251–260 of 280 posts
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In the era of solar power saturating the grid in daytime, the energy cost is far less of an issue - At least, I assume California has similar characteristics to Australia in this regard.
There's still cost involved, and solar seems to be around 30% of the total
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"villages"? You're not from here are you? Makes me wonder if internationally you're getting general anti-American propaganda or if Republican anti-California propaganda is leaking worldwide.
Good catch. The shibboleth revealed the russian bot farmer.
Of course, it is easier to blame some Big Bad Wolf, when one wants to hide the skeletons in the closet. So you do you.
California couple Fined $500 for brown lawn.. in a drought: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lX3UIZxzJL0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Aqueduct
Read the last line: [The impact of the Los Angeles Aqueduct Project to the Owens Valley region was immediate and detrimental to future agricultural work of local farmers. In 1923, in an effort to increase the water supply, the city of Los Angeles began purchasing vast parcels of land and commenced the drilling of new wells in the region, significantly lowering the level of groundwater in the Owens Valley, even affecting farmers who “did not sell to the city’s representatives.”[44] By 1970, constant groundwater pumping by the city of Los Angeles had virtually dried up all the major springs in the Owens Valley, impacting the surrounding wetlands, springs, meadows, and marsh habitats.[45] The consequent transfer of water out of the Owens Lake and Mono Lake decimated the natural ecology of the region, transforming what was a “lush terrain into desert.”]
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Sure, I'm not saying they don't, but it isn't a critical crop for day to day life, biologically speaking. No one is going to die for not eating almonds. Is it economically important? For sure. Is it critical for living? No.
We don’t decide what to grow based on what someone decides is “critical for living.” We decide what to grow based on what sells for a decent margin above cost. Some countries in the Eastern Hemisphere tried the first way and it didn’t work out very well.
The problem, as others said, is that their cost is artificially low as they don't pay market rate for water.
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Good catch. The shibboleth revealed the russian bot farmer.
Guess again which nation I'm from. Of course, it is easier to blame some Big Bad Wolf, when one wants to hide the skeletons in the closet. So you do you. California couple Fined $500 for brown lawn.. in a drought: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lX3UIZxzJL0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Aqueduct Read the last line: [The impact of the Los Angeles Aqueduct Project to the Owens Valley region was immediate and…
It's the urban/rural division subtext of the brown lawns and the economically-infeasible desal techno-saviorism that comes off a bit russian botish.
The big scale in water politics is in the colorado river compact and how water rights are bought up by foreign alfalfa farmers to effectively ship water overseas. Brown lawns is pennies in front of the steamroller. Pennies that are effective at stoking urban/rural divisions, but still pennies in the grand scheme of things.
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Desalination must be insanely expensive; I’m always shocked it wasn’t done decades ago. Considering California always seems to have power and water issues, I’d think combining these things would make a lot of sense. Some of these exist and there seems to be a fair bit of research in the area. I have to image at some point that will be the direction California would need to go. Of course, if they are all-in on solar a…
> Desalination must be insanely expensive It isn't. Mostly there are environmental concerns.
Show us the data.
What is the price of desalinated water vs water that literally falls from the sky.
They both need to be chlorinated and piped to the end user, but desalinated water is typically at the wrong end of existing delivery infrastructure to take advantage of it.
And irrigators often have things like God deliver much of their water via rain, rivers etc.
So it stands to reason that desalinated water must be much more expensive.
Did reverse osmosis suddenly become energetically inexpensive while I wasn’t paying attention?
Did we build a bunch of nuclear power plants by the coast to use the waste heat for flash distillation?
Did brine disposal suddenly become a trivial issue to solve?
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Could use some large scale geo-engineering. Pity that we don't have a radiation-free way of blowing a gigantic hole into the ground that can store a few trillion litres.
Probably bad idea, and definitely 'Need to bid it to responsible parties' question but would there be a way to safely use even separated 'landfill refuse' to build significant parts of the enclosing structure?
That’s almost always going to be cheaper to source from a nearby quarry than municipal sorting centres when you’re talk multiple millions of cubic meters.
In other arid areas, people use terracing on hills so the water runoff is slowed and the water can soak into the aquifers. Also, dikes are built around fields to hold the water and also let it soak into the ground. Are these done in California?
There has been quite a lot of investment in spreading grounds, aquifer recharging, and stormwater capture. Last year, LA county recaptured enough water to meet the yearly water needs of 2.4 million people.
Or are they including all the industrial water use those people contribute to by existing? That then includes industrial agriculture, and all industrial water use that enables modern life.
I suspect they mean only the first one, which is at least misleading, and at worst a lie intended to deceive.
Hot take, but I find it hard to care very much about water shortages, especially near the coast. A single nuclear power plant dedicated to desalinization would fix the whole problem. That this is still politically infeasible indicates to me that the drought is not really a big deal.
There’s a country in the Middle East that has insufficient natural water supply, and they manage to thrive and be a centre of learning, innovation, industry, and culture.
Water supply and sanitation in Israel are intricately linked to the historical development of Israel, because rain falls only in the winter, and largely in the northern part of the country. Irrigation and water engineering are considered vital to the country's economic survival and growth. Large-scale projects to desalinate seawater, direct water from rivers and reservoirs in the north, make optimal use of groundwater, and reclaim flood overflow and sewage have been undertaken. Among them is the National Water Carrier, carrying water from the country's biggest freshwater lake, the Sea of Galilee, to the northern part of the Negev desert through channels, pipes and tunnels.[4] Israel's water demand today outstrips available conventional water resources. Thus, in an average year, Israel relies for about half of its water supply from unconventional water resources, including reclaimed water and desalination. A particularly long drought in 1998–2002 had prompted the government to promote large-scale seawater desalination. In 2022, 86% of the country's drinkable water was produced through desalination of saltwater and brackish water.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in...
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There has been quite a lot of investment in spreading grounds, aquifer recharging, and stormwater capture. Last year, LA county recaptured enough water to meet the yearly water needs of 2.4 million people.
Does this mean 2.4 million peoples personal drinking and cleaning use in a typical residential area? Or are they including all the industrial water use those people contribute to by existing? That then includes industrial agriculture, and all industrial water use that enables modern life. I suspect they mean only the first one, which is at least misleading, and at worst a lie intended to deceive.