California's water crisis... interesting article

maybe jack will play "JJ Gittes" again in the remake?

 

PB's article says costs are 1/4 less today than back in the 1980s. It'll get cheaper as they learn more from huge desal plants having real issues. And, the more of them there are, should lower the costs too. Good to see they've at least started one. The problem of enough water in Calif isn't going to go away, no matter how many politicians line their pockets along the way. I wonder how many desal ships could be available to pump for a while. They may find out.

 

This popcorn ..... is making me THIRSTY.

 

Yes, I know for certain Florida does have non potable water for watering use. I've seen signs down there while on vacation.

 

Desalination plant, lots of electricity
California get much of it's power form hydro, going dry means less power.

Big push for wind mills & solar power. Fed Government subsidized (your tax dollars )
Californian's not like nuke plants; Arizona will need another Nuke plant to supply California power, at night & on cloudy, rainy no wind days LOL

Water pipeline from Alaska to California under sea. As the glaciers melt, we'll send the water to be used up there

 

Nor cal is very nice. You'd have to pay me a ton of $ to move back to so cal.

 

BUT:
A Great place to visit , Dec thru mid March
if from Alaska

 

as i recall the San Joachin valley (which i guess is what they refer to as the central valley) was for decades irrigated by water piped out of the Colombia river. the valley was one of the most fertile growing areas in the country and accounted to over 3/4 of the "truck patch" produce in the country.

the irrigation was shut down a few years back due to the dangers it caused to the Delta Smelt a small fish cousin to the salmon that inhabits that river. seems the smelt were getting sucked up into the pumps so in order to protect this minnow, the water from the colombia was cut off , thhis resulted in the collapse of vegetable farming in the San Joachin and the conversion to mostly almond farming as that was about the only viable crop that could be grown there.

add this to the rise in population and the added aquifer pressure from using wells for irrigation , a bad stretch in the annual climate cycle (aka drought) and there you are, outta water

 

Its a good read Stinny... this is something Ive read about in the past. Shame is that we have known this problem was coming for a long time, but as with so many things greed and making an easy gain today win out over making the harder, smart long term decisions. So many of our problems that really boil down to short term thinking.

Someday we may look back and think... shipping vegetables by airplane in the middle of winter... swimming pools and green lawns in the desert... what where we thinking? An interesting show to watch if this kind of thing interest you is the series "How we got to now" on PBS. It talks about strange connections between seemly simple ideas we never think twice about that actually created the modern world we live in today. One of them was called "Cold" and explained that the population boom in the Southwest would have never happened without the invention of the air conditioner. Refrigeration is also what makes it possible for all the produce grown in places like CA to be sold out of season around the country.
http://video.pbs.org/program/how-we-got-now/


Anyway.. about the water, Its already been said that desalination is no magic bullet due to the massive energy requirements. Consider not just the cost but where does that energy come from? No water means no hydro... So build solar cell farms in AZ? too expensive? Build more coal plants? Pollution accelerating the climate shift causing droughts and create a viscous circle. There is no easy answer.

To pile on, I read another article somewhere that china is facing massive droughts and has considered buying and importing water from oversears. Imagine you build that desal plant then the Chinese outbid local utilities for the water produced an load it on to tankers.

 

This.

 

You hit it right on the head Jeremy... "There is no easy answer." Speaking of China's problems, have you ever gotten into their Three Gorges Dam issues? (I think that's the name of the dam) The entire super huge project was built on unstable ground. And, they knew it when they did it. If, or more likely when, it fails, many people will be swept away downstream. I'm sure, to replace that power lost, they'll crank up more and more coal fired power plants. Nuts.

 

I saw a documentary about its construction once. I dont remember much about the stability of it but I do recall there being concerns about displacing millions of homes, changing the path of rivers and erosion patters, and so forth.

China is an interesting place. Lots of contradictions. My job has taken me there, to Shanghai, for work a few times. People are interesting. Whatever we may think about their government, the average middle class working people I met there mostly are a lot like us... in the sense that they just want a good job to put their kids through school, have a home, maybe own a car someday. It really surprised me that many of them are quite open to talk about politics and world events, even about the system there (seems that you dont get thrown in jail there for talking about the government in casual conversation; so long as you dont act on it or publish). Most of them have a love/hate relationship with the system - they know we have more freedom, and they want more freedom; yet they also like how their government has basically transformed the country from a 3rd world backwater to an economic superpower in just 20 years. they see a lot of opportunity for jobs and such.

That overnight transformation comes on the back of mega projects like 3 gorges. Again a contradiction because it may cause a lot of issues but at the same time they did it because they dont want to be dependent on coal. Sure coal fuels most of their growth but they surprisingly are trying to diversify.

I can add more later, but right now i have to run......

 

I have come up with the answer to Cali's water problem. We as firewood hoarders can solve it. We just need to wait till Cali is so desperate for water that we can ship logs to them, then they can dry the for while reclaiming the water and ship it back (after all the train cars or trucks have to go both ways, no point dead heading). So long as Cali's need for water outweighs the shipping costs we win. But unfortunately I foresee the we will all become pellet heads if this happens, cause its going to be a lot easier to dry the wood when chipped and pulverized and then make it into pellets. Those of us who are die hard cord wood burners are in for a lifestyle change. So f California

 

I once saw an invention on the show The Shark Tank that helped with watering trees and protecting them from frost. It was basically a cover that helped to prevent the water from running away from the tree and the evaporation of the water as well. If I remember correctly he got a deal with one of the sharks. It was going to save a chitload of water for tree farmers. Here it is. The tree-t-pee.

http://www.mrctv.org/blog/inventor-farmer-brings-shark-tank-tears

 

I just ran across another story about Calif water crisis... here's closing lines and at the core of the problem in solutions...

["Desal[ination] is part of it and sewage recycling is part of it," Famiglietti says. "More efficient irrigation, better water pricing, better crop choices — there's all sorts of things we need to include in our portfolio to bridge that gap between supply and demand."

But here's what scares a lot of people: Even an all-of-the-above strategy isn't going to be enough.

Even after factoring in the water that the desalination plant is expected to produce, plus recycled water and what's called "extraordinary conservation," Santa Barbara is projecting a significant water shortfall in 2017.]