Something is wrong here. (Los Angeles, Pasadena: live, cost of, store)

[CALGUY]

For the past few days I have noticed the Los Angeles river in the South Pasadena area, flowing with higher than usual levels.
I would estimate that Billion upon billions of gallons of water are flowing into the ocean from just this one source.
With the rain today, it is higher than usual, but still it is headed too the ocean.
Why, with the shortage of water in the central valley of California, is this terrible waste of water allowed?
Farmers have closed up and gone under for want of water for their crops.
With budget shortfalls, I guess there are no plans to divert this much needed resource to where it is desperately needed.
Seeing all this water flowing into the ocean when it is so desperately needed elsewhere is a disgrace.
There has to be a way to get this water to where it is needed, instead of needlessly filling the ocean with it.
What a terrible waste.
Bob.

[BRinSM]

i'm no irrigation expert, but i would imagine the cost of pumping the water to the central valley makes this practice cost prohibitive, especially for a water source that is completely dry for much of the year.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by CALGUY

For the past few days I have noticed the Los Angeles river in the South Pasadena area, flowing with higher than usual levels.
I would estimate that Billion upon billions of gallons of water are flowing into the ocean from just this one source.
With the rain today, it is higher than usual, but still it is headed too the ocean.
Why, with the shortage of water in the central valley of California, is this terrible waste of water allowed?
Farmers have closed up and gone under for want of water for their crops.
With budget shortfalls, I guess there are no plans to divert this much needed resource to where it is desperately needed.
Seeing all this water flowing into the ocean when it is so desperately needed elsewhere is a disgrace.
There has to be a way to get this water to where it is needed, instead of needlessly filling the ocean with it.
What a terrible waste.
Bob.

My guess is the snow that accumulated months ago has been melting over the past few weeks with all those 70s and 80s days we had.
Also, I think some water runoff is actually captured in underground aquifers but I'm not sure where these are located and from what sources they're fed.

http://www.wrd.org/DistrictMap.pdf

http://www.wrd.org/engineering/pdf/gwe_fall2k.pdf

from

Water Replenishment District of Southern California: Los Angeles groundwater

[smokingGun]

According to what I've read there's no cost-effective way to capture runoff & store it for warmer months right now. There are small-scale experiments using aquafields & underground tanks but nothing that's practical for commercial agriculture.

[Visit a Library]

Something is wrong here.

Okay...

Originally Posted by CALGUY

With the rain today, it is higher than usual, but still it is headed too the ocean.

Aha...you used the wrong 'to'. What do I win?

[ferretkona]

Awhile it seems wasteful there is a whole ecology dependent on brackish water. Brackish water is where fresh water meets the ocean. Treated water also is wasted because most people do not want their water only a few steps downhill of treating crap. Instead it is used to water landscape on golf courses and freeway on ramps.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by CALGUY

Seeing all this water flowing into the ocean when it is so desperately needed elsewhere is a disgrace.
There has to be a way to get this water to where it is needed, instead of needlessly filling the ocean with it.
What a terrible waste.
Bob.

There's already expensive systems in place to deliver water over the high geographical features (aka mountains) TO us. However, it flows one way. To duplicate that infrastructure in order to pump seasonal runoff water the other way so the CV can use it for irrigation would be a foolhardy waste of money.

Anyway, they almost always get rain when we get it, and more of it, so delivering our runoff to them would be carrying coal to Newcastle.

EDIT: It would be much easier to let that stupid fish go extinct so the current ag water restrictions up there can be lifted.

[Cubancoffee]

Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by Cubancoffee

Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

i'm no irrigation expert, but i would imagine the cost of pumping the water to the central valley makes this practice cost prohibitive, especially for a water source that is completely dry for much of the year.

This is pretty much it although I'm an electrical engineer not a civil engineer. It's expensive to pump water up-hill, and also as another person mentioned you would need another pipeline going the other direction (or modifications to the existing system to make it bi-directional). And as a point of practicality, the water in the LA river and flood channels is more or less polluted and probably not fit for watering food crops. That is why there is are some projects disbursing the water locally through ponds that allow the water to seep underground and become purified before it enters the aquifer and can then be tapped by wells.