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

grapedrink

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May 21, 2011
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Really? From here....

:shrug::computer:(y)

This is how the ground water was drained me thinks. Over time, sucking from rivers and lakes, in the long run the bill has to be footed from somewhere.

Nothing is for free, nor without impact.
Yes, ground water is being overused at the local level. The Central Valley is no longer the flood plain it used to be. However urban dwellers in Southern California really has nothing to do with that- most of their water comes from the Colorado River.
 

hammies

Duke status
Apr 8, 2006
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The thing is, nobody really has ownership of water. But people have a really hard time grasping the concept of "water belongs to all of us". We all gotta share and for some that means that they get a little less.

I ripped out the last of my grass this year - it was mostly just weeds anyway. Now I have lavenders, sages, a couple of Phoenix Robellinis, and some other drought-resisters. Looks pretty good actually and I get sh!t-tons of bees.
 

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
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California sends trillions of gallons of water to the Pacific every year.
Yeah, but if we divert this water elsewhere, what will happen to our beaches? Rivermouth sandbars a thing of the past? I guess the viability of surf spots is probably pretty low on humanity's list of necessities...
 

VonMeister

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Apr 26, 2013
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Yeah, but if we divert this water elsewhere, what will happen to our beaches? Rivermouth sandbars a thing of the past? I guess the viability of surf spots is probably pretty low on humanity's list of necessities...
A lot of this water can be stored and there would still be ample run off for our rivers.
 

SurfFuerteventura

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Sep 20, 2014
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Not from ground water :poke: Without SoCal it would still be dismal because we simply do not get enough snow anymore.
Riiiight.

And just where does the precipitation that causes snow, or rain for that matter, which replenishes said ground water come from exactly?

Exactly.

The neck bone connected to the ankle bone, cept there's a few bones in between, of course.

:shrug:

After all, water is water. Sea, river, lake, ocean, ground, rain, snow... it's all somehow interconnected, innit?

But yeah, just place a few farms and cities in the middle of the desert that once was southern California and that won't affect, nor effect, the water flow nor interrupt the cycle of rain/snow, runoff, evaporation, redo, etc....

Riiiiight.
 

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
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The thing is, nobody really has ownership of water. But people have a really hard time grasping the concept of "water belongs to all of us". We all gotta share and for some that means that they get a little less.

I ripped out the last of my grass this year - it was mostly just weeds anyway. Now I have lavenders, sages, a couple of Phoenix Robellinis, and some other drought-resisters. Looks pretty good actually and I get sh!t-tons of bees.
IMHO a drought resistan garden look better than a lawn. Get some Santa Rita and San Pedro cactus. The SP is hallucinogenic according to my neighbor. Bougainvillea and Pride of Madeira also need no water and are great when flowering.
 

SurfFuerteventura

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Jasmin, bougainvillea, hibiscus, aloe Vera, nopales... all drought resistant, all provide yummy edibles. So many more too.

:shrug:
 

grapedrink

Duke status
May 21, 2011
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Riiiight.

And just where does the precipitation that causes snow, or rain for that matter, which replenishes said ground water come from exactly?
Most of it blows in off of storms that originate in the North Pacific. You must be new here? Which is partly why we've had so many dry winters lately . . . We've had a massive high pressure system parked off the coast that kills the precipitation before it reaches land.


After all, water is water. Sea, river, lake, ocean, ground, rain, snow... it's all somehow interconnected, innit?
Yes, it's all connected. Problem is it's much tougher to access fresh water when it's frozen at the poles or ends up draining into salt water.

But yeah, just place a few farms and cities in the middle of the desert that once was southern California and that won't affect, nor effect, the water flow nor interrupt the cycle of rain/snow, runoff, evaporation, redo, etc....

Riiiiight.
You're really struggling here. The original post was related to ground water. You made a claim that water pumped from the ground in NorCal is sent to SoCal, which is 100% false. If all of the people in SoCal were to vanish and Ag were to continue as it is, there would still be major issues with water because Central Valley ag uses the vast majority of all diverted water in addition to most of the water it pumps from the ground locally.
 
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SurfFuerteventura

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Never made such a claim about ground water, just that when you drain the lakes the aquifer just might get affected a bit, ya know?
:shrug::bricks::shameonyou:
 

Kaser1

Tom Curren status
May 3, 2004
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Maine
I realize what I am about to say isn't a long term fix, but..each Californian needs to conserve. There are ways to do it.

Take a "marine" shower. Get wet, turn off the water, soap up and wash, then turn the water back on and rinse.

Don't flush if you pee for a day. Then flush. Poop, ok, its gotta go.

When brushing your teeth or washing your hands, shut down the water while you do said task, then turn the water on to finish.

Always think about turning off the faucet immediately, regardless of what you are doing.

Don't water your lawn. Xeriscape with plants that need very little -if any -water.

In a state with a large population like California, it can make a difference.

You can cut your individual water consumption in half, with no pain.

We had to do this on Maui most of the year.

We were on water catchment and spring/summer it would hardly rain, and we lived on the "wet side" of Maui. Our last 3 years, we ran out of water each dry season. It sucked, you couldn't have any plants, not flushing all day, could't do laundry much, always worrying about running dry.

Yea, having to conserve WAS a pain. But whataya gonna do? Me? I moved to one of the greenest, wettest part of the U.S.
 

PRCD

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Feb 25, 2020
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Maybe Californians will be out essingn D like crackheads for a gallon of water
1656940540036.jpeg
 
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nimby

Gerry Lopez status
Feb 15, 2011
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published decades back, even more relevent than when it was written.

1656948974515.png
 

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
14,124
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33.8N - 118.4W
I realize what I am about to say isn't a long term fix, but..each Californian needs to conserve. There are ways to do it.

Take a "marine" shower. Get wet, turn off the water, soap up and wash, then turn the water back on and rinse.

Don't flush if you pee for a day. Then flush. Poop, ok, its gotta go.

When brushing your teeth or washing your hands, shut down the water while you do said task, then turn the water on to finish.

Always think about turning off the faucet immediately, regardless of what you are doing.

Don't water your lawn. Xeriscape with plants that need very little -if any -water.

In a state with a large population like California, it can make a difference.

You can cut your individual water consumption in half, with no pain.
Yellow is mellow but brown goes down!

I think the inventor of a foot pedal water valve for the shower will one day make bank.
 

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
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Good bump.
Surfing related because he heckles surf lagoons in the desert.

This is now Current Thing - the water angle is being worked out West, nitrogen inputs in other parts of the world.

Here are some solutions. No idea if they scale.

This one requires us to return to subsistence farming, which happened to the professional classes in former USSR states when the subsidies ended. We will have to develop loose hamstrings. Any takers?

This guy came up with a tractor tool to imprint dry lands to catch water:
 
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One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
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Good bump.


Here are some solutions. No idea if they scale.
The water issue is not "the new thing" for me. It's been on my radar since I lived in Flagstaff 20 years ago. At that time I had a friend who was a high school counselor who would go from reservation to reservation serving the Native American kids. He lived just outside of Tucson, right under the Biosphere (if you google the biosphere, you will see three houses just under the sphere that have somehow resisted the rampant development just to the south, his was the u-shaped one). His property abutted a seasonal stream coming down off Mt. Lemon. When I went to visit them, he was obsessed about capturing water on his property and also diverting some from the stream. He would build all kind of rock walls on his property to retain water. I thought he was mad.

I'll have to send this video to him because he subsequently divorced and the wife got the house so he moved elsewhere... and began to specialize in constructing hand laid, uncemented rock walls. I wonder if he knew that lady?

ps It seems both the first two solutions could scale...but only on a graded landscape, not on a flat plain. And only if larger interests can be flexible enough. That's a big "if."

pps can corporate monoculture ag retool to incorporate long known practices?
 
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2surf

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Apr 12, 2004
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California USA
www.allcare.com
Coming from "the wettest spot on earth" give or take from year to year, have any of you considered what you're going to do as a California resident? Do you have any concerns or even thought about the loss of water for You and family members.

I ask only as a person out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by water that is not palatable to consume.

Is desalination, "Our" only way out for life to continue or do you keep sucking on Mother Natures t!ts until she shrivels up and gives no more?

Our nation use to give a puck about chit.
Now days, consumers are like "lil Packmen", just eating up the white lines going down an endless corridor onto oblivion looking at their phones.

Any thoughts, from y'all?
Just an Ole Man's thoughts after eating a yellow gummy on ALOHA FRIDAY ~ ~ ~ ~ ~. :waving:



fast forward / skip through the dull verbiage
Carlsbad will be fine, we have the best well water in California. And... we have a desalinization facility for backup.