epic drought?

[DAVID95670]

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/19/sc...ted=all&src=pm


This is the first I have read this article. Or heard of this mega drought.

[TonyMuljat]

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/19/sc...ted=all&src=pm


This is the first I have read this article. Or heard of this mega drought.

From the article: " Planning for a mega-drought now, while heads are a little cooler, would help, he says. The planning might include, for example, deciding which crops are to be taken out of production first, what restrictions to place on the pumping of groundwater and how cities are to obtain water."

[DAVID95670]

yeah, i feel for this state. I know these studies are accurate and that we can not predict when or why it will occur again. Also that they occur every cpl 1000 years but it makes you wonder if there are plans ....prob not

having been a farmer i know the pain and suffering families can go through living on a farm

[bigfly]

When I was in journalism school (Late 80s), was required to prowl the physical science dept.
The biggest story I came up with was that CA. has had up to 300 year droughts.
We were in a 6 year drought at the time.
So the editor wouldn't run the story. Don't want to scare folks do we?...
This info is what they call "soft science" (tree rings and such).
The powers that be, only use "hard science"(120 years of measuring precipatation) to plan for Dams, flood control, city growth....
Not too smart in my opinion.
Still want to take all the water to SoCal Governor?????
To start planning now......
1st thing.......quit growing cotton in the central valley......Poisons the ground and wastes water....
2nd, make the thirsty hoard down south, build (and pay for) desalination plants, and use gray water....
3rd, make the twenty% reduction permanent.
Basically, start living like we live in a desert.....
Jim

[midger]

3rd, make the twenty% reduction permanent.
Basically, start living like we live in a desert.....
Jim

Jim,
We do live in a desert in much of California, and it's time to quit pretending that we don't. Fly over Palm Springs sometime and see how many golf courses you can count. Check out all the landscaping and lawns there are in the LA area. Time for change and it needs to come sooner than later.

[Mike O]

Thank god for the foresight to build dams to store water..

*Ducks and runs for cover*

[Larry S]

The ignorance of many folks regarding the "de-sal" issue is mind boggling. They always bring
up the cost; and , yes, it will be expensive. The mayor of Huntington Beach, Ca said "who will
buy their water?"; and she is a college science professor.
There are many costs in today's water supply that don't show up on our bills. The cost to
the native fish species is just one.
I think back to the 1950's and the price of gasoline. We may well see a similar situation with
water costs. That Huntington Beach mayor may well be "drinking" her words. Sorry about the
bad pun. Desert farmers should be funding these "de-sal" projects, as well.
Best,
Larry S

[Frank Alessio]

I saw an amazing program on ch #8 this last week....Our main problem is not LA... it is in the San Joaquin Valley...The water they have been using to irrigate the desert is depositing selenium into the soil....This renders it useless....They have actually started a underground pipe line to send it back out to the ocean... Bad Idea but they ran out of money so Westlands had to stop growing Cotton on about a million acres...Poor them...We need to move the useful (food) crops north and quit growing rice for other countries...It will eventually come down to taking care of ourselves right here. On the subject of rice... There would be a huge savings of water by cutting out the ROT water used to degrade the rice stubble....LA gets the majority of their water from the Colorado river...

[BillB]

Interestingly enough Frank (et al), the San Joaquin valley, though it doesn't look like it now, was not desert. At one time in the not to distant past one could take a steamer from Bakersfield to San Francisco. Clearly this was before massive corporate farms in the Tulare Lake basin and the dam(n)ing of the Kern, Tule, Kaweah, Kings, San Joaquin and all rivers north. Anecdotally, since I arrived in California in 1964 it has gotten dryer every year with seemingly altered weather patterns.

Bill

[Mark Kranhold]

The ignorance of many folks regarding the "de-sal" issue is mind boggling. They always bring
up the cost; and , yes, it will be expensive. The mayor of Huntington Beach, Ca said "who will
buy their water?"; and she is a college science professor.
There are many costs in today's water supply that don't show up on our bills. The cost to
the native fish species is just one.
I think back to the 1950's and the price of gasoline. We may well see a similar situation with
water costs. That Huntington Beach mayor may well be "drinking" her words. Sorry about the
bad pun. Desert farmers should be funding these "de-sal" projects, as well.
Best,
Larry S

De- sal... I agree Larry! What a joke on costs, with world population and the shortage of water +- drought years they should of started building these plants years ago. It's pretty funny how all the reservoirs down south are brimful and the aqueduct is still flowing happy and we are pretty much f'd up in Northern California. There is more water down south than up north.. Just build it!!