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Old 07-25-2021, 06:42 AM
 
Location: Concord, CA
7,123 posts, read 9,193,455 times
Reputation: 25337

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California moves to cut off water to thousands of farmers, as drought dries up rivers

https://www.sacbee.com/news/californ...252986953.html

"Forced to reckon with a worsening drought, California’s water regulators are preparing to forbid thousands of farmers from tapping into the state’s major rivers and streams.

It’s an extraordinary step — and one that regulators didn’t take during the last drought, which was considered one of the worst on record.

The State Water Resources Control Board on Friday released an “emergency curtailment” order that would cut thousands off from rivers and streams in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river watersheds. The five-person board still has to vote on the order Aug. 3, and it would take effect about two weeks later."
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Old 08-06-2021, 05:51 AM
 
Location: Concord, CA
7,123 posts, read 9,193,455 times
Reputation: 25337
Major California hydroelectric plant forced to shut down as severe drought continues

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...le-powerplant/

"California said Thursday it has shut down a large hydroelectric power plant as water levels at a nearby reservoir fell close to the minimum needed to generate electricity, underscoring the challenges faced by the nation’s most populous state as it grapples with climate change.

State officials said in a statement that the Hyatt Power Plant was taken offline after water levels at Lake Oroville
, located next to the plant, fell to slightly above 640 feet, or lowest in decades. That is just over the 630-to-640-feet level needed to produce power. The lowered water levels are due to a severe drought caused by climate change, officials said."
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Old 08-06-2021, 10:15 AM
 
Location: Business ethics is an oxymoron.
2,347 posts, read 3,310,310 times
Reputation: 5382
Interesting how Oroville is the only....ONLY lake that ever gets mentioned in this story. I get that it's "the biggest" and all that. But there are other large reservoirs too. Pine Flat. Kaweah. Millerton. San Luis. And so on and so on. How come none of those ever get mentioned?

Also on that note. How come no story about the drought/heat waves ever NOT contain a potshot at the oil industry?
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Old 08-06-2021, 10:57 AM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,104 posts, read 80,155,784 times
Reputation: 56918
Quote:
Originally Posted by Des-Lab View Post
Interesting how Oroville is the only....ONLY lake that ever gets mentioned in this story. I get that it's "the biggest" and all that. But there are other large reservoirs too. Pine Flat. Kaweah. Millerton. San Luis. And so on and so on. How come none of those ever get mentioned?

Also on that note. How come no story about the drought/heat waves ever NOT contain a potshot at the oil industry?
Being from CA, with friends and family there, and a former employee there in the water industry during 3 major droughts I pay attention to the news, and I see more stories about Lake Shasta than Oroville, plus some on Pardee, Comanche and Hech Heche which are still at reasonable levels for the Bay Area residents. The Oroville story has more exposure due to the power plant closure while there already could be blackouts due to fire danger, and people the many electric vehicles there may get stranded.

https://mendovoice.com/2021/07/thund...e-not-careful/


https://www.redding.com/picture-gall...ta/7695437002/

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/07/...treme-drought/

https://www.ktvu.com/news/amid-a-wor...-in-good-shape
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Old 08-06-2021, 11:27 AM
 
Location: Cali
3,951 posts, read 7,162,688 times
Reputation: 2293
Sounds like we could use desalination plants.
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Old 08-06-2021, 11:40 AM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,104 posts, read 80,155,784 times
Reputation: 56918
Quote:
Originally Posted by CamaroGuy View Post
Sounds like we could use desalination plants.
Currently there are 11 desalination plants in California, and 10 more are proposed, the problem is that they use a tremendous amount of energy, typically 10 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce one cubic meter of freshwater from seawater.
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Old 08-06-2021, 07:48 PM
509
 
6,285 posts, read 6,928,725 times
Reputation: 9389
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemlock140 View Post
Currently there are 11 desalination plants in California, and 10 more are proposed, the problem is that they use a tremendous amount of energy, typically 10 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce one cubic meter of freshwater from seawater.
California is heading for a world of hurt when it comes to electricity as are other urban areas dependent on "imports" of electricity.

California imports 1/3 of its electricity.

The Industrial Wind Areas according to state and Federal law can sell their electricity at triple market rates and the BPA must buy it. This leaves PUD's in Washington state forced to pay people to take their electricity during the spring months when the wind blows in eastern Washington.

The PUD's are moving to making "green" hydrogen and selling that instead of electricity to California and urban areas in the Northwest. If successful, in the future they will stop selling to California and to other urban areas.

It is time for California and urban areas to start thinking LOCALLY when it comes to generating electricity.
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Old 08-09-2021, 08:23 AM
 
Location: NC
9,343 posts, read 13,922,544 times
Reputation: 20836
Is there any effort to promote use of laundry grey water for things like toilets?
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Old 08-09-2021, 01:26 PM
 
5,250 posts, read 4,641,292 times
Reputation: 17351
The western states drought should be a real wake up call for those who want to move to the newest paradisiacal zip code. California at one time, was a place of abundant natural resources and few people, it seemed as though those large amounts of water, timber, gold, and wildlife were never going to be in short supply. The same could be said of Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho, too many people and never enough of anything to satisfy the Locust like invasion of two legged malcontents seeking their own slice of heaven.

The entire southwest and northwest states are filling with people even though the potential lack of resources is an obvious problem. We think that technology can save us, no matter what the challenges are, but most have little knowledge of just how limited our technology really is. Desalinization has it's negatives and unfortunately those are tied to an already beleaguered energy grid, not to mention the problems for marine life coupled with the threat of increasing chemical pollution. Technology has it's limits, and the earth has it's own limits with regard to our lifestyle. So it seems we're on a collision course with nature on one side and our insatiable wants on the other

Our "growth is good" mantra has seen it's better days, it's too late for California, but the other fast filling states should certainly see the consequences of unlimited growth..In my area the current building boom is crawling over the landscape, devouring old farms, open forest lands, and threatening to bring tens of thousands to share our roads, bridges, water, electricity, which are all at overload capacity right now. I'm so happy when people tell me they are leaving, but then they tell me they are moving to one of the other western or southwestern states, and yes, they are seriously expecting to be welcomed....
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Old 08-09-2021, 02:07 PM
 
Location: San Diego Native
4,433 posts, read 2,386,491 times
Reputation: 4801
Quote:
Originally Posted by luv4horses View Post
Is there any effort to promote use of laundry grey water for things like toilets?

Maybe someone has already worked out the bugs on this, but how would you make it work? You'd have to store the laundry waste water somewhere. It would have to be filtered for large contaminants. You'd have to have a completely isolated system and plumb it from that holding tank, to the toilet tank in every bathroom, which would require a pump or some sort of way to pressurize it (so probably a redesigned toilet to go with it). You'd probably want an automated fallback to use fresh water if the grey water tank was low. I'm not saying it couldn't work, but it'd be a big retrofit job.



The concept is solid though. We tend to think of water as one-time use and throw a lot of it away.
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