Water, water everywhere . . . and not a drop to drink. (coloring, California, cities)

[tijlover]

Israel is in a desert region, they have far less water than we have here in the SW, but the little they have they use more wisely, more efficiently with drip irrigation systems.

This irrigation flooding of the fields in CA and the Southwest wastes too much water. Drip irrigation would lessen the need for water. It would probably be expensive to institute drip irrigation in CA, but Israel has very little choices. From what I understand the water travels south from Turkey into the Middle East.

[bluepacific]

Originally Posted by tijlover

Israel is in a desert region, they have far less water than we have here in the SW, but the little they have they use more wisely, more efficiently with drip irrigation systems.

This irrigation flooding of the fields in CA and the Southwest wastes too much water. Drip irrigation would lessen the need for water. It would probably be expensive to institute drip irrigation in CA, but Israel has very little choices.

Actually the United States agriculture does employ the use of drip irregation where it warrants it in vineyard , orchard, etc applications just like Israel does. But certain vegetable and fruit crops do require a fair amount of water close to the surface for no other reason than they have a shallow root system. There's no way around that.

The problem is that California has no real enforcement laws for Xeriscaping the way Arizona and Nevada require. Although I do believe much of the Palm Springs area may require this, but certainly not the coastal areas.

Originally Posted by tijlover

From what I understand the water travels south from Turkey into the Middle East.

Actually the bulk of Israel's water comes from the Jordan river which flows from out of Lebanon and Syria from Mount Herman areas. From Turkey you've got the Euphrates and
Tigris rivers. Take note of all three rivers below and their origins.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Gunluvver2

Forget about Global Warming! A bigger threat to California and other states may be running out of water for drinking and irrigation. An extended drought in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and other Western States may be catastrophic to ALL Western States.

If any of you have ideas in how to prevent this possible disaster I would like to hear what they are. I have a few of my own I will post in a few days if they aren't duplicated by others here.

GL2

One thing they don't tell you is that some judge reduced the amount of water they can draw from the Sacramento river in order to save some rare species of fish. It's environmenalism run amok.

I read somewhere that 85% of the water used in CA is for agricultural purposes. But is this water really being used efficiently? I have my doubts. There are probably ways to irrigate more efficiently.


That said, all they really need to do is raise water rates and use set aside of that increase in rates to help with water conservation programs.

It would all help if we all ate less beef as well. Cattle need a whole lot of water, which is water we could use to grow other crops. And the amount of beef Americans eat is making them fat and contributing to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, not to mention high health care costs to pay for these chronic diseases.





Just the increase in rates alone will get people to use less.

[GregW]

Increased water rates will tend to drive the smaller farmers out of business first because they do not have the financial strength to make the irrigation investment needed to use less water. The corporate farms will complain but survive. I suggest a tiered rate system that charges the big guys more per gallon to essentially equalize the effective cost of more expensive water. Entertainment and recreation facilities should face the highest rates of all because they are in essence a nonessential use of a scarce commodity.

[Omaha Rocks]

Originally Posted by GregW

Increased water rates will tend to drive the smaller farmers out of business first because they do not have the financial strength to make the irrigation investment needed to use less water. The corporate farms will complain but survive. I suggest a tiered rate system that charges the big guys more per gallon to essentially equalize the effective cost of more expensive water. Entertainment and recreation facilities should face the highest rates of all because they are in essence a nonessential use of a scarce commodity.

It's not smart to penalize those who are growing food for people.

But it does make sense to charge a considerably higher price for the water being used to water lawns, golf courses, etc.


Here's a rant... Obviously, I live in Omaha. We have had a very wet summer. It's September 9th and we're still mowing our lawns at least once per week, without any watering necessary.

Even so, I cannot begin to tell you how many times this summer I've been driving around on a rainy day, and I see residential & commercial sprinkler systems on! My wife works for a non-profit entity that has a 100 acre campus. They water that place every single day all summer long - watering it to the point where they practically turn the lawn into green manure. It's ridiculous!

I also cannot begin to say how many times I see lawn sprinkler systems running, and there are hundreds (thousands?) of gallons of water that is misdirected, and running down the street and into the nearest storm sewer. Is that not absolutely stupid?



There. I said it! I'm going to go have another cup of coffee & kid the dog around for awhile!

[mainelander]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

One thing they don't tell you is that some judge reduced the amount of water they can draw from the Sacramento river in order to save some rare species of fish. It's environmenalism run amok.

I read somewhere that 85% of the water used in CA is for agricultural purposes. But is this water really being used efficiently? I have my doubts. There are probably ways to irrigate more efficiently.


That said, all they really need to do is raise water rates and use set aside of that increase in rates to help with water conservation programs.

It would all help if we all ate less beef as well. Cattle need a whole lot of water, which is water we could use to grow other crops. And the amount of beef Americans eat is making them fat and contributing to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, not to mention high health care costs to pay for these chronic diseases.





Just the increase in rates alone will get people to use less.

when u say raise rates to whom do you mean? normal inhabitants that do wastefull things like bathe and drink water? most of them can barely pay the exorbitant water prices as it is

[stonecypher5413]

For a sobering look at the current national drought status, check out this 12-week animation:

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/12_week.gif



It is mind-boggling to me, a Washington State resident, to see DROUGHT in the Olympic RAINFOREST! Everybody KNOWS it rains here ALL THE TIME!

I feel sorriest for people with wells on rural properties, trying to be self-sustaining and facing depleted aquifers from bone-headed decisions not of their making.

[Teak]

Originally Posted by BrokenTap

Teak, your ideas are sound, just one sided. You forget that crops also give off water too, so while they do soak up water to grow, they also give it off. I think an acre of corn gives up over 1000 gallons of water per day. Its probably why the west is dry and the east is wet and gaining water. It simply lands here.

I am still with Omaha Rocks on this one. More land is in lawns in the USA then in agricultural ground, and more fertilizer and water goes into raising grass for suburbanites to walk on (or just look at) then grows our own food. That is sad. Once again its blame agriculture, stuff faces full of food and not take responsibility for society views on something that is not needed. (lawns)

ZZZZZzzzzzzz....uuuhhhhh, huh, what??

I fell asleep on this thread, sorry.

Oh I certainly agree with O.R. on the fact that too much water is wasted on green lawns. Still, I like the look of them as much as anybody else.

I spent a couple of days in Tucson, Arizona, and was quite impressed with the Xeric landscaping concept and think that could be pushed a bit more strongly even by midwestern city managers.

I don't think that too many people know how rapidly the groundwater levels are dropping in certain Great Plains aquifers. It will become apparent in the not-to-distant future.

[texdav]

I don't think talking about las vegas useage tells you alot about the nation has a whole or even western states.Green lawns depends on which state really but there still is too much usage in other areas where it shouldn't be. Some agriculture is grown in the wrong areas of the country often also and often without federal crop insurance thru farm bills it never would be.

[marmac]

Originally Posted by texdav

I don't think talking about las vegas useage tells you alot about the nation has a whole or even western states.Green lawns depends on which state really but there still is too much usage in other areas where it shouldn't be. Some agriculture is grown in the wrong areas of the country often also and often without federal crop insurance thru farm bills it never would be.

Yout post is contradictory.

Farmers don't grow crops in dry areas w/o irrigation cuz to make a profit on crop insurance is nearly impossible as the rates would be too high.

Since we are talking about irrigation ( water useage) , if they are irrigating they wouldn't be collecting insurance cuz they are irrigating.

Irrigation is their protection.