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In the US, wells being drilled ever deeper as groundwater vanishes

arstechnica.com

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Re: In the US, wells being drilled ever deeper as groundwater vanishes

#71

Post by aksss »

madez wrote: post #9
jxcl wrote: post #3

When some aquifers are drained, they take many thousands of years to replenish, a heavy rain season doesn't really help with these depleted aquifers. Here's a great video on Cody'sLab that explains how confined aquifers work and why they take so long to replenish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF4iCgxsZX4

It even shows why some aquifers may never replenish. The layer of the aquifer is not tightly compressed and can hold water. When the water is released and the layer starts to compress from the weight from above, its ability to hold water is permanently diminished.

The sinkhole above it can hold houses though!

Re: In the US, wells being drilled ever deeper as groundwater vanishes

#72

Post by dsfyu404ed »

ccffph wrote: post #63
commandlinefan wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget - in a lot of places, you'll lose your home (to the HOA) if you _don't_ water your lawn.

well then why did you move in there, lol

Well the lawn rule was probably a non-issue because it was cheap/easy/morally justifiable enough to comply with with at the time and appeared it would be for the foreseeable future.

Re: In the US, wells being drilled ever deeper as groundwater vanishes

#73

Post by azinman2 »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #67
hombre_fatal wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just price water to reflect supply realities? Why would anyone care about saving water when it's so dirt cheap? "Awareness" seems like a waste of time in comparison.

Because we as a society have decided that we are all better off if it's cheap enough that poor people can still use it on a whim. Of course this results in some people over-using but we think that's less of a problem.

I don’t know about the rest of the US, but in SF water pricing is tiered. A small amount costs x per gallon. A larger amount costs 2x per gallon. And even larger amount costs 4x per gallon, etc.

Unfortunately the rich can still abuse this, as it’s not actually proportionate to income. I wish more public fees were, like speeding tickets, car registration costs, etc, so that rich/poor impact was more normalized.

N.B. The multipliers are illustrative and not the actual numbers.

Re: In the US, wells being drilled ever deeper as groundwater vanishes

#74

Post by Marsymars »

panzagl wrote: post #32
commandlinefan wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget - in a lot of places, you'll lose your home (to the HOA) if you _don't_ water your lawn.

In order to buy that home you signed a contract saying you would maintain your lawn. If you don't want to water there are other alternatives.

In my mind, a "maintained" lawn is brown for much of the summer, comparably to how it's covered in snow for most of the winter.

Re: In the US, wells being drilled ever deeper as groundwater vanishes

#75

Post by heavenlyblue »

40acres wrote: post #45

A local groundwater management agency in Ventura County, CA recently started a pilot program that established a groundwater market among farmers in the county. Following the early 2010s drought in California, laws were enacted to cap and eventually reduce the amount of groundwater that can be extracted. Recent advancements in water usage tracking infrastructure, combined with the law has led to a natural environment…

What does it use _“block-chain”_ for?

Re: In the US, wells being drilled ever deeper as groundwater vanishes

#76

Post by scribu »

40acres wrote: post #45

A local groundwater management agency in Ventura County, CA recently started a pilot program that established a groundwater market among farmers in the county. Following the early 2010s drought in California, laws were enacted to cap and eventually reduce the amount of groundwater that can be extracted. Recent advancements in water usage tracking infrastructure, combined with the law has led to a natural environment…

> Interestingly, farmers view water usage as a trade secret

I wonder why. Do slight changes in irrigation patterns have a significant effect on crops?

Re: In the US, wells being drilled ever deeper as groundwater vanishes

#77

Post by plutonorm »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #27
srameshc wrote: post #14

The same phenomenon is happening is happening in China & India and probably many other parts of he world as well. As we become more a more affluent society, our on water consumption increases. We need to raise awareness at a global level about preserving and saving water. https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/04/28-000-riv... https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/rivers...

Why not just price water to reflect supply realities? Why would anyone care about saving water when it's so dirt cheap? "Awareness" seems like a waste of time in comparison.

Great idea. Then when the air gets dirty we can just charge people for purified air.

Re: In the US, wells being drilled ever deeper as groundwater vanishes

#78

Post by TheHegemon »

scribu wrote: post #76
40acres wrote: post #45

A local groundwater management agency in Ventura County, CA recently started a pilot program that established a groundwater market among farmers in the county. Following the early 2010s drought in California, laws were enacted to cap and eventually reduce the amount of groundwater that can be extracted. Recent advancements in water usage tracking infrastructure, combined with the law has led to a natural environment…

> Interestingly, farmers view water usage as a trade secret I wonder why. Do slight changes in irrigation patterns have a significant effect on crops?

Definitely! If someone is able to figure out how to use less water to grow the same amount of crops they could totally outcompete and undercut other producers.

There's an interesting Planet Money episode about it: https://www.npr.org/2019/06/12/732147345/the-water-marketpla...

Re: In the US, wells being drilled ever deeper as groundwater vanishes

#79

Post by LinuxBender »

Aaronstotle wrote: post #60
LinuxBender wrote: post #51

Have any more improvements been made in the process of removing salt from ocean water in large volume? Is anyone actively still working on this?

Did a quick google search and found that Israel launched a large desalination plant back in 2015 (uses reverse osmosis). Here's the source: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534996/megascale-desalina...

Thankyou. That would suggest it is feasible on a large scale. Hopefully more countries will start to invest in desalination plants. With ocean levels rising, now should be a good time to optimize that process even further.

Re: In the US, wells being drilled ever deeper as groundwater vanishes

#80

Post by drablyechoes »

quotemstr wrote: post #31
halfeatenpie wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actual water resources researcher focusing on climate change here. My job is focused on what can we do to continue to deliver water to society under future scenarios (and what steps we can take to get there) from policy to infrastructure investments. The article doesn't present anything new for us but the problem is that the general public isn't informed. While we're the oldest engineering discipline, remember that e…

Why are so many water researchers opposed to letting the price of water vary and drive market-based conservation?

Presumably because they do not want huge segments of the human population to die because they are unable to afford access to the literally most basic necessity for life on this planet.
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