Worst Drought In The History Of California Is Happening Right Now (San Diego: buy, construction)

[Fargobound]

Does this mean we can stop wasting water on the Salton Sewer?

[Hemlock140]

Having been one of the people implementing drought rationing programs at EBMUD in the Bay Area in 1976-77, I think it might be wise to take this seriously. With the main reservoirs serving the by are still fairly full, it may not be too bad this summer, especially if there is any early spring rain and snow. If you get a second year of drought, though, 2015 will be a nightmare. This is starting off just as id did back then. You now have lower per-capita water use due to conservation measures and some alternative water sources, but you also have many more homes, and some of them with extensive landscaping. I remember even in 1977 people in the San Ramon Valley paying $3,000/month for water with penalty charges because their landscaping was worth $50,000 or more. I'm still in utilities in Seattle, and while our ski resorts are barely open with a small percentage of normal snowfall, we don't depend on it as much because we get so much rain all year. The storms are just missing the west coast, and the result is the huge snowstorms hitting the east.

[TheDragonslayer]

Originally Posted by BeauCharles

Checked the thermometer on my patio - 62F at 1AM in the Sacramento Valley in late January. LOL- amazing.

I live on the coast 90 miles from the Oregon border, usually we would be in the mid 40's to low 50's in the daytime and if it was not raining, we would be having morning frost. It was 62º at 1 am here on the coast and 66º at 7 am. It only got to 68º today.

[509]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Having been one of the people implementing drought rationing programs at EBMUD in the Bay Area in 1976-77, I think it might be wise to take this seriously. With the main reservoirs serving the by are still fairly full, it may not be too bad this summer, especially if there is any early spring rain and snow. If you get a second year of drought, though, 2015 will be a nightmare. This is starting off just as id did back then. You now have lower per-capita water use due to conservation measures and some alternative water sources, but you also have many more homes, and some of them with extensive landscaping. I remember even in 1977 people in the San Ramon Valley paying $3,000/month for water with penalty charges because their landscaping was worth $50,000 or more. I'm still in utilities in Seattle, and while our ski resorts are barely open with a small percentage of normal snowfall, we don't depend on it as much because we get so much rain all year. The storms are just missing the west coast, and the result is the huge snowstorms hitting the east.

It will be much worse this time for water.

Looks like power generation will be ok due to all the natural gas turbine plants sited in California the past few years. So much for wind and solar!!

Anyway...you would enjoy reading this paper. Interesting to see if there is a more current policy paper on drought management in California.

http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditi...port_87-92.pdf

[Des-Lab]

LOL @ the Salton sewer.

True it's an environmental disaster even if a picturesque and sublime area. The fact is that letting it dry up would be an even bigger catastrophe on account of what's at the bottom of it and the prevailing wind patterns. Multiply Owens Lake about a hundredfold and you'll see why letting the Salton Dry up would be the worse of two evils.

Personally, I'd like to see it reconnected to the Gulf Of California as it once was. There are water marks still clearly visible on many of the hillsides in and around Indio, Coachella, etc. That would involve a few sticks of TNT and some bulldozers in Mexico, but it can be theoretically done. After all, almost all of the Imperial/Coachella Valleys are at or below sea level. Remember that the valley that holds the Salton Sea is really a landward extension of the Gulf.

The down side to that of course would be in order to re-submerge that basin and bring it up to sea level would mean that Indio, Mecca, Brawley, El Central, Calexico, and Mexicali-as well as countless acres of prime farmland, not to mention much of Anza-Borrego park would all be under water.

But it would solve the Salton Sea issue.....

[sargentodiaz]

Originally Posted by MrWillys

And in the middle of what appears to be a reasonable post you insert this zinger, and yet cite no source for said claim, or what interference creates said unexpected crisis. Therefore, it discredits the entire post. If you're trying to tie this to your previous post about only allowing a certain amount of water to be diverted to not make fish extinct it would seem your point is backwards. Without diverting water to LA, and the central valley for agriculture which is a man made interference there would be no problem. So are you promoting that we kill off natural species before limiting water allotments to LA lawns, and central valley agriculture to assure profits are maintained even with a world wide resource available too easily make up for any shortages? Agriculture is no longer limited to the US.

Other than environmentalism, which is a form of politics, what reasons are there for diverting water from agricultural uses?

What reasons are there for building communities in environmentally sensitive areas?

This was not a "zinger" but a statement of fact.

I've long felt that the Kern River Project was nothing more than a fop to rich investors seeking to draw more people to Los Angeles so they could continue to get rich. Without that water, LA could never exist in its present entity.

It's late in the day for me and I deal badly with confrontational posts at this point in time.

[Sandbow]

I feel weird-- both empathetic and scared at the same time-- when I see reports of the stormy weather most of the rest of the country is getting right now.

Empathetic because getting blasted by weather you're unused to enduring isn't fun, to say the least.

Scared, because we're getting ZERO of it around here.

I've been seeing Twitter posts with #overit tags in regard to crappy winter weather. It hasn't even started here; it's being very hard to enjoy what appears to be a ludicrously-extended spring because you just know the upcoming summer is going to suck even bigger balls than usual.

[dexter14]

This is just another example of how shockingly stupid the people who run this state are. We live next to a giant body of water called the PACIFIC OCEAN and we have a DROUGHT?! Anyone ever heard of a "desalination plant"? Build a few, problem solved. Idiots.

[MrWillys]

Originally Posted by sargentodiaz

Other than environmentalism, which is a form of politics, what reasons are there for diverting water from agricultural uses?

I would think people are more important, but rashing should be in effect.

What reasons are there for building communities in environmentally sensitive areas?

Construction has feed me my entire life and is part of growth, but I'm not sure of your angle. I'm never anti growth though except in areas set aside like Yosemite maybe.

This was not a "zinger" but a statement of fact.

I've long felt that the Kern River Project was nothing more than a fop to rich investors seeking to draw more people to Los Angeles so they could continue to get rich. Without that water, LA could never exist in its present entity.

You got me on this. I thought the California aqueduct, Parker dam (Colorado), and Owens valley was the LA source, and they were stopped from draining Mono lake. They get 50% of the US allocation from the 5 state agreement.

Honestly, the fish in California have suffered due to mans impact, and is now affecting Washington and all rivers North. As long as we like too eat it should be a consideration in how we treat water allocation in dry years. To think just screw the fish in favor of agriculture would be very short sighted.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Having been one of the people implementing drought rationing programs at EBMUD in the Bay Area in 1976-77, I think it might be wise to take this seriously. With the main reservoirs serving the by are still fairly full, it may not be too bad this summer, especially if there is any early spring rain and snow. If you get a second year of drought, though, 2015 will be a nightmare. This is starting off just as id did back then. You now have lower per-capita water use due to conservation measures and some alternative water sources, but you also have many more homes, and some of them with extensive landscaping. I remember even in 1977 people in the San Ramon Valley paying $3,000/month for water with penalty charges because their landscaping was worth $50,000 or more. I'm still in utilities in Seattle, and while our ski resorts are barely open with a small percentage of normal snowfall, we don't depend on it as much because we get so much rain all year. The storms are just missing the west coast, and the result is the huge snowstorms hitting the east.

Technically, from a water year standpoint, the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 water years were deficient. If the 2013- 2014 water year ends up deficient that would make this the 3rd year of drought.