California has one year's worth of water remaining per NASA scientist

Displaced Bama Fan · Mar 14, 2015

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/...ars-worth-of-water-left-nasa-scientist-warns/

crimsonaudio · Mar 14, 2015

I'm not sure how they can deal with this one - and it's huge.

And this affects all of us as California leads the US in production of:
Almonds
Apricots
Artichokes
Asparagus
Avocados
Beans, Dry Lima Bedding/Garden Plants Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts Cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, F.M. Carrots Cauliflower Celery
Chicory
Cotton, American Pima Daikon
Dates
Eggplant
Escarole/Endive
Figs
Flowers, Bulbs Flowers, Cut
Flowers, Potted Plants Garlic
Grapes, Raisins
Grapes, Table Grapes, Wine Greens, Mustard Hay, Alfalfa Herbs
Kale
Kiwifruit
Kumquats Lemons
Lettuce, Head Lettuce, Leaf Lettuce, Romaine
Limes
Melons, Cantaloupe Melons, Honeydew Milk
Milk Goats
Nectarines
Nursery, Bedding Plants Nursery Crops
Olives
Onions, Dry
Onions, Green
Parsley
Peaches, Clingstone Peaches, Freestone Pears, Bartlett
Peppers, Bell Persimmons
Pigeons and Squabs Pistachios
Plums
Plums, Dried
Pluots
Pomegranates
Raspberries
Rice, Sweet
Safflower
Seed, Alfalfa
Seed, Bermuda Grass Seed, Ladino Clover Seed, Vegetable and Flower Spinach
Strawberries
Tangelos
Tangerines
Tomatoes, Processing Vegetables, Greenhouse Vegetables, Oriental Walnuts
Wild Rice

BamaFlum · Mar 14, 2015

It's almost to the point of sucking it up and paying the price for desalination.

Displaced Bama Fan · Mar 14, 2015

crimsonaudio said:
I'm not sure how they can deal with this one - and it's huge.

And this affects all of us as California leads the US in production of:
Almonds
Apricots
Artichokes
Asparagus
Avocados
Beans, Dry Lima Bedding/Garden Plants Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts Cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, F.M. Carrots Cauliflower Celery
Chicory
Cotton, American Pima Daikon
Dates
Eggplant
Escarole/Endive
Figs
Flowers, Bulbs Flowers, Cut
Flowers, Potted Plants Garlic
Grapes, Raisins
Grapes, Table Grapes, Wine Greens, Mustard Hay, Alfalfa Herbs
Kale
Kiwifruit
Kumquats Lemons
Lettuce, Head Lettuce, Leaf Lettuce, Romaine
Limes
Melons, Cantaloupe Melons, Honeydew Milk
Milk Goats
Nectarines
Nursery, Bedding Plants Nursery Crops
Olives
Onions, Dry
Onions, Green
Parsley
Peaches, Clingstone Peaches, Freestone Pears, Bartlett
Peppers, Bell Persimmons
Pigeons and Squabs Pistachios
Plums
Plums, Dried
Pluots
Pomegranates
Raspberries
Rice, Sweet
Safflower
Seed, Alfalfa
Seed, Bermuda Grass Seed, Ladino Clover Seed, Vegetable and Flower Spinach
Strawberries
Tangelos
Tangerines
Tomatoes, Processing Vegetables, Greenhouse Vegetables, Oriental Walnuts
Wild Rice

Stock up now.

crimsonaudio · Mar 14, 2015

BamaFlum said:
It's almost to the point of sucking it up and paying the price for desalination.

I don't think there's anywhere near the capacity to pull this off - the USGS estimates that California needs 38 billion gallons per day...

TIDE-HSV · Mar 14, 2015

crimsonaudio said:
I don't think there's anywhere near the capacity to pull this off - the USGS estimates that California THINKS IT NEEDS 38 billion gallons per day...

FIFY...

crimsonaudio · Mar 14, 2015

TIDE-HSV said:
FIFY...

Good point, although more than 80% of the water used is for agriculture - not a lot of give in that world without production dropping off dramatically. And we (the rest of the country) need that production.

92tide · Mar 14, 2015

crimsonaudio said:
Good point, although more than 80% of the water used is for agriculture - not a lot of give in that world without production dropping off dramatically. And we (the rest of the country) need that production.

the change over to nuts (almonds, etc) from fruits in recent years has sucked up a ton of water, as those crops tend to be more water intensive.

Bama Reb · Mar 14, 2015

Time to either start or increase the size of those gardens now. If you don't can your produce, start!
I've been sitting on five acres of unimproved woodland, so I guess it's time to clear and plant.

Bamaro · Mar 14, 2015

Do farmers in the south still get paid to not grow cotton while California cotton growers need irrigation to grow cotton in the desert?

Bama Reb · Mar 14, 2015

Bamaro said:
Do farmers in the south still get paid to not grow cotton while California cotton growers need irrigation to grow cotton in the desert?

Don't know, but judging by the number of cotton fields around here, I'd say no.

2003TIDE · Mar 14, 2015

They've been kicking this can down the road for years. 20% of the state's energy use is water related. They pump water 100's of miles to where the population and agriculture has outgrown the water supply. It was only a matter of time.

TIDE-HSV · Mar 14, 2015

crimsonaudio said:
Good point, although more than 80% of the water used is for agriculture - not a lot of give in that world without production dropping off dramatically. And we (the rest of the country) need that production.

I wasn't being clear enough. California irrigation is notoriously inefficient, probably because they felt there was unlimited water underground. They need to look east to Israel for an example. There's been some increase in drip over sheet irrigation in CA, but not nearly the response needed in the face of the urgent situation...

TIDE-HSV · Mar 14, 2015

2003TIDE said:
They've been kicking this can down the road for years. 20% of the state's energy use is water related. They pump water 100's of miles to where the population and agriculture has outgrown the water supply. It was only a matter of time.

This is absolutely true. For so many years, they abused their share of Colorado River water and now the areas to the east take their quota, leaving CA hanging out on a limb. And the overall quantity of CO River water keeps going down. There have been a lot of cities built and grown in places where no city should even have been built and where they can't be sustained, based on the unlimited water mirage. There are going to be some hard choices to be made over the next 30 years or so...

Bama Reb · Mar 14, 2015

TIDE-HSV said:
I wasn't being clear enough. California irrigation is notoriously inefficient, probably because they felt there was unlimited water underground. They need to look east to Israel for an example. There's been some increase in drip over sheet irrigation in CA, but not nearly the response needed in the face of the urgent situation...

Then there's the environmental pov. (i.e., stopping irrigation to thousands of square miles of fruit orchards so that they can protect the habitat of a mouse.)

Catfish · Mar 14, 2015

California has one year's worth of water remaining per NASA scientist

This might not really be that big of a deal. How many NASA scientists are there? :wink:

Gr8hope · Mar 14, 2015

TIDE-HSV said:
This is absolutely true. For so many years, they abused their share of Colorado River water and now the areas to the east take their quota, leaving CA hanging out on a limb. And the overall quantity of CO River water keeps going down. There have been a lot of cities built and grown in places where no city should even have been built and where they can't be sustained, based on the unlimited water mirage. There are going to be some hard choices to be made over the next 30 years or so...

So very true. Long range planning seems to be a lost concept in many areas.

crimsonaudio · Mar 14, 2015

Sobering numbers in this article from the LA Times...

Bamaro · Mar 14, 2015

Lake Mead water level

According to the latest federal forecast, released Wednesday, the reservoir is expected to fall to a new record low next month and slip downward from there, shedding a total of about 20 feet through June 2016.

The bleak new estimate is based on current projections pointing to below-average flows on the Colorado in the coming months, as the snow pack melts in the mountains that feed the river and its tributaries.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-famiglietti-drought-california-20150313-story.html

4Q Basket Case · Mar 14, 2015

Gr8hope said:
So very true. Long range planning seems to be a lost concept in many areas.

Short term sacrifice for long term gain is a lost concept everywhere. Not many adults understand the concept, and it seems to be just about zero for anybody under 30.

Seems like the general public wants what it wants, now, and doesn't want to give up money, emotion, time or effort to get it. Then when they don't get it, they cry like babies whose pacifier gets taken away.

Rant over. Back to regularly scheduled off-season programming.

California has one year's worth of water remaining per NASA scientist

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