Meet the couple who use more of California's water than all L.A. households combined (Los Angeles: sales, home)

[Tulemutt]

Meet the California Couple Who Uses More Water Than Every Home in Los Angeles Combined | Mother Jones

[Ruth4Truth]

Oh joy. Another forum fight over almonds.

[Hemlock140]

Actually, anyone that buys and eats almonds, other nuts or oranges from CA is getting the benefit of that water, not just that couple. I admire their entepreneurial abilities.

[cb73]

I thought it would be the Kardashians. I saw a picture during the height of the drought of their estate with perfect green lawns and multiple pools and fountains.

[SportyandMisty]

Ah, yes. Mother Jones. There's unbiased reporting for you.

[Nerdlord]

Originally Posted by SportyandMisty

Ah, yes. Mother Jones. There's unbiased reporting for you.

What about the article did you find biased?

[blueskywalker]

Originally Posted by Nerdlord

What about the article did you find biased?

Yes. I'd like to know that too.
Mother Jones has some of the best reporting and has a long track record of good hard-core truth telling.
Don't "blame the messenger".

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by SportyandMisty

Ah, yes. Mother Jones. There's unbiased reporting for you.

I just schooled you on the nature of journalism in another thread. Here you go again.

Mother Jones is definitely an ideologically progressive media. But they hold to the highest ethical standards of investigative journalism, which ethics require triple or better vetting of relevant sourcing for all claims and points of discussion. So tell us in what way is the article biased?

Editorial bias in ethical journalism appears in two forms:
1. Opinion clearly stated as opinion on Opinion / Editorial pages
2. Story / topic selection

In case #2 media may choose to feature stories that favor a particular ideological position. However, the content of the story is vetted to be honest and fair in presentation.

If you can find where the Mother Jones story fails to report truthfully, by all means let's hear about it.

By the way, the Resnick's story has been written many times in many media - including non-progressive media. The Resnick's are very well known in California. The MJ story in no way conflicts with common, uncontested knowledge.

[Electrician4you]

Are these people stealing water? Most likely they have a archaic water rights agreement/purchase so they can use as much as they want. And it's been stated before that farming does eat up a lot of the water in the state. But California is a agricultural state. The weather is perfect to grow most types of fruits, nuts and vegetables. It takes water to grow food.
It seems a lot of people are asking these farmers to basically give up their way of income.

According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, "California agriculture is a $42.6 billion dollar industry that generates at least $100 billion in related economic activity." The state’s agricultural sales first exceeded $30 billion in 2004, making it more than twice the size of any other state's agriculture industry.

IF you think we're going to just shut down a 42 billion dollar industry you're sadly mistaken

IF the state really wanted to we could put the money into a desal plant or multiple plants. Hell I always advocated Salton Sea to be used as a large storage of water and build a desal plants around it. You can tunnel under to the ocean. Since its below ocean level gravity will do a lot of the work on water intake. Hey they built a tunnel under the English Channel. This is very doable. Since its a huge pipe and you dint have the logistics of vehicles or people being inside. You build a inlet and a outlet you can then build a plant or a couple of them. There is nothing out there so land shortage isn't a issue. You can build a hydroelectric power plant too.
I would much rather gave my tax money spent on that than on a train to nowhere that nobody truly cares about.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by Electrician4you

Are these people stealing water? Most likely they have a archaic water rights agreement/purchase so they can use as much as they want. And it's been stated before that farming does eat up a lot of the water in the state. But California is a agricultural state. The weather is perfect to grow most types of fruits, nuts and vegetables. It takes water to grow food.
It seems a lot of people are asking these farmers to basically give up their way of income.

According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, "California agriculture is a $42.6 billion dollar industry that generates at least $100 billion in related economic activity." The state’s agricultural sales first exceeded $30 billion in 2004, making it more than twice the size of any other state's agriculture industry.

IF you think we're going to just shut down a 42 billion dollar industry you're sadly mistaken
.

Don't think anyone accused them of "stealing water".

California is a huge agriculture state. Yes. Very important to both the state's residents and to the nation. But 80% of the almonds the Resnick's grow aren't consumed in California - or the nation. They are shipped overseas to markets elsewhere.

The money those almonds earn for the state economy? Mmm. Well, something yes. But ALL California agriculture combined - big and important industry as it is - is only 3% of the state's economy. What portion of that 3% do you think those almonds going to China are? Yeah. Not much.

So, that ridiculous share of the state's water goes to enrich this one couple and a handful of other almond farmers at the expense of the general population's water security. Collapsing aquifers means nothing to the Resnicks.

Do they have legal rights to do this? Probably. Almost certainly. Are California's and America's old water rights laws and agreements equitable for today's society? Heh.

And no one has suggested shutting down California's agriculture industry. But some of us are damn sure questioning the equitability of a few barons gaining extraordinary wealth at the expense of the state's natural resources that are critical for all. Regulate a few mega-thirsty crops through allocating resources and protect critical natural assets.