Lake Mead water ... What will California do when it's gone??

keenfish

Duke status
May 12, 2002
18,747
6,417
113
Trona
www.pbase.com
Seems like the creative juices are really flowing ITT.
They could build a sump station that collects and pumps rain/leach water up to the above ground tanks for irrigation and/or toilet flushing?





Of course that would require enough rainfall/runoff to fill the sump. :foreheadslap:
 
Last edited:

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
12,502
8,538
113
They could build a sump station that collects and pumps rain/leach water up to the above ground tanks for irrigation and/or toilet flushing?
You envision this on a neighborhood level? How big will the tanks be? Will we put mounds under them to raise them up for water pressure? How many houses will we clear for that?
 

keenfish

Duke status
May 12, 2002
18,747
6,417
113
Trona
www.pbase.com
You envision this on a neighborhood level? How big will the tanks be? Will we put mounds under them to raise them up for water pressure? How many houses will we clear for that?
Ok, it was a half baked poorly thought out plan and mostly kidding but trying to think in the right direction. :computer:
 
  • Like
Reactions: PRCD

Autoprax

Duke status
Jan 24, 2011
68,226
22,978
113
62
Vagina Point
Same water used for everything is efficient: keeps construction time/materials/money low. Long term, this helps with maintenance too.

But nothing is free.

These savings are of less utility when there isn't as much water to go around.
Yes, the efficiency of the tactic drops with the scarcity of water.

Fucking life is a trip, man.

So complicated.
 

doc_flavonoid

Billy Hamilton status
Dec 27, 2019
1,740
3,198
113
Rooftop water tanks and yard tanks required on all new construction.



water is heavy. i know, brillant observation. right? just how i roll.

residential rooftop water in quantity is not going to be cost effective. esp with CA's sesmic regs.

hmm...have we seen this breach of trust in other industries recently? Looks like there was plenty of sign that the erosion of the spillway could've happened but everyone in charge went, "Ehhhh.....it probably won't be necessary to use the spillway."

I suppose you can't build nuke or desal plants without quality civil engineering. From what I've been hearing, the standards have been eroding. I wonder how much of our hydroelectric power generation and downstream habitation is at risk.

Smart guys from the early 20th century designed most of the infrastructure we have, but it doesn't last forever and must be maintained. How's that looking these days?
sorry man, but new nukes ain't gonna happen. the future is offshore wind farms. how do we feel about humans taking another step towad blanketing the entire planet with their sh!t?
 

grapedrink

Duke status
May 21, 2011
25,927
14,713
113
A Beach
And don't get me started on growing almond trees in the desert!

Wait, where am I?
That's because the conditions in the desert make for easier farming because of less bugs and diseases.

Easier aside from the lack of water, of course :toilet:
 

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
12,502
8,538
113
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Aruka

Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
11,981
22,508
113
PNW
It wasn't a desert before it was desertified - it was a huge marsh.

Edit: Something fishy is going on. While I acknowledge the drought, the urgency of the propaganda suggests we're being conditioned to accept a horrible solution. When have I seen this in the past two years?
People have been sounding the alarm for longer than I've been alive. We just haven't been paying attention.

Is your stance that this isn't actually a problem?
 

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
12,502
8,538
113
People have been sounding the alarm for longer than I've been alive. We just haven't been paying attention.

Is your stance that this isn't actually a problem?
I've already answered this. Re-read my posts.
 

youcantbeserious

Billy Hamilton status
Oct 29, 2020
1,518
4,579
113
Location location
It wasn't a desert before it was desertified - it was a huge marsh.

Edit: Something fishy is going on. While I acknowledge the drought, the urgency of the propaganda suggests we're being conditioned to accept a horrible solution. When have I seen this in the past two years?
I think you are confusing agriculture in California’s Central Valley (which was only a marsh in heavy rain and snowpack years, on average one season every 30 years) and the issue of the Colorado River being the primary water source for agriculture and municipal water supplies for Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, northern Mexico, southern Utah, et cetera. This has literally been an alarm bell problem for six decades, with experts warning the growth in these regions is unsustainable. Now we are in a two decade plus mega drought exacerbated by extreme, unprecedented heat waves with no end in sight.

There doesn’t have to be some conspiratorial power grab at the center of everything. Again, we’ve been warned about this for decades. Now it’s here. If you’re surprised it’s because you are just now starting to follow water issues in the west.
 
  • Like
Reactions: npsp and Aruka

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
12,502
8,538
113
I think you are confusing agriculture in California’s Central Valley (which was only a marsh in heavy rain and snowpack years,
I was talking about almond farming. I've met some almond farmers. They live in the central valley of CA. The central valley was a marsh much like the area above the SF Bay where you can still hunt ducks. I posted this on page 7:

If you look at a map from 1853, you can see the marsh:

There doesn’t have to be some conspiratorial power grab at the center of everything. Again, we’ve been warned about this for decades. Now it’s here. If you’re surprised it’s because you are just now starting to follow water issues in the west.
Back in the early pages of this thread I posted an interview with a CNN employee that water was deemed Current Thing. Two things can be true at once - we have a big water problem AND governmental powers are using the opportunity to wield emergency powers, much like COVID. There are a lot of ways to deal with emergency. You can categorize them broadly into good ways and bad ways.
 
  • Like
Reactions: youcantbeserious

youcantbeserious

Billy Hamilton status
Oct 29, 2020
1,518
4,579
113
Location location
I was talking about almond farming. I've met some almond farmers. They live in the central valley of CA. The central valley was a marsh much like the area above the SF Bay where you can still hunt ducks. I posted this on page 7:

If you look at a map from 1853, you can see the marsh:


Back in the early pages of this thread I posted an interview with a CNN employee that water was deemed Current Thing. Two things can be true at once - we have a big water problem AND governmental powers are using the opportunity to wield emergency powers, much like COVID. There are a lot of ways to deal with emergency. You can categorize them broadly into good ways and bad ways.
I totally get it. Those two things can be true.
Regarding Tulare Lake, it represented like 1/20, at most, of the land currently under cultivation in the SJ Valley, and that’s just one region of the Central Valley that came under reclamation control. We could absolutely remove all the dams and let the water flow again (although there is waaaay less of it, and you would be consigning every little town in the region, and a few cities, to doom), but that would also cut off most of the country’s food supply and a major source of hydroelectric power for the region.

My wife is from Fresno, her family arrived in the Auberry/North Fork area in the 1880’s. Her grandfather, dad and uncles all drove big rigs in that area during the hydroelectric projects and the big logging years. They’re as committed to that zone as anyone, and even they are seeing the writing on the wall
 
  • Like
Reactions: npsp and PRCD

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
12,502
8,538
113
I totally get it. Those two things can be true.
Regarding Tulare Lake, it represented like 1/20, at most, of the land currently under cultivation in the SJ Valley, and that’s just one region of the Central Valley that came under reclamation control. We could absolutely remove all the dams and let the water flow again (although there is waaaay less of it, and you would be consigning every little town in the region, and a few cities, to doom), but that would also cut off most of the country’s food supply and a major source of hydroelectric power for the region.

My wife is from Fresno, her family arrived in the Auberry/North Fork area in the 1880’s. Her grandfather, dad and uncles all drove big rigs in that area during the hydroelectric projects and the big logging years. They’re as committed to that zone as anyone, and even they are seeing the writing on the wall
Yeah, the press is making it sound like the people working the land (farmers) are these greedy, water-sucking villains which is quite at odds with the farmers I know. Recalling the history of the 20th century, I'm not getting the warm-fuzzy feeling about any tops-down overhaul of farming under emergency powers. They're doing this at the same time they're calling for reductions in nitrogen inputs to farms.
 

youcantbeserious

Billy Hamilton status
Oct 29, 2020
1,518
4,579
113
Location location
Yeah, the press is making it sound like the people working the land (farmers) are these greedy, water-sucking villains which is quite at odds with the farmers I know. Recalling the history of the 20th century, I'm not getting the warm-fuzzy feeling about any tops-down overhaul of farming under emergency powers. They're doing this at the same time they're calling for reductions in nitrogen inputs to farms.
I see what you are saying, but the entire American West is the top down overhaul of a desert ecosystem under near unlimited federal power. The Newlands Act and the Bureau of Reclamation it created are as close to socialism as this country has ever come. In fact, it is just straight socialism. And the west today would not exist without it. Every single politician from the west, Democrat or Republican, has fought tooth and nail to defend it, because without it there is no American West. There's just a big, mostly empty desert. It is the height of irrationality, it was bound to come down sometime, and guess what? We are alive in that time.