It needs to be verified. But have we seen public officials make disastrous public policy decisions recently using emergency powers?
REMINDER: THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. has no obligation to monitor the Forums. However, THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. reserves the right to review any materials submitted to or posted on the Forums, and remove, delete, redact or otherwise modify such materials, in its sole discretion and for any reason whatsoever, at any time and from time to time, without notice or further obligation to you. THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. has no obligation to display or post any materials provided by you. THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. reserves the right to disclose, at any time and from time to time, any information or materials that we deem necessary or appropriate to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, contract obligation, legal or dispute process or government request. Click on the following hyperlinks to further read the applicable Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Lake Mead water ... What will California do when it's gone??
- Thread starter PPK96754
- Start date
There's so much to say/write about on this issue.
As mentioned above, tap water is cheap, very cheap. That is going to change and quickly. If you buy your water from the City of San Diego, expect a big increase in your water bill over the next several years. Rates have to be increased because City has done an good job at building it's water resources and water independence by building additional storage and reuse treatment plants. San Diego County as a whole is doing a good job. We have the Carlsbad desal plant (delayed for years because of Surfrider, etc...), the Oceanside Pure Water plant, the Padre Dam PURE Water plant, the Sweetwater Authority desalting plant, etc....
There are several other regions in the State building advanced treatment plants as well but it won't be nearly enough and costs $$$$. So we will pay unless the State/Fed funds these improvements with grants. If the money is made available, expect 2-5 years to construct small to medium large plants and 5-7 years for large to big plants. In addition to potable reuse, brackish water desalting and PFAS treatment are a big help allowing us to tap into what were in the past unusable ground water resources. All of this takes $$$$ so our rates have to go up.
For ocean water desal to move forward, the Coastal Commission has to get on board. Based on the Huntington Beach vote, they are not. Ocean water desal is the most costly of the options but the source is unlimited which in my mind makes it very attractive.
Regarding reservoir level manipulation, the BoR has been doing that for years. Right now, they are focused on ensuring that there's enough head pressure behind each dam to keep the turbines turning. The BoR is on of those agencies that doesn't need to pull a shenanigan to get emergency money. The issue is, we are in a severe drought and there is no water flowing into the watershed that supplies the CO River. Couple this with the decades of ground water mismanagement, we're fvcked!
As mentioned above, tap water is cheap, very cheap. That is going to change and quickly. If you buy your water from the City of San Diego, expect a big increase in your water bill over the next several years. Rates have to be increased because City has done an good job at building it's water resources and water independence by building additional storage and reuse treatment plants. San Diego County as a whole is doing a good job. We have the Carlsbad desal plant (delayed for years because of Surfrider, etc...), the Oceanside Pure Water plant, the Padre Dam PURE Water plant, the Sweetwater Authority desalting plant, etc....
There are several other regions in the State building advanced treatment plants as well but it won't be nearly enough and costs $$$$. So we will pay unless the State/Fed funds these improvements with grants. If the money is made available, expect 2-5 years to construct small to medium large plants and 5-7 years for large to big plants. In addition to potable reuse, brackish water desalting and PFAS treatment are a big help allowing us to tap into what were in the past unusable ground water resources. All of this takes $$$$ so our rates have to go up.
For ocean water desal to move forward, the Coastal Commission has to get on board. Based on the Huntington Beach vote, they are not. Ocean water desal is the most costly of the options but the source is unlimited which in my mind makes it very attractive.
Regarding reservoir level manipulation, the BoR has been doing that for years. Right now, they are focused on ensuring that there's enough head pressure behind each dam to keep the turbines turning. The BoR is on of those agencies that doesn't need to pull a shenanigan to get emergency money. The issue is, we are in a severe drought and there is no water flowing into the watershed that supplies the CO River. Couple this with the decades of ground water mismanagement, we're fvcked!
Up here at the Colorado River headwaters it's been pouring for days and all the streams are raging. Too bad that water never makes it farther downstream than the Dillon Reservoir. Denver Water pipes it through the Continental Divide for the ever growing Front Range megalopolis. It's almost like everyone wants to have kids and those kids all want to move to the West.
Rain is good but snow, like cash, is king. How was last winter's snow pack? The Eastern Sierras get a lot of summer rain too but it is really nothing compared to the amount of water stored in 100"+ of snow pack spread over 100s of square miles.
The Denver metro area, which includes Aurora (which has all of the land), has been growing for years. You need a lot of water to serve that growth. There's been growing pressure on the CO River for 100+ years. It looks like we finally tipped the bucket and haver to realize we live in a desert and can't have all the lush landscaping we desire.
rain has been fantastic in CO this year
was rolling from cortez to telluride a few weeks ago and having flashbacks of being near the coast in oregon - so GREEN!!!
just found out recently that most of our water in the springs comes from homestake reservoir and through a tunnel under the continental divide - water that would have gone into the colorado river otherwise
This seasons monsoon in the Southwest has been the strongest/wettest of the past 25 years. While most of the storms have been in the same remote locations, it has affected other areas like Vegas, Death Valley, Phoenix metro, Four Corners, with extreme flooding as well. You would think there would be a way to contain and re-use all the water that has been producing the flash flooding in these areas. I recently drove through the Mojave desert and couldn't believe how much standing/ponding water there was across the desert basin mostly between Yermo and Primm/Stateline NV.
A lot. However, having a lawn does allow rain water to better percolate deeper and saturate the ground. Hard baked dirt you get almost zero percolation and all run off. The trick is to use native species that provide ground cover and aerate the soil to allow for deeper saturation.
Western Slope gets all the snow so they built the Moffat tunnel to bring water from the west thru the divide to the east. There are a couple of others too.
A friend of mine works for an engineering firm that specializes in tunneling and tunnel rehab. He has worked on several rehab projects on water diversion tunnels. Some are 80 - 110 years old. He has some pretty cool before and after pictures.
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?
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.
Rooftop water tanks and yard tanks required on all new construction.
