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

[Matilija]

TFRs for American women are below replacement. Our population growth is due to immigration. Something like 25% of the US population is foreign-born. Can I put you down as as immigration restrictionist?

YUP.

 

[PRCD]

Its amazing when you fly, how much of this country is undeveloped. People are like sheep and like to live in crowded spaces.

Urbanization is a trend worldwide. In the US we were all whipped off the farms and into the cities to be cheap mfg labor. Then mfg was outsourced and now we’re “post industrial” which means we have trouble making real crap like steel and silicon but can make fake crap like financial pyramid schemes. Most of us have forgotten how to farm and nowadays it’s much more complicated and debt driven than it used to be. To run a dairy, for example, you need at least 1000 cows.

 

[crustBrother]

We have a neighbor across the street who DIYed a gray water system to go to his garden and he grows copious amounts of veggies

That is so cool!

which my wife won't touch because he's kind of a grundgy guy and she thinks it's coming from his shower.

even if it is coming from his shower... poor girl is missing out!

And those of you who know me, know that my biggest peeve and something I'm genuinely worried about are the wildfires. Have you seen how much was burned in Sequoia? The Sierra Nevadas (like the ocean) are my cathedral, the place where I most effectively get spiritually cleansed and recharged... and my church is on fire. You know what I would do with a big chunk of that CA surplus....(ironically) controlled burns...

My son is on a Type 2 IA crew up in WA and is probably heading down to AZ in the next week or two to fight the fires down there. Hope he doesn't end up in the Sierras after that. Smoke really fvcks with the whole "range of light" vibe. I miss the purple skies. Haven't seen them since... gosh... can't remember how long.

 

[One-Off]

My son is on a Type 2 IA crew up in WA and is probably heading down to AZ in the next week or two to fight the fires down there. Hope he doesn't end up in the Sierras after that. Smoke really fvcks with the whole "range of light" vibe. I miss the purple skies. Haven't seen them since... gosh... can't remember how long.

My hats off to your son and all his colleagues...if I was 20 again....

 

[PJ]

Interesting thing about Japan - they only have a couple of small really nice pieces of fruit with a meal. Like two or 3 grapes. The reason is that in Japan the drinking water comes right out of mountains so it was not polluted by people a few hundred years ago like the water in Europe was. The Europeans grew large amounts of fruit to eat and make juices out of as a way of purifying their water. The Japanese only ever grew small quantities of really nice fruit to be used as a gift or a little accent to a meal.

I heard a story on NPR once which really surprised me, that something like 76% of US water goes to Agriculture, 16% to industry and 12% to municipalities - a couple of comments here have said much the same thing. The story also said that the cheapest way to move water from one place on earth to another was to use it where it is plentiful to grow crops then ship the crops to the place with less water, the finished crop being really light and relatively easy to transport, which is something I had never thought of.

 

[Kento]

Somehow we have to convince millions of remote digital nomads that it’s cool to work in Topeka

It would be funny to see people go from San Francisco to the home of the Westboro Baptist Church. And good luck eating vegan there - maybe at Applebee's?

 

[One-Off]

Interesting thing about Japan - they only have a couple of small really nice pieces of fruit with a meal. Like two or 3 grapes. The reason is that in Japan the drinking water comes right out of mountains so it was not polluted by people a few hundred years ago like the water in Europe was. The Europeans grew large amounts of fruit to eat and make juices out of as a way of purifying their water. The Japanese only ever grew small quantities of really nice fruit to be used as a gift or a little accent to a meal.

I heard a story on NPR once which really surprised me, that something like 76% of US water goes to Agriculture, 16% to industry and 12% to municipalities - a couple of comments here have said much the same thing. The story also said that the cheapest way to move water from one place on earth to another was to use it where it is plentiful to grow crops then ship the crops to the place with less water, the finished crop being really light and relatively easy to transport, which is something I had never thought of.

I mentioned the farmers in Italy hybridizing drought/heat resistant tomatoes. I think if I were a farmer I would be looking carefully at weather/climate predictions and preparing to grow what will work with the "new normal."

 

[Subway]

Blooming onion at outback? Is that vegan?

 

[grapedrink]

Interesting thing about Japan - they only have a couple of small really nice pieces of fruit with a meal. Like two or 3 grapes. The reason is that in Japan the drinking water comes right out of mountains so it was not polluted by people a few hundred years ago like the water in Europe was. The Europeans grew large amounts of fruit to eat and make juices out of as a way of purifying their water. The Japanese only ever grew small quantities of really nice fruit to be used as a gift or a little accent to a meal.

I thought that was because they import a lot of fruit from places like California, therefore it's a lot more expensive?

 

[ElOgro]

I mentioned the farmers in Italy hybridizing drought/heat resistant tomatoes. I think if I were a farmer I would be looking carefully at weather/climate predictions and preparing to grow what will work with the "new normal."

If you were a farmer you’d spend more time looking at how to keep your business alive financially without selling out to big Ag.

 

[PRCD]

Interesting thing about Japan - they only have a couple of small really nice pieces of fruit with a meal. Like two or 3 grapes. The reason is that in Japan the drinking water comes right out of mountains so it was not polluted by people a few hundred years ago like the water in Europe was. The Europeans grew large amounts of fruit to eat and make juices out of as a way of purifying their water. The Japanese only ever grew small quantities of really nice fruit to be used as a gift or a little accent to a meal.

Isn't rice - a Japanese staple - grown in flooded paddies?

I heard a story on NPR once which really surprised me, that something like 76% of US water goes to Agriculture, 16% to industry and 12% to municipalities - a couple of comments here have said much the same thing. The story also said that the cheapest way to move water from one place on earth to another was to use it where it is plentiful to grow crops then ship the crops to the place with less water, the finished crop being really light and relatively easy to transport, which is something I had never thought of.

Hence the reason 70% of the world's population live within 100 miles of a coast.

 

[One-Off]

If you were a farmer you’d spend more time looking at how to keep your business alive financially without selling out to big Ag.

Maybe, being smaller, you get the leg up on big AG to adapt to the new normal? Or if I was in big AG I’d still be looking at the climatic trends and figuring out what to do. But if you have a million almond trees in the Central Valley you’re kind of invested. At what point do you prepare lifeboats and abandon the sinking ship?

 

[One-Off]

Hence the reason 70% of the world's population live within 100 miles of a coast.

I thought it was because everyone wants to surf. Tide’s coming up. I’m going to go see how my local slice of the 70% of humanity is doing…

 

[PRCD]

Maybe, being smaller, you get the leg up on big AG to adapt to the new normal?

Small farmers, never having thought of this, looking at your poast:

I'll call some I know today an share your suggestions. What do you want them to do, tear out almonds and plant mesquite?

Or if I was in big AG I’d still be looking at the climatic trends and figuring out what to do. But if you have a million almond trees in the Central Valley you’re kind of invested. At what point do you prepare lifeboats and abandon the sinking ship?

It turns out ag just needs water. Here's an example from Japan:

Japan, positioned in Monsoon Asia, has rainfall close to twice the world average (although per capita rainfall is one-fifth of the world average due to the country's large population). The average annual rainfall in Japan is 1,718 mm, but in recent decades, precipitation has been on the decreasing trend.

According to "Water Resources in Japan 1998" (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Water Resource Division), the average annual total precipitation in Japan is 650 billion cubic meters. Evapotranspiration per annum is 230 billion cubic meters, leaving potential water resources of 420 billion cubic meters. From this potential, 54.9 billion cubic meters are used in agriculture, 14.8 billion cubic meters in industry and 13.2 billion cubic meters for residential purposes.

Still, they don't produce all their food at home and import 60%

The problem is Japan's huge imports of agricultural crops, industrial products, timbers and other commodities from various countries in the world. For example, Japan's self-sufficiency ratio is only 9 percent for wheat and 5 percent for beans. In order to produce the amount of wheat Japan imports, 1.1 billion cubic meters of water are needed. Over 2 billion cubic meters of water are used to produce the beans imported by Japan. A total of about 5 billion cubic meters of water in the rest of the world is used for Japan's imports of agricultural products. This amount is equivalent to the amount of water used by one third of entire Japanese population of about 126 million.

What effect does importing food have on Japan's national security, esp. as the PLA navy is churning out ships at a rapid pace? How important is agriculture to civilization generally vs other components of GDP - including made-up ones like FIRE?

WATER RESOURCES AND USE IN JAPAN | Japan for Sustainability

I remember the Sacramento Swamp hired the head of Japan Rail as a consultant on the HSR to Nowhere. He quit in disgust.

 

[surfapotomus]

LA is all-in on reclaimed water. The Hyperion Water Treatment plant is now called the Water Reclamation Plant. They've built two underground reservoirs around where I live near LAX - one of them is about the size of a small sports arena. I think the plan is for 1/3 of the city's water to be reclaimed within a few years. The way things are going I feel like they still need to do more. But, I feel a little better that the city has been on it for a while.

 

[92122]

Serious situation that is so sad. I remember the one time I spent on a week on Lake Powell in the early 90's. Will it ever be the same again!?

Doing our best to limit usage. Have no more lawn on our property and even our drip irrigation is off a lot of the time.

Trying to regulate washing of vehicles like they did in the past seems misguided. So many more significant water wasting practices going on, and especially with a no-leak hose nozzle, it's very minor compared to Bathing, Showers, poor irrigation, etc.

 

[npsp]

Ironically I just spent last week in San Antonio for a big water conference. The drought in the southwest was obviously a big topic.
The very first thing we need to do in CA is to invest the massive budget surplus in water/wastewater infrastructure and upgrade as many wastewater treatment plants to produce Title 22 water for reuse and indirect/direct potable reuse as possible. Like desal, the "eco-warriors" are anti reservoir. Forget about getting a new dam built in California. It will not happen. Carlsbad took an additional 15 years to get built due to litigation primarily from Marco Gonzalez fronting for the Surfrider Foundation.
San Diego County, where I live, is in relatively good shape water wise. Desal, water reuse and the push for direct/indirect potable reuse (Oceanside's PURE Water plant is operational and the City of San Diego's and Padre Dam's PURE Water plants are under construction) are key factors driving the County's water independence. Once these Pure Water projects are complete and making water, the County will be in very good shape.
Regarding the Central Valley, it was fvcked as soon as the Army Corp started to build the vast systems of levees that direct the flow of Sierra snow melt to the ocean. That snow melt used to flood the valley for millions of years creating massive aquifers that have since been over pumped to feed the world. These aquifers will never be recharged to their former capacities in our or our grandchildren's lifetimes....
If Newsom really wanted to leave a legacy, he should stop the bullet train to nowhere and redirect that money plus the surplus to water/wastewater infrastructure and make CA water independent benefitting ALL residents, especially those in low income and poverty situations.

 

[PRCD]

Why is the Sierra snow melt better off in the ocean than on our crops? This is "civilizational collapse"-level of incompetence.

Point of clarification - how will we reclaim water without power?

SD County

The rest of you

 

[Subway]

 

[doc_flavonoid]

Why is the Sierra snow melt better off in the ocean than on our crops? This is "civilizational collapse"-level of incompetence.

fisheries. wetlands. riparian ecosystems