Is this drought a local problem?

[Philosophy Explorer]

I'm sure many have heard the news that California is having a drought problem. Should the US let California handle it on its own or should the US provide financial assistance? (I favor financial assistance if that can help)

Here's an article that relates:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... /30001177/

PhilX

[The Inglorious One]

As far as I'm concerned Californians I deserve their problems -- and I live in California.

[Philosophy Explorer]

As far as I'm concerned Californians I deserve their problems -- and I live in California.

Besides moving, is there anything else Californians can do?

PhilX

[Arising_uk]

Stop using so much water?

[Philosophy Explorer]

Stop using so much water?

Let me bring in another possible factor. Has California's climate changed to the extent that water conservation may not be enough?

PhilX

[Skip]

Local problem, no. It's global and accelerating.
The glaciers and permafrost are melting; rivers and lakes are drying up all over the world. Wetlands - swamps, marshes, deltas and ponds - have been drained; salt flats back-filled for hotels, rivers diverted to mine sites, rainfall patterns altered by carbon clouds, for many decades.
All the deserts are growing and new ones are forming. California was always mostly desert, living lush on bought, borrowed and stolen water. How would money help? Buying more water from other places, so that Ontario can be a desert too?

Meanwhile, the people who bought you all the climate-denial propaganda are busy buying the aquifer out from under you. http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-new-wa ... er/5383274

[artisticsolution]

Stop using so much water?

Yeah, in NV we have always had the drought problem so we are used to it. And while it's true that most of california is desert, the desert parts are not the inhabited parts. It's the lush 'wet' parts that house the most people in CA. We made Lake Mead and hoover dam to combat the problem of the drought issue and provide electricity to the masses in the southwest. However, I think CA is thinking about a very expensive procedure of taking the salt out of the ocean water for use.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/califo ... ech-n28066

Anyway, what was really cool was living in Las Vegas during the 80's when the spillways were open! It was the coolest thing to see hoover dam so full! It blows my mind when I go to lake mead now and see how low the lake has become in 30+ years. I hear we are on our last...shit...I forget what they call it...the last underground pipe water supply before we are out of water...they have a name for it but I can't remember at this time.

Anywho....in Las Vegas, the water authority, for years has been enforcing stricter water codes by restrictions in water usage and monetary rewards for people who replace their lawns with desert landscaping. Nothing really has helped, but it has staved off the inevitable for a few years. I think there is a plan to rob some water from lake powell...or something like that. The farmers that use that lake for irrigation are freaking out over that one....

I wonder how much rain has to fall before we are over this problem? I think it might be hopeless to think that by limiting the amount of water we use will keep us going for very much longer, as the future looks bleak.

[Skip]

[And while it's true that most of california is desert, the desert parts are not the inhabited parts.

I lived in LA for a while. I watched new up-scale subdivisions being built. Here is how it goes: Scrape scant grey vegetation off surface of dry hill. Smooth out bumps in exposed sand; terrace as needed. Mark out property lines and houses with orange string. Lay in irrigation pipe network, along with water and sewer lines. Dig foundations and pools. Build houses, cover in peach, pink and ivory stucco; pave streets. Truck in topsoil to cover yards. Plop in non-native trees, roses and ground-cover.
Turn on automatic sprinklers for two hours every night; mow & blow twice weekly, wash streets once a week, add chlorine to pools and fountains once a month.

However, I think CA is thinking about a very expensive procedure of taking the salt out of the ocean water for use.

Desalination is expensive, but I think, unavoidable. Poor old Colorado River can't do it all. Five major dams?

I wonder how much rain has to fall before we are over this problem? I think it might be hopeless to think that by limiting the amount of water we use will keep us going for very much longer, as the future looks bleak.

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang.

[Hobbes' Choice]

I'm sure many have heard the news that California is having a drought problem. Should the US let California handle it on its own or should the US provide financial assistance? (I favor financial assistance if that can help)

Here's an article that relates:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... /30001177/

PhilX

LA is built on a fucking desert, and it has piped in its water from further and further away, destroying the ecosystems where it has drained the natural aquifers. This has been done to slake the thirst of a growing population and their fucking lawns. 4 million people can't live in a desert without consequences.

This is NOT a drought. This is an anthropogenic environmental disaster.

The sooner the whole place sinks under the San Andreas fault the better.

[Hobbes' Choice]

Local problem, no. It's global and accelerating.l]

Someone's missing the point.

[Skip]

Local problem, no. It's global and accelerating.l]

Someone's missing the point.

Which is?

[Philosophy Explorer]

Stop using so much water?

Yeah, in NV we have always had the drought problem so we are used to it. And while it's true that most of california is desert, the desert parts are not the inhabited parts. It's the lush 'wet' parts that house the most people in CA. We made Lake Mead and hoover dam to combat the problem of the drought issue and provide electricity to the masses in the southwest. However, I think CA is thinking about a very expensive procedure of taking the salt out of the ocean water for use.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/califo ... ech-n28066

Anyway, what was really cool was living in Las Vegas during the 80's when the spillways were open! It was the coolest thing to see hoover dam so full! It blows my mind when I go to lake mead now and see how low the lake has become in 30+ years. I hear we are on our last...shit...I forget what they call it...the last underground pipe water supply before we are out of water...they have a name for it but I can't remember at this time.

Anywho....in Las Vegas, the water authority, for years has been enforcing stricter water codes by restrictions in water usage and monetary rewards for people who replace their lawns with desert landscaping. Nothing really has helped, but it has staved off the inevitable for a few years. I think there is a plan to rob some water from lake powell...or something like that. The farmers that use that lake for irrigation are freaking out over that one....

I wonder how much rain has to fall before we are over this problem? I think it might be hopeless to think that by limiting the amount of water we use will keep us going for very much longer, as the future looks bleak.

I don't think this procedure for removing the salt for less than $50 is all that expensive (assuming it works):

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/solar- ... -required/

Why has there been no followup to this story?:

http://www.popsci.com/article/science/p ... r-millions

PhilX

[artisticsolution]

[And while it's true that most of california is desert, the desert parts are not the inhabited parts.

I lived in LA for a while. I watched new up-scale subdivisions being built. Here is how it goes: Scrape scant grey vegetation off surface of dry hill. Smooth out bumps in exposed sand; terrace as needed. Mark out property lines and houses with orange string. Lay in irrigation pipe network, along with water and sewer lines. Dig foundations and pools. Build houses, cover in peach, pink and ivory stucco; pave streets. Truck in topsoil to cover yards. Plop in non-native trees, roses and ground-cover.
Turn on automatic sprinklers for two hours every night; mow & blow twice weekly, wash streets once a week, add chlorine to pools and fountains once a month.

However, I think CA is thinking about a very expensive procedure of taking the salt out of the ocean water for use.

Desalination is expensive, but I think, unavoidable. Poor old Colorado River can't do it all. Five major dams?

I wonder how much rain has to fall before we are over this problem? I think it might be hopeless to think that by limiting the amount of water we use will keep us going for very much longer, as the future looks bleak.

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang.

Sorry Skip, I live in LV, Hoover Dam is the one we rely on. Have you seen the new overpass they built? It's sooo pretty from the dam (damn) view...lol.

http://izismile.com/2011/09/24/awesome_ ... ics-1.html

Pics don't do it justice. It's breathtaking in person....not while your on it...only when you are looking up from the dam.

[Dalek Prime]

Skip, it's crazy how much water is diverted in Ontario to water all the golf courses we have. I don't play golf for that reason, on principle. Speaking of which, my brother-in-law was watching a golf tournament held in Washington state, a few weeks back. The courses were scorched brown.

[Arising_uk]

Skip, it's crazy how much water is diverted in Ontario to water all the golf courses we have. ...

BUt doesn't it piss-down with rain in Canada? Plus all that snow-melt?