California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now? (living, agriculture)

[Fargobound]

Originally Posted by chuckmann

Well. since big ag uses 80% of the water in this state, let's see THEM step up.

As for you, TM, you self righteous person, the sooner you move to Texas, the better!

I sometimes wonder after reading puff pieces on Mother Jones, that the leftists realize they can’t live on free trade Arabica beans alone.

[BeauCharles]

Originally Posted by Freak80

What? People are trying to grow crops in a state that gets no rain during the growing season?

Who's idea was that?

The Mesopotamians.

[Des-Lab]

Originally Posted by Questionira

Those in charge of Cali might be in strike. We do grow lots of food here. No water=no food.

Ah...but in Mexico and points south, they CAN. And let's not forget that A) most of the Central Valley farmers are Bible thumpin' hard right wing church folk. They would be the biggest losers while B) Mexico and truck drivers (Latins, and by extension, blue collar....read: Democrat) would be the biggest winners in the event there is a shakedown. Look at the political compass in the State you tell me who's going to get priority.

Originally Posted by mbell75

Yup, desalination plants are too expensive but hey, lets spend over $100 BILLION on a train! Just another example of the extremely poor leadership in this state.

HSR, and to a lesser extent, Light Rail are largely liked because of their sexy, Progressive visual appeal. A fast moving streamlined train powered by overhead wires is just so-irresistible. A DeSal plant looks like a factory and takes up prime real estate and thus is an eyesore. This is why there's so much interest in HSR but not in conventional Amtrak and Metrolink type service, which can be operated on existing infrastructure for a fraction of the cost. They are BORING...and look old...like freight trains. That reason alone tends to be why the much less practical use of dollars is more preferred. People like what they can look at, not the less immediately tangibles like, oh I don't know, taking a hot shower, which is something they take for granted.

Originally Posted by chuckmann

Well. since big ag uses 80% of the water in this state, let's see THEM step up.

"But we've always done it this way" is a paradigm held near and dear to them. Remember what I said about almost all of them being deep Conservative? They are as resistant to change as cacti are to sunshine. I can guarantee you that any changes to their operations they make will be far and few in between and even fewer will be voluntary. They won't change anything unless they can boost profits or else are being told to do while being held at gunpoint from the State.

[janellen]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Nothing. My 3 - 5 gallon a day shamefully wasteful usage continues.

I am, however, watching with amusement as most of you kvetch and freak out while continuing to use your 100 gallon per day average. Hopefully I will get to enjoy the mass exodus from the state this should precipitate. (Pun intended!). But I doubt it. *sighs*

Tule, your water conservation is truly admirable. I'm curious as to how you use that water. Could you give me a kind of breakdown on your water use? For example, what is the difference between a 3 gal day and a 5 gal day? Is the 5 gal/day a shower day? Do you not have toilet facilities on your boat so that you use some sort of dockside facility? Any toilet you flush, yours or not, is going to use a gallon or so, right? Do you wash dishes often? Laundry? I think 3 to 5 gals is what I use when dry camping in my old Silver Streak, but hygiene is not optimal. I conserve as much as I can but I don't think I could cut it as close as you do unless maybe I put in an out house. I have often thought of putting one in although I'm not sure it would pass county code. Tell us your secret please.

[SHABAZZ310]

Originally Posted by chuckmann

if big ag steps back, a fair share of illegals will self deport to Mexico

I doubt that. Most likely many illegals would just move to another big ag state like Washington.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Nothing. My 3 - 5 gallon a day shamefully wasteful usage continues.

I am, however, watching with amusement as most of you kvetch and freak out while continuing to use your 100 gallon per day average. Hopefully I will get to enjoy the mass exodus from the state this should precipitate. (Pun intended!). But I doubt it. *sighs*

I use so little water, my utility bill is the same amount every month. It turns out, even if I'm not home, I get billed their minimum charge. They charge even if you don't use any water at all.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by chuckmann

Well. since big ag uses 80% of the water in this state, let's see THEM step up.

Yup. Time to end federal water subsidies to agro-industry, time to put a limit on converting land to high-water-use crops, like walnuts and almonds. Well, actually it's too late to stop a lot of the almond rush, but still, the sensible thing would be to institute controls of some kind. How many people bet the legislature would have the guts to stand up to the state's ag industry?

[DauntlessDan]

I wish we could send you a couple hundred-thousand boxcar loads of snow from the northeast up here (minus the road salt) to melt down. I am sure that you could use it and we wouldn't miss it.

[SandyCo]

The scariest part of that article is that while we have "about" one year of water left in California's reservoirs, no one knows about the ground water which is being pumped out like crazy for agriculture. What if the powers that be are wrong, and we don't really have a year? What if it's nine months? I'd prefer not to still be living here if the state does begin running out of water. Conservation is great, but we can't conserve what we don't have. And I'm not sure I'd bet on getting a deluge of rain next winter, either.

This is actually a national problem, not just a local one. Why?

1. Where are millions of displaced Californians going to go? (And you can add the rest of the arid west to that number, too!)
2. If California becomes a barren wasteland, not just California will fall. It's going to affect the entire U.S. economy, and then the rest of the world to a lesser degree.

I've been saying for at least a year that our politicians need to do better than "let's hope it rains". Where is plan B, C, and D? A year is not very long, especially because getting anything done in this state is like pulling teeth. I'm hoping to see some action by September or October, but by then I'm seriously going to revive my plans to move somewhere along the east coast.

People aren't taking this seriously enough. It's as if there's this collective denial, that because there are so many people here and so much industry, that a slow, merciless drought can't choke off our way of life here. Civilizations have fallen due to a lack of water; we're not so special. Technological solutions may buy us some time, but that's it.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by SandyCo

1. Where are millions of displaced Californians going to go?

Texas.

In droves.

God speed!