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I wish there was some way to change prices to alter demand. Maybe a "task force of thought leaders" can crack open an Econ 101 textbook and look at the supply and demand curve on the first page. Sorry for the sarcasm, I'm just disappointed in the "reach for regulation first" approach to dealing with shortages.
Though perhaps you are referring to the price of something else?
Maybe I skimmed the article a bit fast, but I saw no mention of desalination plants, which are the obvious solution (though expensive and as far as I'm aware not implemented yet).
California's power grid is already stressed. Desalination takes a lot of power, so any new plants will probably have to install new power generation as well.
I wish there was some way to change prices to alter demand. Maybe a "task force of thought leaders" can crack open an Econ 101 textbook and look at the supply and demand curve on the first page. Sorry for the sarcasm, I'm just disappointed in the "reach for regulation first" approach to dealing with shortages.
Put down Atlas Shrugged for a minute and look at reality. The whole state of California has always been on water welfare, and if it weren't life there would be untenable for anyone who wasn't extremely wealthy.
If you really think "OK, so what? People can move." You are totally detached from reality. That's not what would happen. There would be riots.
So what happens when they run out of water? Are there water sources that are just undrinkable that can be cleaned up; similar to fracking now being cheap enough to compete with OPEC is there no water or just no drinkable water? Can they just "ship" or "pipe" the water in from neighboring states or are they too on the edge of a draught. Is this country-wide, just Western states, or just California and can other states…
A lot of water in California goes to farming. They'll have to close farms, which will drive up prices of produce.
There are a few tactics for tackling this problem (disclaimer: I didn't read the article) - Reduction of waste (leaks, more efficient plumbing, rationing) - Desalination (only useful along the coast) - Deep wells - water extraction from the air - water recycling - what else?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
California's power grid is already stressed. Desalination takes a lot of power, so any new plants will probably have to install new power generation as well.
If I were building a desalination plant I'd put the generator on site - why waste money on transmission losses? Natural gas generators are clean enough that I don't think it would be a big problem putting one by the ocean.
I wish there was some way to change prices to alter demand. Maybe a "task force of thought leaders" can crack open an Econ 101 textbook and look at the supply and demand curve on the first page. Sorry for the sarcasm, I'm just disappointed in the "reach for regulation first" approach to dealing with shortages.
You're right, if people can't afford water to drink, they're clearly not valuable enough to live. If a farm can't afford water for crops, the crops weren't profitable enough to grow anyway. And if the rest of the nation can't afford food since some foods will be scarce without California farms, they should just be more productive. No need for regulation!
I wish there was some way to change prices to alter demand. Maybe a "task force of thought leaders" can crack open an Econ 101 textbook and look at the supply and demand curve on the first page. Sorry for the sarcasm, I'm just disappointed in the "reach for regulation first" approach to dealing with shortages.
You're right, if people can't afford water to drink, they're clearly not valuable enough to live. If a farm can't afford water for crops, the crops weren't profitable enough to grow anyway. And if the rest of the nation can't afford food since some foods will be scarce without California farms, they should just be more productive. No need for regulation!
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/0...
Maybe California wouldn't have such a problem if they didn't plant crops that required so much water?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My understanding is that under most scenarios water for humans is fine, but agriculture will be totally dead in California.
Ahh, ok they hinted at that in the article but for some reason it didn't click in my head. I wonder if the farmers will just move to neighboring states (not that it's easy to pick up and move a farm....) losing farms in California would be a huge loss: > California produces a sizable majority of many American fruits, vegetables, and nuts: 99 percent of artichokes, 99 percent of walnuts, 97 percent of kiwis, 97 percen…