Can California Requisition Water From the Columbia River via Congress? (Huntington Beach: real estate, homes)

[thrillobyte]

Climatologists are now saying that the Southwest may be headed into a prolonged drought period possibly decades long. Agriculture in the Central Valley of California is critical to food production for the nation (or is it?).

I read about a decade ago that California had approached Oregon to divert some of the millions of gallons of freshwater from the Columbia River that empty into the Pacific Ocean each day---water that goes completely to waste. I never heard if Oregon was favorable, but nothing ever happened so I assume the Oregon govt. was crazy about the idea of an aqueduct stretching the length of their state.

But now these are critical times and food and cattle production could be bankrupted and come to a grinding halt due to the draught. Does California have legal grounds for approaching the Federal Govt. with a demand of some sort for Congress to override Oregon's veto and enact an emergency Act of Congress to force Oregon to give some of its water to California's Central Valley?

A decades-long draught would not only hurt agriculture but could cause a real estate crash in California if there were no water to pump into the tens of millions of homes here.

[Wells5]

As Mark Twain said long ago about the water situation in the American west: "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over."

Siphoning off a small bit of the flow from the Columbia River to slake CA's thirst seems like a "no-brainer," but like other large construction projects, there would be endless objections from state and local governments, ordinary citizens and the national environmental lobby, not to mention the monumental cost. Unlike the waters of the Colorado River, which were divvied up in the bygone era of 1922 by the 7 bordering states (including CA) in a "compact" and with Mexico by treaty in 1944, the Columbia does not border CA. Whether Congress can override this issue is problematic. Perhaps paying a generous fee to the states (and provinces) where the Columbia's waters originate might help in the battle, but then the farmers in the Central Valley couldn't afford the price for irrigation water.

Still a pipe dream. (No pun intended.)

[thrillobyte]

Originally Posted by Wells5

As Mark Twain said long ago about the water situation in the American west: "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over."

Siphoning off a small bit of the flow from the Columbia River to slake CA's thirst seems like a "no-brainer," but like other large construction projects, there would be endless objections from state and local governments, ordinary citizens and the national environmental lobby, not to mention the monumental cost. Unlike the waters of the Colorado River, which were divvied up in the bygone era of 1922 by the 7 bordering states (including CA) in a "compact" and with Mexico by treaty in 1944, the Columbia does not border CA. Whether Congress can override this issue is problematic. Perhaps paying a generous fee to the states (and provinces) where the Columbia's waters originate might help in the battle, but then the farmers in the Central Valley couldn't afford the price for irrigation water.

Still a pipe dream. (No pun intended.)

Thank you for the info. Wasn't sure to what extent the Federal govt can override the states individual rights in such situations. This is a crisis and in the next five years, if this drought is prolonged, it will be a catastrophe. Can the feds invervene at any level, FEMA for example. Or would the California Central Valley --let's give a worst case: totally depletion of water for years--just have to bite the bullet and let themselves turn into a dust bowl and sell off the agricultural lands for whatever it would fetch? Is the state's right to keep this water that ironclad? Or is the only solution desalination plants piping water from the ocean? And how would a Central Valley devoid of any agriculture affect the food supply? Is there enough capacity in the Midwest to take up the slack?

[Wilson502]

CA should of started building desal plants 15-20 years ago. CA's problems are their own problems to solve, no chance in hell your going to siphon off the Columbia river. OR and WA sure as hell dont want CA siphoning off of it when they got almost 1000 miles of coastline to build desal plants than build a 1000+ mile aqueduct. Maybe CA should of exercised some forethought instead of the OMG drought! What do we do!? We were too dumb to plan ahead mentality.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by thrillobyte

I read about a decade ago that California had approached Oregon to divert some of the millions of gallons of freshwater from the Columbia River that empty into the Pacific Ocean each day---water that goes completely to waste. I never heard if Oregon was favorable, but nothing ever happened so I assume the Oregon govt. was crazy about the idea of an aqueduct stretching the length of their state.

Oregon and Washington are not "favorable" to this, in the slightest. As far as that water being "wasted"? You know that is a navigable river, with a ton of river traffic on it, from fishing boats to pleasure boats to huge grain freighters going all the way up the river via the lock system, right? Along with one of the largest salmon runs. Plus the dams supply a huge percentage of Oregon and Washington's power via hydro.

Tapping the Columbia to fix overallocation and overuse is not the answer.

[California831]

Originally Posted by Wilson502

CA should of started building desal plants 15-20 years ago. CA's problems are their own problems to solve, no chance in hell your going to siphon off the Columbia river. OR and WA sure as hell dont want CA siphoning off of it when they got almost 1000 miles of coastline to build desal plants than build a 1000+ mile aqueduct. Maybe CA should of exercised some forethought instead of the OMG drought! What do we do!? We were too dumb to plan ahead mentality.

Desal not the answer. An expansive recycled water system is the answer. Recycle ever drop of tertiary treated wastewater. It is not only practical, but environmentally friendly, and way less expensive than desal. People love to talk about desal, but few really know anything about it. It is extremely energy intensive inefficient process, and yields a terrible quality water.

[ExeterMedia]

Originally Posted by Wilson502

CA should of started building desal plants 15-20 years ago. CA's problems are their own problems to solve, no chance in hell your going to siphon off the Columbia river. OR and WA sure as hell dont want CA siphoning off of it when they got almost 1000 miles of coastline to build desal plants than build a 1000+ mile aqueduct. Maybe CA should of exercised some forethought instead of the OMG drought! What do we do!? We were too dumb to plan ahead mentality.

The ******* Nimby crew will continue to kill Desal projects where ever they pop up. Desal won't become a reality while the *******s hold California unfortunately.

They'll continue to post articles like this all over their lefty activism websites based on junk science, and the *******s will eat it up.
Here's why to Oppose the Poseidon Desalination Facility in Huntington Beach - Democratic Underground

The HB plant could have provided 50,000,000 gallons of drinking water a day.

[Krispytopher]

California has water, our problem is that there are people that care about the tiny fish and pond scum in the water which does not let us humans use as much as we need/like.

[Wilson502]

Originally Posted by California831

Desal not the answer. An expansive recycled water system is the answer. Recycle ever drop of tertiary treated wastewater. It is not only practical, but environmentally friendly, and way less expensive than desal. People love to talk about desal, but few really know anything about it. It is extremely energy intensive inefficient process, and yields a terrible quality water.

Recycled wastewaster is part of the solution, but ultimately Desal is needed to EXPAND the SUPPLY. CA hasnt meaningfully expanded water storage in decades yet the population has doubled in that same amount of time. CA reaps what it sows. Desal has made great strides in recent years, seems your the one that doesn't know much about it with your typical NIMBY ******* arguments.

[Plantweed]

Someday we'll have to spring for a pipeline from the Great Lakes basin. We have more water than we know what to do with up here, too much sometimes (flooding).