91–100 of 211 posts
Could we feasibly just run desalination stations from the coasts and pipe the water - like oil - to fill up these reservoirs? Setting cost aside for a second, is there any reason not to do something like this?
Why not pipe the water from the pacific northwest, similar to what was done with the Colorado river.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South–North_Water_Transfer_P...
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The question of who owns the water right is important. The doctrine for water usage is different in the western US and the eastern US. Some of this is due to geography, and some due to the history of settlement. Here are a few useful links that discuss the differences. https://nationalaglawcenter.org/overview/water-law/ https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2014/03/an-introduction-to-water-l... https://extension.okstate.edu/fact…
So change the laws.
Completely overhauling property rights for half of a continent doesn’t come without major resistance. We’re still recovering from the last that that was done.
It’s just not as simple a problem as we’d all like it to be, and it’s not because this senator is in that rancher’s pocket.
> “We are 150 feet from 25 million Americans losing access to the Colorado River"
> roughly 80% of the river’s flow is used for agriculture, and most of that for thirsty crops like alfalfa, which is mainly grown for cattle
Somebody needs to wake the people in those cities up. If they don't start screaming at their representatives, they won't be able to use their faucets, because some cattle farmers don't want to import feed. This is ridiculous.
But then again, this is America. If 25 million people need to go without water so my burgers will be cheaper, so be it, right?
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FYI: Sacramento is a natural delta and most of the water you saw still continues on through the water supply. While one can always suggest more economical uses of water than any particular use/crop, the reality of what’s going on there might be different than your intuitions. https://rice.ucanr.edu/Water_Use_by_Rice/
34" of consumptive water use (per your source) across the thousands of acres planted is simply unsustainable—plenty of crops use half that, even with 19th century techniques that agribusiness insists on. Also that's more than half of the draw (again per your source) so "most" is quite the exaggeration. And the majority of the loss here is simply surface evaporation!
I just thought it would be constructive to surface some of the detail behind what you reported in your original comment. People’s imaginations can run wild when you talk about California!
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And what percentage of those agriculturally grown calories are you going to cut out from your diet to reduce those usages? How much more do you want us all to pay for food? "Eighty percent of California's water goes to agriculture" is very literally saying "Eighty percent of California's water feeds people". There are cash crops that use a somewhat disproportionate amount of the water, but that is in no way reflected…
> "Eighty percent of California's water goes to agriculture" is very literally saying "Eighty percent of California's water feeds people" Alfalfa doesn't feed people [1]. It feeds cows that feed people. And nobody is going to starve because almonds and pistachios are pricier. Moreover, California's agriculture is notoriously water inefficient [2]. Why wouldn't it be? What other behavior would you expect from agricult…
At least this article notes that the vast majority of water usage is agriculture. This isn't something cities could or should solve by switching to (expensive) desalination to effectively subsidize agriculture. Most notably, alfalfa is mentioned here as farmers are going to have to switch to less water-intensive crops. Decreasing alfalfa production may well impact the ability to feed cattle. In the short term, that's…
The desalination plant solutions a "let's do both." https://californiaglobe.com/articles/california-coastal-comm... Charge market prices for water and build desalination. Create abundance.
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What is so complex about eminent domain? Just force the sale of water rights back to the government for a fair price. It will sting a little bit, but sting far less than pretending like only 15% of the water in the western US actually exists.
Or, just allow farmers to sell their water to the highest bidder. The Coase theorem to the rescue.
At least this article notes that the vast majority of water usage is agriculture. This isn't something cities could or should solve by switching to (expensive) desalination to effectively subsidize agriculture. Most notably, alfalfa is mentioned here as farmers are going to have to switch to less water-intensive crops. Decreasing alfalfa production may well impact the ability to feed cattle. In the short term, that's…
> But this article makes the same mistake so many make: blaming this on climate change. It's not. It's simply usage. See Figure 2 on page 10 [1]. > [1]: https://www.usbr.gov/watersmart/bsp/docs/finalreport/Colorad... I don't trust that a 2012 report is up to date on our latest climate modelling, or even that this is a climate-adjusted projection at all. Actual data past the point of publishing has not followed this g…
At least this article notes that the vast majority of water usage is agriculture. This isn't something cities could or should solve by switching to (expensive) desalination to effectively subsidize agriculture. Most notably, alfalfa is mentioned here as farmers are going to have to switch to less water-intensive crops. Decreasing alfalfa production may well impact the ability to feed cattle. In the short term, that's…
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Here's the worst part: we aren't even growing this for ourselves. These are farms owned by the saudis, and we're growing it and exporting it.
Citation? I'd love to read more about this. Edit: ah, I see you linked it downthread thanks. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/11/02/453885642/sa...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/25/california-w...
https://alfalfa.ucdavis.edu/-files/pdf/shippingwaterputnam.p...
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/140123-co...
https://www.hcn.org/issues/46.7/how-we-export-our-water-to-a...
https://www.npr.org/2014/08/12/339753108/in-time-of-drought-... (earlier than the one you link to)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444517304577653...