Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
alfalfa is the most offensive of crops grown in CA, since it is more water intensive than almonds, and the vast majority of it is exported to asia. basically exporting water.
anyways, all the proposals of building pipelines to other parts of the country are stupid. transporting water over the continental divide would require significantly more energy than desalination. the answer to the water problem is simple. economic and environmental reality will eventually force california to build desalination plants. a few more years of this drought and the fake environmentalists blocking desalination wont have an audience anymore. it has to get worse before we see some real positive change and infrastructure improvements. so i am hoping this drought continues.
The science people don't seem to think it is an insignificant bait fish as you would have us believe, rather they say with a high amount of certainty that the entire ecosystem depends on the survival of that insignificant fish. The water flows out to prevent a Salton sea scenario.
The entire ecosystem is not dependent on this bait fish.
There are plenty of scientists who doubt its importance and some of the "scientists" who testified have been proved to have lied under oath to make the issue seem greater than it was.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarahsez
There is a lot of California farming history I don't understand.
You should have stopped there because it was the only statement you were correct on.
Only an idiot would feel any schadenfreude, many of us that live in drought areas understand the situation. Here we are allowed to water our yard once every two weeks. We are not allowed to wash our cars, and the first citation is $200. Any subsequent citation up to $2000. It is enforced by city employees driving around at night taking pictures.
What should happen is that the rich should also be forced to cut back on water use. All their golf use an enormous amount of water that does not benefit the people but the few.
They should stop all swimming pools including public ones, it's another big source of water waste and then stop car washes.
Only an idiot would feel any schadenfreude, many of us that live in drought areas understand the situation. Here we are allowed to water our yard once every two weeks. We are not allowed to wash our cars, and the first citation is $200. Any subsequent citation up to $2000. It is enforced by city employees driving around at night taking pictures.
In some places people with lawns should be penalized. Where I live more and more people are going to desert landscaping. Some areas are using reclaimed water for golf courses and baseball fields, not enough but I am sure the number will grow.
I don’t live in the desert, I live in north Texas. However, I just hired a company to remove all my thirsty shrubs and several trees at a cost of $3100. Will also install underground house foundation irrigation system, cost $?.
This isn't a California problem. It will eventually effect us all by increasing our food costs.
We can't distill the oceans to make clean drinking water for everyone. What would we do with the salt? We can't dump in back into the ocean. It would eventually kill the sea life.
We've only begun to see the problem on our horizon.
Most of CA is not even a desert. Droughts can affect anywhere in the continental USA. Not utilizing resources like the Pacific Ocean is ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as those who protest desalination plants for fear a few sea creatures might be harmed in the process.
The biggest issue with desalination is the cost, environmental concerns are a secondary issue. It is not just the cost of building the plants (which is high) it is also cost of the huge amounts of energy that is required to desalinate the water. The new desalination plant that is being built San Diego will produce water at a cost > $2000/acre foot, which is about double the cost of other sources of water (reservoirs etc), and about four times the cost of implementing water efficiency measures to save the same amount. It just doesn't make economic sense.
But don't let that stop you politicizing this and blaming it all on the 'greenies'.
Last edited by OscarTheGrouch; 04-02-2015 at 12:37 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
