1928. Mullholland built this dam after completing the aqueduct and its failure was the greatest man-made disaster in the history of California. These echoes have led many viewers to regard Chinatown, not only as docudrama, but as truth—the real secret history of how Los Angeles got its water. And it has become a ruling metaphor of the non-fictional critiques of Los Angeles development." The thing about the aqueduct is that it really doesn’t impact the farmers. The Central Valley is on the west side of the Sierra Nevada and the aqueduct pulls water from the east side of the Sierra Nevada. The east side is sparsely populated and yeah it did harm the Owens River valley but that’s not where most of the farming is. The large population base in Sacramento, San Francisco and surrounding communities is what’s competing with the water the farmers need. @Page Turner probably has more insightful comments on the matter than me though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted February 24, 2022 Share #10 Posted February 24, 2022 59 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said: Who else is doing a garden this year? I know I am. But, I have no idea how much is down in that well. 60 gpm water supply, but for how long? And who else is sucking water form that aquifer? I have filled my 18,000 gallon pool from my well three times and never had a problem. Turn the water on and when the pool is full shut it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtyhip Posted February 24, 2022 Share #11 Posted February 24, 2022 Just now, Longjohn said: And who else is sucking water form that aquifer? I have filled my 18,000 gallon pool from my well three times and never had a problem. Turn the water on and when the pool is full shut it off. No idea. My water supply is powerful though. The people above me have complained that theirs is silty. I can only assume that their well doesn't have a great supply. If theirs runs dry, I am certain they will blame us for the situation. We already stole "their" land. <shrug> Even though it is a strong well, I am very cautious with water. No need to waste it. Water doesn't automatically go back to where it originated from. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Page Turner Posted February 25, 2022 Share #12 Posted February 25, 2022 20 hours ago, ChrisL said: The thing about the aqueduct is that it really doesn’t impact the farmers. The Central Valley is on the west side of the Sierra Nevada and the aqueduct pulls water from the east side of the Sierra Nevada. The east side is sparsely populated and yeah it did harm the Owens River valley but that’s not where most of the farming is. The large population base in Sacramento, San Francisco and surrounding communities is what’s competing with the water the farmers need. @Page Turner probably has more insightful comments on the matter than me though. ...it's impossible to talk about California water without going all political. We had a pretty good early rain season, and then everything went dry about a month and a half ago here. So the fire season has already started. Cal Ag has already been pretty well hosed in this situation, and it's been playing out for years now with land that was formerly producing food going out of production. If you drive down I 5 between here and LA, you can see numerous orchards and croplands with dead trees, where some guy who was growing almonds with excess water from the Aqueduct in the wet years just walked away from it. That stuff will probably go back to free range, seasonal grazing, like it was before. Down in Merced, where I used to live for a few years, all those small almond groves that were put in as second sources off income are getting ripped out. That land will also probably go back to seasonal pasture or range grazing. Whic is what it was before. It still produces some food, but not almond milk. Vegans will probably take a hit. It’s Some of America’s Richest Farmland. But What Is It Without Water? https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/uprooting-almond-orchard ^^^this is what an orchard removal project looks like. They have these enormous machines, that grab the trees by the trunk and rip them out of the ground, then they get cut up for firewood, and the branches get run through a chipper. It's kind of impressive to watch, in a doomsday sort of way. But it costs money, so sometimes, unless the plan is to return the land to pasture or maybe seasonal hay, the farmer just leaves them in the ground. The Central Valley almond bloom, which is on right now, is such an impressive sight that sometimes I would just drive down Hwy 99 to experience it, between here and Merced or Modesto. It will be less impressive in the future, but nothing is forever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Page Turner Posted February 25, 2022 Share #13 Posted February 25, 2022 ..."It's not Chinatown, Jake." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtyhip Posted February 25, 2022 Share #14 Posted February 25, 2022 1 hour ago, Page Turner said: ...it's impossible to talk about California water without going all political. We had a pretty good early rain season, and then everything went dry about a month and a half ago here. So the fire season has already started. Cal Ag has already been pretty well hosed in this situation, and it's been playing out for years now with land that was formerly producing food going out of production. If you drive down I 5 between here and LA, you can see numerous orchards and croplands with dead trees, where some guy who was growing almonds with excess water from the Aqueduct in the wet years just walked away from it. That stuff will probably go back to free range, seasonal grazing, like it was before. Down in Merced, where I used to live for a few years, all those small almond groves that were put in as second sources off income are getting ripped out. That land will also probably go back to seasonal pasture or range grazing. Whic is what it was before. It still produces some food, but not almond milk. Vegans will probably take a hit. It’s Some of America’s Richest Farmland. But What Is It Without Water? https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/uprooting-almond-orchard ^^^this is what an orchard removal project looks like. They have these enormous machines, that grab the trees by the trunk and rip them out of the ground, then they get cut up for firewood, and the branches get run through a chipper. It's kind of impressive to watch, in a doomsday sort of way. But it costs money, so sometimes, unless the plan is to return the land to pasture or maybe seasonal hay, the farmer just leaves them in the ground. The Central Valley almond bloom, which is on right now, is such an impressive sight that sometimes I would just drive down Hwy 99 to experience it, between here and Merced or Modesto. It will be less impressive in the future, but nothing is forever. Oh fuck. Super scary thoughts here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groupw Posted February 25, 2022 Share #15 Posted February 25, 2022 There are a lot of things Nebraska does backwards. Bit one of the most forward thinking was the creation of Natural Resource Districts to protect the Ogalalla Aquifer. They monitor groundwater levels and allocate how much water can be used for irrigation each year. While areas outside of Nebraska are depleting their portions of the aquifer, Nebraska remains pretty stable. I wonder how far beyond too late it will be before other states take similar action. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingstar Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share #16 Posted February 25, 2022 In our area, it's not the aquifier, our city relies 60% of its water from Bow River which flows through the centre of city from Rocky Mtsn. The glaciers were melting too fast last summer and then later, it didn't rain enough in various parts of province. Then resulted in some lower grain yields, some beef farmers had to cull their herds ... Alberta glacial melt about 3 times higher than average during heat wave, glaciologist estimates | CBC News Historically low water level on Bow River concerning, water scientist says | CBC News In our area we don't as much rain in spring-fall compared to other provinces. The ground gets so hard that when it runs, it doesn't soak into soil, hence, we get flooding in some areas. During the winter, in a way, it's good our area gets snow ..that's part of our overall precipitation for things to grow in spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now