41–50 of 70 posts
When I last visited (4 years ago), I was struck by how much everything was watered there. I'd never keep plants that need that much tending. Water must be way too cheap there.
I think the issue isn't only the lack of rain, it's the immense use of water. I read at some point recently farmers have moved to crops such as pistachio nuts which have high margins, but take something like 1 gallon of water per nut. And water usage in rich areas actually increased year-over-year, which is infuriating. We had rain throughout the winter, and even a couple of summer showers recently which is rare, and…
It is very frustrating to me that we are dealing with such significant drought, while most of us Californians live within 100 miles of the ocean. Using that water seems like the answer. The problem with desalination is that it's an expensive solution to a sometimes problem. http://www.wateronline.com/doc/santa-barbara-to-reboot-desal... Santa Barbara built and then shut down an expensive desalination plant in the ear…
As with nearly all of our problems, California's water shortage is really an energy shortage. If we had cheap, abundant energy, desalinization isn't expensive anymore. Figure out fusion and our water problems are solved. Of course, in the meantime you think we'd at least consider pricing water as a resource and let supply and demand control the price. Instead, we implement this ludicrous system of encouraging neighbo…
If markets were capable of intelligent long-term strategy, California wouldn't have an energy shortage in the first place.
Fusion isn't required to solve a problem that could have been solved by much simpler means.
It's bad. I recently drove to LA through the central valley, and in 18 years of doing that drive, I've never seen it so dry. Whole farms are just gone, everything is brown. There are a couple of problems preventing us from saving more water though. #1, we had a drought in the 80s. A lot of people learned to conserve then and never changed their habits (like me). There is no way I could use 20% less water -- I already…
The number 1 way to conserve water is to eat less meat. I don't think that people have learned this yet and most people have not changed their habits to consume less meat. Serious question: why is it acceptable to change all kinds of behaviors, take shorter showers, fix leaks, turn off taps, and even install gray water systems, yet not change our behavior to eat less meat? If you didn't eat beef for one day (1/2 lb b…
But normally beef are fed crops that are highly drought resistant, like grass, alfalfa and barley.
Human crops like wheat, rice and corn require a lot more water than feed crops.
So if your rainfall levels are less than what is required by human food crops, you have several options:
- irrigate - grow cattle feed without irrigation - idle the land
The 3rd option may be the most environmentally friendly, but it doesn't feed anybody.
Beef may require more water per calorie than other foods, but it may still be more efficient. It doesn't really matter how much water is required -- it matters how much irrigation is required. And for beef, that number can be "0" in areas where nothing else is.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Domestic water is probably overpriced not underpriced. It's the farmers who pay way too little (often zero!) for water. This has created screwed up incentives for farmers. Many crops are worth less than the true cost of the water needed to grow them! This is what happens when you have a system driven by politics and not the market - it's prone to lose touch with reality (actual cost/value). Unfortunately it will be v…
food industry should be partly subsidized by government, otherwise country could end up in trouble when people don't get enough neccessary basic food and stuff
It is very frustrating to me that we are dealing with such significant drought, while most of us Californians live within 100 miles of the ocean. Using that water seems like the answer. The problem with desalination is that it's an expensive solution to a sometimes problem. http://www.wateronline.com/doc/santa-barbara-to-reboot-desal... Santa Barbara built and then shut down an expensive desalination plant in the ear…
As with nearly all of our problems, California's water shortage is really an energy shortage. If we had cheap, abundant energy, desalinization isn't expensive anymore. Figure out fusion and our water problems are solved. Of course, in the meantime you think we'd at least consider pricing water as a resource and let supply and demand control the price. Instead, we implement this ludicrous system of encouraging neighbo…
Unfortunately it falls under the 'nuclear' umbrella and thus carries with it all of the baggage associated with that.
5 minute elevator pitch for the LFTR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK367T7h6ZY
Failing that, I don't understand why we can't just connect a pipe (like we do with oil) from one of our water rich states to CA.
But for whatever reason the state doesn't seem to be even considering any engineering solutions to the problem.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor
According to the article, LA received about 4 inches of water a year over the past 3 years, which is 2 inches per year less than average. Wouldn't that mean LA is in perpetual drought? When I last visited (4 years ago), I was struck by how much everything was watered there. I'd never keep plants that need that much tending. Water must be way too cheap there.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As with nearly all of our problems, California's water shortage is really an energy shortage. If we had cheap, abundant energy, desalinization isn't expensive anymore. Figure out fusion and our water problems are solved. Of course, in the meantime you think we'd at least consider pricing water as a resource and let supply and demand control the price. Instead, we implement this ludicrous system of encouraging neighbo…
Fusion is cool, but fission is easy and if used on Thorium in LFTRs[1], would provide us with virtually unlimited, passively safe energy that leaves extremely little waste. Unfortunately it falls under the 'nuclear' umbrella and thus carries with it all of the baggage associated with that. 5 minute elevator pitch for the LFTR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK367T7h6ZY Failing that, I don't understand why we can't j…
It is very frustrating to me that we are dealing with such significant drought, while most of us Californians live within 100 miles of the ocean. Using that water seems like the answer. The problem with desalination is that it's an expensive solution to a sometimes problem. http://www.wateronline.com/doc/santa-barbara-to-reboot-desal... Santa Barbara built and then shut down an expensive desalination plant in the ear…
Surely you have to ask yourself, if your proposed solution is energy intensive desalination, perhaps the problem actually is using too much water?
1. http://www.environment.ucla.edu/reportcard/article4870.html
2. I suspect that we would see improvements in the situation if water were priced appropriately, which to my casual knowledge is not the case, especially for our farmers. I believe right now our government picks the "winners and losers" of water allocation, which upsets the losers, and doesn't encourage the winners to explore less water-intensive farming methods. But again, I could be drastically oversimplifying a situation I am not well educated on.
I think the issue isn't only the lack of rain, it's the immense use of water. I read at some point recently farmers have moved to crops such as pistachio nuts which have high margins, but take something like 1 gallon of water per nut. And water usage in rich areas actually increased year-over-year, which is infuriating. We had rain throughout the winter, and even a couple of summer showers recently which is rare, and…
Here are the water utility rates in the Raleigh area. Notice that non-residential rates are almost as low as Tier 1 but irrigation rates are the same as Tier 3.
Residential Water Rates:
Tier 1 = 0-4 CCF billed at $2.28 Tier 2 = 5-10 CCF billed at $3.80 Tier 3 = 11+ CCF billed at $5.07 Non-Residential Water Rate: $2.95
Irrigation Rate: $5.07
1 CCF = 748 gallons