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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

#151

Post by Scoundreller »

Spooky23 wrote: post #150
Scoundreller wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t speculate too much without knowing where, but it sounds more like regulatory capture to prevent development. With conservation, rainwater collection, gray water re-use, incinerating/composting toilets and/or engineered septic fields, a lot can be done without a lot of groundwater or usable natural septic field.

It’s in the middle of nowhere. My neighbor was the mayor who implemented it, with the goal of encouraging development.

Encouraging development with minimum lot sizes of 4 acres?

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

#152

Post by VBprogrammer »

Scoundreller wrote: post #149
VBprogrammer wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest I suspected that and was going to say something about it but then I tried to verify my suspicion and couldn't immediately find a reference for it. From what I did see about 50% of domestic use is watering plants. Getting rid of conventional lawns would be a good start.

Depends how you do it. My mom’s backyard is going from useless lawn to cares-for fruit/veg garden. Water consumption is going up. Dunno if our practices use less than buying what we produce.

To be fair the comparison isn't between growing your own and buying in a grocery store. If you get anything useful out of it then I think that's arguably a better use of water than a lawn.

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

#153

Post by Balgair »

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

Cody! I love that guy. His vids are so refreshingly insane and hackery. I'd suggest nearly all his vids.

That said, the guy seems like he has some psychological issues. I hope he gets the help that he deserves, if he isn't already.

Cody, if you are out there, you rock man! Keep being Cody!

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

#154

Post by bobby451 »

mjevans wrote: post #18

Lets stop wastefully watering lawns as a starting point. Some places are probably already doing that, but the use of native landscaping needs to spread further.

For arid locales, I completely agree. I live in Denver, which gets something like 20” of precipitation a year. It’s basically a desert.

As far as I know, most of the tap water here is extracted from the Denver basin aquifer. There was a Denver post article a while back that claimed this aquifer would be depleted by something like 2050, and that some communities on the western edge of the metro had already gone dry.

While projections like that are difficult and a newspaper isn’t a journal, this is still pretty terrifying. But everybody has a green lawn. It’s part of my lease that I have to water the lawn. I really think we ought to follow Albuquerque and have gravel and cactus everywhere...

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

#155

Post by halfeatenpie »

romaaeterna wrote: post #136
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…

I'm sure that your job is very wonderful, but the NAWPA post was not entirely serious, and I hope that a water resources researcher would realize that first of all. For one thing, it's not a municipal drinking water project, it's an irrigation project to deliver large amounts of water to (potential) cropland in the American Southwest. It's really about (massively) increasing US (and therefore world) food production.…

See it as you want, but that's a pretty negative view on the entire situation. We as humans are very resilient and we'll continue to find a way to make it through. This also isn't a localized issue but an international issue with localized variable impact. It doesn't exactly work like the way you described... But hey you do you!

I'm aware that NAWPA post wasn't entire serious, but the thing is that similar to how people were investing in companies during the .com bubble that had no clear monotization plan, Water also went through a similar phase. Municipal water and irrigated water are very different topics I agree, but from the direction I work in we look at them in a similar light. There's another project our organization is involved in that is focusing on investments in dam infrastructure in Africa to help deliver water for farmland irrigation. The specific context is different, but water is water, and the issue with quantity and transportation is present (and common) on both sides.

Again, do what you want or believe what you want, but the reality of the situation is there.

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

#156

Post by halfeatenpie »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #113
drablyechoes wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Food costs money; why should food and water be managed differently? (Presumably, with subsidies or such as needed)

Funny thing. There's a research topic called virtual water that focuses on the trade of water through food or other "products". Look it up! It's really interesting! It talks about the trade of water most commonly through food products! (How transporting an apple from California to Pennsylvania means you're exporting and importing water!)

It's a new topic that's only really taken shape and impact in the last two decades!

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

#157

Post by lordCarbonFiber »

jedberg wrote: post #138
gumby wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what the commodity futures markets are for. There's a reason why the big commodity trading floor was in Chicago (it's essentially all electronic now of course).

But wouldn't they want the futures market to have perfect information? So that the futures could be priced exactly right, which would mean the lowest possible price that counterbalances a down market perfectly? I assume the farmers aren't trying to make money from the futures, they're just trying to not lose money. Their profits come from actually growing food. The futures are just there in case something bad happens…

I'd venture farmers make half or more more of their money on futures markets. Argi-business is a global market and optimal prices for your commodities don't necessarily conform to your local conditions/crops/etc.

I can't speak for all farmers, but my family owns a farm and the futures market is huge in it generating money.

You can use the futures markets to hedge against bad crop yields, lock in profits for accounting and cash flow purposes, inform what crops you are going to grow. It's immensely valuable.

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

#158

Post by cardamomo »

et-al wrote: post #23
cardamomo wrote: post #11

For those interested in exploring the political and social consequences of this in a near-term (albeit fictional) world, I highly recommend reading "The Water Knife" by Paolo Bacigalupi. From the Goodreads description: > In the American Southwest, Nevada, Arizona, and California skirmish for dwindling shares of the Colorado River. Into the fray steps Angel Velasquez, leg-breaker, assassin, and spy. A Las Vegas water…

And if anyone prefers non-fiction, Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner describes the (completely fucked) water supply situation out in California.

Cadillac Desert figures prominently in the plot of Bacigalupi's novel.

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

#159

Post by jpindar »

chewz wrote: post #49
neonhomer wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how much of that is irrigated? As I understand it in California there is a lot of irrigated lawns. But I doubt the majority of lawns in the US is irrigated or watered.

Do you own a lawn? Scotland is perhaps the only place I know where you can not water lawn in summer.

It depends on what species the lawn is. If it's the same species that grows naturally in vacant lots and by the roadside, it doesn't need watering unless there's a significant drought.

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

#160

Post by chupasaurus »

pkaye wrote: post #130
stirfrykitty wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet companies build plants on the Great Lakes, hoover up all the water, filter it, bottle it, and sell it to the unsuspecting, who happily buy it. I never ever saw bottled water as a kid in Europe. It wasn't until I moved to the US where it appeared to be commonplace. When I went back home to England last year, they've got it in every supermarket I visited. Sad, really. I still just drink out of the tap here in Texas…

I've heard though in Europe it is more common to have sparkling water in restaurants while in the US its plain water (maybe filtered tap water)

The only reason for that is to charge more.
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