"California will run out of water in a year..........." (Moreno Valley: hotels, houses)

[GoldenZephyr]

So much 19th century thinking. Leftists are such regressives. They can't seem to envision making the pie bigger, increasing supply. They fixate on reducing quality of life, rationing, and punishment.

Dubai is far drier than LA and never worries about water. Why, because they live in the 21st century and employ technology to solve problems, rather than our 19th century leftist compatriots in the states. They noticed there is a big giant sea right next to them.



So while other parts of the world look at solutions, and improving quality of life, CA leftists hand-wring about "running out of water" while ignoring that big AG uses 80% of the water and they ignore the big giant ocean right outside their window.

[PDR2015]

As is the case with any other commodity, the cure to low supply and high demand is higher prices. Econ 101

[MordinSolus]

Originally Posted by jennifercheswold

That doesn't make any sense! How am I ignorant of American history? Another brainwashed person by the liberal education system

I really can't tell if you're joking or not.

Originally Posted by GoldenZephyr

So much 19th century thinking. Leftists are such regressives. They can't seem to envision making the pie bigger, increasing supply. They fixate on reducing quality of life, rationing, and punishment.

Dubai is far drier than LA and never worries about water. Why, because they live in the 21st century and employ technology to solve problems, rather than our 19th century leftist compatriots in the states. They noticed there is a big giant sea right next to them.

So while other parts of the world look at solutions, and improving quality of life, CA leftists hand-wring about "running out of water" while ignoring that big AG uses 80% of the water and they ignore the big giant ocean right outside their window.

Apples and oranges. The average household income in Dubai is three times the average household income in California and they don't need to scale their solutions as large. The cost of providing desalinated ocean water to the entire state of California is exponentially higher than providing desalinated water to all the UAE, which has a population smaller Los Angeles County and is only 1/5 the size of California. Not to mention the UAE doesn't produce even a fraction as much food as California.
It's easy to say "Agriculture is to blame for the water problems!" but without agriculture in California the state economy would crash and food costs nation wide would skyrocket. And it's easy to say "just desalinate water and that's that" but it really is very complicated. Where do you build the plants? How many will be required to stave off water shortages should the drought get much worse? Where will the waste be disposed of? How will we power all of these plants economically and responsibly? How will the general populace deal with the increased cost of water? Where will the money to build, maintain and power these plants come from?
It's not a simple problem and none of the solutions are simple.

[MordinSolus]

Originally Posted by PDR2015

As is the case with any other commodity, the cure to low supply and high demand is higher prices. Econ 101

So just let a huge swath of the populace die of dehydration or watch them turn California into an extended cut of The Road Warrior?

[btownboss4]

Dear California
We would like to Apologize for stealing all the Serria's Snow Pack this year
Sincerely,
Eastern New England

[GoldenZephyr]

Originally Posted by MordinSolus

It's easy to say "Agriculture is to blame for the water problems!" but without agriculture in California the state economy would crash and food costs nation wide would skyrocket.
It's not a simple problem and none of the solutions are simple.

Not true, this article lays it out

How Growers Gamed California’s Drought

Consuming 80 percent of California’s developed water but accounting for only 2 percent of the state’s GDP, agriculture thrives while everyone else is parched.

“I’ve been smiling all the way to the bank,” said pistachio farmer John Dean at a conference hosted this month by Paramount Farms, the mega-operation owned by Stewart Resnick, a Beverly Hills billionaire known for his sprawling agricultural holdings, controversial water dealings, and millions of dollars in campaign contributions to high-powered California politicians including Governor Jerry Brown, former governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis, and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Only 2%, hardly a crash. Plus most of the crops are exported to China.

Didn't say the solutions were simple, but punishing cuts on the people who use only 20% of the water, IS simplistic, and does little to ease the drought.

Leftists need to worry less about lawns and focus on getting meaningful changes in place by Big Ag.

[PDR2015]

Do you seriously think the state will give priority to the Ag business when the situation worsens to that level? Chances are, Ag gets cut before people are allowed to "die of dehydration".

Agriculture is 80 percent of water use in California. Why aren’t farmers being forced to cut back? - The Washington Post

Should the drought situation worsen, the discussion about how to prioritize water usage will be brought to the front burner of public attention and dealt with. It doesn't mean that some painful sacrifices won't have to be made in the short term by those who consume the most, be it some person with a nice green lawn or a farmer.

Look at the oil industry. When crude oil prices got to attractive enough levels, many billions poured into researching new ways to increase energy efficiency as well as tap into previously unknown unknown/difficult-to-harvest energy sources. Have you checked the price of crude oil lately? This same technology can now be applied all over the world and will make things better in the years to come.

For too long, water as a resource has not been priced efficiently. It will have to be at some point.

[CALGUY]

Originally Posted by PDR2015

Do you seriously think the state will give priority to the Ag business when the situation worsens to that level? Chances are, Ag gets cut before people are allowed to "die of dehydration".

Agriculture is 80 percent of water use in California. Why aren’t farmers being forced to cut back? - The Washington Post

Should the drought situation worsen, the discussion about how to prioritize water usage will be brought to the front burner of public attention and dealt with. It doesn't mean that some painful sacrifices won't have to be made in the short term by those who consume the most, be it some person with a nice green lawn or a farmer.

Look at the oil industry. When crude oil prices got to attractive enough levels, many billions poured into researching new ways to increase energy efficiency as well as tap into previously unknown unknown/difficult-to-harvest energy sources. Have you checked the price of crude oil lately? This same technology can now be applied all over the world and will make things better in the years to come.

For too long, water as a resource has not been priced efficiently. It will have to be at some point.

I am left with the opinion, (after reading your post) that if the price of water were raised, more people wold conserve, and there would not be a water crisis.
Your thinking is totally wrong.
Conservation is not going to put a dent in this water crisis, but finding new sources of water will end the crisis, and that is exactly what is needed, new sources of water.

Bob.

[PDR2015]

No, I merely wanted to make 2 points:

1) MordinSolus's claim that this situation will result in people dying of dehydration is silly because Ag and other large users of water will have their allocations cut before that dire situation occurs. In a very extreme case, (correct me if I'm wrong), water can be sourced from other states at a high cost but I don't believe for a second that people will die as a result of this.

2) This crisis is inevitable when a critical resource such as water isn't priced correctly. The current drought will expose this mispricing and provide incentive for people to develop more efficiency using water, additional water sources, or simply adjust the price to a point where the market and/or government are forced to establish a better allocation system.

The existing system is obviously not sustainable as both industry and residential usage has increased without a meaningful solution on the supply side.

[PDR2015]

Higher prices leads to incentives for entrepreneurs to create new sources and government to determine what combination of policies is needed for taxation, regulation. There are so many problems in the world... I think it's common sense that the ones with the greatest economic rewards are those most likely to find champions for resolution. If this drought worsens, price will increase, and eventually a solution will be found.

The same argument applies to public transportation. Once it becomes a major impediment to the growth of the city or starts to lead to economic difficulties for a large enough portion of the population, the focus to deliver a solution is there.