Water Issues in San Diego (Palm Desert, Shasta Lake: home, live, agriculture)

[dglade]

Here in the Midwest the problems with water and California gets a lot of play. I was wondering how it has affected life in SD and how concerned are people there about this going forward?

[oddstray]

People in California are, IMO, not concerned enough.

Probably because this drought looks like our usual pattern of six years of low precipation followed by one year of relatively enormous amounts of precipation. Somehow this gets statistically averaged out so that those six years are not labeled "drought" years, even though really they are drought years since they're low-precipation years.

But California keeps on developing and thereby increasing its population, with nary a thought to where the water for that many more people is going to come from.

[aboveordinary]

Yes, the whole state is going through a drought. Lakes are dried up all throughout the state. Many of the San Diego County lakes look terrible. I was driving through the Shasta Lake area a few months ago on my way to Oregon and Shasta Lake was barely noticeable. The past couple weeks we have been fortunate enough to get a good amount of rain in the state and mountain snow in the sierras (Mammoth, Lake Tahoe, Shasta etc). Another decent sized storm is about to hit the state the next few days. In San Diego County you would never know we were in a drought. People are still watering their lawns too much and there is water run off flowing down the streets. The area has an image to uphold of being in sunny San Diego. A sort of fake image that everything is just sunshine and happiness.

[NYSD1995]

I think it's a major issue that is not being taken seriously by enough people. Once you get out of the coastal strip you can see everything is just fried.

[skeke]

My biggest concern is with the agriculture in the Central Valley. They are one of the nation's major producers of produce but the State no longer has the water to meet their needs.

Being a home owner in San Diego the personal results of the drought are sad looking plants and yards and more and more area being redone to drought tolerant plants. I removed the front lawn a few years ago and a lot of the back. That said we still have quite a bit of grass out back. I would like to get rid of it but not sure what to do considering we have dogs. That is their domain (when they aren't lounging in the house).

I agree that people are not concerned enough.

[ShelbyGirl1]

I would agree most Californians do not take the water shortage seriously enough. Right now, most restrictions are volunteer only. Until they enforce restrictions, people will do what they please.
We were recently in Palm Desert. Desert???? Place looks like Hawaii! We were staying at Resort that watered their golf course greens almost constantly!!!! Every block had lush greenery, with water standing in the gutters. Apparently, no water shortage there!!!!!
We have installed three 60 gal.water barrels that catch water off of our roof. I water my plants, as much as I can from those. We have removed grass and replaced with succulents...but still have quite a bit a grass. Still trying to determine the best course of action on this. We live on a huge piece of property with a grove of fruit trees. Have removed the ones I don't care for, but there are still a few orange and avocado and lemon trees. They do take a bit of water...just not sure what to do with these. I am afraid, they too will become victims of the drought.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by aboveordinary

Yes, the whole state is going through a drought. Lakes are dried up all throughout the state. Many of the San Diego County lakes look terrible. I was driving through the Shasta Lake area a few months ago on my way to Oregon and Shasta Lake was barely noticeable. The past couple weeks we have been fortunate enough to get a good amount of rain in the state and mountain snow in the sierras (Mammoth, Lake Tahoe, Shasta etc). Another decent sized storm is about to hit the state the next few days. In San Diego County you would never know we were in a drought. People are still watering their lawns too much and there is water run off flowing down the streets. The area has an image to uphold of being in sunny San Diego. A sort of fake image that everything is just sunshine and happiness.

^This

Originally Posted by Sassberto

I think it's a major issue that is not being taken seriously by enough people. Once you get out of the coastal strip you can see everything is just fried.

...^and this. Just look at the canyons or drive up I-15 and look at the undeveloped Miramar Airbase. It's so dry, it's not even brown anymore, it's gray. But, the recent rain has some tiny green shoots sprouting up.

[Gentoo]

Best solution is to plants native plants or ones from very similar climates. There are a couple of nurseries around somewhere that sell native plants. You will need to water a bit frequently at first but once established, will require no watering in normal winters and only about once a week or so to keep them green year long except in the hottest weather when they might need twice a week.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Just look at the canyons or drive up I-15 and look at the undeveloped Miramar Airbase. It's so dry, it's not even brown anymore, it's gray. But, the recent rain has some tiny green shoots sprouting up.

In some cases the scrub is charred almost black.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

In some cases the scrub is charred almost black.

True