El Nino is likely, and it could be very powerful next winter (Tulare: buy, restaurant)

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

Roseburg Oregon is cheap, you just have to ignore that fact that it's a little 'red-necky' and full of meth zombies, other than that it's a heck of a place

Southern Oregon coast is full of retirees for a reason.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by T. Damon

California has plenty of water, or certainly more than enough water to sustain this population and a much larger population in the future. What California doesn't have right now is a viable water infrastructure and allocation plan in place that manages its still copious available water resources.

The best thing about this drought is that now we are being forced to get real about the mismanagement of this resource for far too long and can now put into place a real plan that will prove to be sustainable for agriculture, urban and suburban populations and the environment for the future. I'm not sure that that will happen but it seems possible if we make our politicians pay attention to the needs of the state.

I am very hopeful about a wet year, and the likelihood looks very good. Having just experienced over two inches of rain in a couple of days in July in San Diego- absolutely unheard of historically- we almost got swept away in a torrent in the in the golf course/canyon behind our house while out walking!- it looks increasingly good for us with our own diversified water resources plan here in this city. We just need to implement a huge catch basin system throughout Southern California to capture some of the billions of tons of water that go out to the ocean from every rain storm among other infrastructure improvements.

Just got a new roof put in yesterday, solar panels installation going in on Monday, rain barrel system to be in place by fall- BRING IT ON EL NIÑO! I am bullish about California.

"California has plenty of water, or certainly more than enough water to sustain this population and a much larger population in the future."

Can you reference as to where you got this info?

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by sourdough

"California has plenty of water, or certainly more than enough water to sustain this population and a much larger population in the future."

Can you reference as to where you got this info?

Maybe if you shut down agriculture entirely.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Maybe if you shut down agriculture entirely.

Imported coconut water will save us.

[T. Damon]

Originally Posted by sourdough

"California has plenty of water, or certainly more than enough water to sustain this population and a much larger population in the future."

Can you reference as to where you got this info?

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Maybe if you shut down agriculture entirely.

Urban water users make up about 10%, the rest is roughly split between agricultural and environmental usages, that means there is plenty of water available, it's just not managed properly and we are seriously lacking in infrastructure to capture it and reclaim it.

You don't need to shut down agriculture entirely, that's ridiculous. You do need to stop the traditional allocation of nearly free water resources to huge agricultural conglomerates so that crop choices will reflect the actual cost and availability of water so future agriculture (including livestock) will use way less water than the water intensive agriculture we have spread out for generations over 10s of 1000s of acres in this state. It's really pretty simple.

We are the largest agriculture state in the union but it still makes up less than 2% of this state's GDP- some shifting of resources can and needs to be done.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by T. Damon

Urban water users make up about 10%, the rest is roughly split between agricultural and environmental usages, that means there is plenty of water available, it's just not managed properly and we are seriously lacking in infrastructure to capture it and reclaim it.

You don't need to shut down agriculture entirely, that's ridiculous. You do need to stop the traditional allocation of nearly free water resources to huge agricultural conglomerates so that crop choices will reflect the actual cost and availability of water so future agriculture (including livestock) will use way less water than the water intensive agriculture we have spread out for generations over 10s of 1000s of acres in this state. It's really pretty simple.

We are the largest agriculture state in the union but it still makes up less than 2% of this state's GDP- some shifting of resources can and needs to be done.

I have found no reference to support your claim, "California has plenty of water, or certainly more than enough water to sustain this population and a much larger population in the future."

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...the+future.%22

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

Could our drought end next rainy season? So here come the landslides again...

The LATIMES reports that the drought may soon be over.

http://www.weather.com/news/climate/...ssible-may2015

I found this more recent report on El Nino…
How This El Niño Is And Isn’t Like 1997 | Climate Central
and this about our water use….
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...eac_story.html

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by sourdough

Imported coconut water will save us.

What's with the sudden fad for coconut water, anyway?

[NativeOrange]

It's funny how the media keeps saying that El Nino's warm storms won't help us recharge our snowpack or will barely help the drought. While it is somewhat true, both of the last two super El Nino's gave us a huge snowpack in the Sierra.

The groundwater situation is much more difficult and will probably take decades to even get back to what it once was, if ever. That however, has less to do with the drought and more to do with depleting that reserve for over a century.

This current El Niño is already pushing into "strong" territory, yet the positive PDO is something that we don't really have the meteorological correlation data to accurately predict what will happen with these two events going on at once. It could potentially block storms again, which given the current and potential strength of this event, would be quite the missed opportunity. However, all that warm water could also boost whatever precipitation effects we receive.

So my predictions for SoCal:

If "the Blob" affects this El Niño event negatively: 90-110% or average rainfall. (Even though storms may not be as frequent, the amount of precipitable water will be high with whatever we get, so we may break even.

If "the Blob" has absolutely no effect on this event: 150-170% of average rainfall.

If "the Blob" positively affects this event: we could potentially be looking at the wettest year on record. Maybe even eclipsing the 2004-2005 event.

If we're not going off of facts and just assuming that nature will balance itself out, this could be, potentially, disastrous. But great for the reservoirs and snow pack!

[Des-Lab]

All of this saber rattling about "conserving" and "doing our part" is a crock of BS, plain and simple. I'm absolutely convinced that it's a repeat of the artifically and intentionally created electricity "crisis" of c.2000. It only took about 3 or 4 years for the truth on that scam to emerge. And I'd wager that similar stories of cronyism and corruption surrounding the drought will likewise come to light at about the end of the decade and how we are/were being fleeced.

Going after lawns and glasses in restaurants represents the "easy, low hanging fruit" target that's both highly visible and gives the immediate impression that "something's being done", which just happens to dovetail in nicely with Gov Browns personal disdain and hatred of the low density suburban lifestyle. The "management" of this crisis has absolutely NOTHING to do with conservation and EVERYTHING to do with politics and social engineering. The fact that the farmers have been given pretty much carte blanche to continue with business as usual speaks for itself. Killing off every single non-agricultural plant in the state and banning bathing completely STILL would not be a panacea for the drought.

Think about it and connect a few dots. What is the one area that mutually benefits both parties? Even though CA is primarily a Democratic state politically, it seems somewhat disingenuous that the farmers (almost all of which, large and small, are registered Republicans) continue to get free pass after free pass. The reason? The illegals. Brown has not been the least bit coy here either. He wants as many of them to come as possible. He has already granted de facto amnesty. And most people can agree that one does not 'bite the hand that feeds them'. So it effectively stacks the electorate block in favor of the Dems remaining in power for all perpetuity. What do the "poor minority" Republicans get out of it? A virtually unlimited, infinite pool of very low cost labor. We know how much in favor the GOP is of "secure borders". That is till the profit margins are affected. If opening it up means a significant boost to the bottom line, they'll happily look the other way. This has been demonstrated time and time again. So it's a win-win for both parties and in their best interests to keep the farms whole.

Same reason we haven't seen a moratorium on new housing. What party represents the builders? What party represents the ones that actually build them?

Meanwhile what are the individual, private homeowners going to do? They are pretty much powerless to do anything to push back. So we just have to bend over. We can of course pay to have our yards redone. Again, who benefits the most? Landscapers and gardeners. And what demographic is that again?

This is exactly why the REAL profligate water wasters are allowed to continue on their merry way. But I can be summoned and dragged into court for pouring a six ounce glass of water on a houseplant on a "wrong day".

And they get to flaunt it too. This is a picture I took in Tulare about three months ago. If this isn't the very crystallization of narcissistic hubris, I don't know what is.



And a recent water bill. See how I've already reduced my usage by almost half year over year?

If I catch the next person that leaves a "How To Reduce Your Water Usage" or "Call Us For Your Low Water Usage" Landscaping Needs" flyer on my door, they will have it force fed to them.