This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Government To Regulate Groundwater For 1st Time As California Drought Becomes "Race To The Bottom"
The ongoing disaster that is the drought in the West is leaving wells dry across California - which account for up to 60% of water usage. As WSJ reports, as groundwater levels plunge (100 feet or more lower than norm), wells are being driven further and further into the earth (500 feet in some cases) forcing the state legislature is considering regulating underground water for the first time. "We can't continue to pump groundwater at the rates we are and expect it to continue in the future," warns one engineer, adding "What's scary is we're not fixing anything... It's a race to the bottom."
"Everybody was pumping to their heart's content, until they realized the basin isn't that big."
As WSJ reports, Groundwater was kind of out of sight, out of mind," said Lester Snow, executive director of the California Water Foundation, a nonprofit policy group in Sacramento, and former director of the state Department of Water Resources. But now...
With groundwater levels falling across the Golden State—causing dried-up wells, sinking roadbeds and crumbling infrastructure—the state legislature is considering regulating underground water for the first time.
Californians have long battled over rights to rivers, lakes and other surface-water supplies, but the drought is finally shifting the focus to groundwater, which accounts for about 40% of water used in normal years—and up to 60% in drought years, as other sources dry up.
Other states were forced to act earlier.
Arizona, for example, began regulating its major groundwater basins in 1980 after experiencing subsidence, or sinking soils from lack of water, and other problems from agriculture pumping, said Michael Lacey, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources. "Had we done nothing, many of the areas would have no supplies left," Mr. Lacey said.
But in California...
Groundwater remains there for the taking—except in places such as Orange County with special management districts. The Department of Water Resources said earlier this year that groundwater tables in some parts of California have dropped 100 feet or more below historic averages. That has resulted in an estimated $1.3 billion in damage to infrastructure, such as cracked highways due to subsidence, Mr. Snow said.
And so the government is stepping in...
A bill pending in the Legislature would require that groundwater be managed sustainably at major aquifers throughout the state, such as by authorizing local agencies to impose pumping limits and conduct inspections.
Farmers are worried...
"There is no good time for hurried legislation, but during a critical drought year…is absolutely the wrong time," Danny Merkley, director of water resources for the California Farm Bureau Federation, wrote in a recent column for a trade publication.
But the problem is vast...
County Supervisor Frank Mecham said the near-doubling of the county's population to 275,000 since 1980 has put pressure on groundwater, particularly in rural areas where more vineyards also have sprung up.
As a result, many rural homeowners have reported dramatic drops in their well water levels. Sue Luft, for instance, said she and her husband last year had to drill a second well to 540 feet after one 355 feet deep went dry.
"What's scary is we're not fixing anything," said Ms. Luft, 57, a retired environmental engineer who leads a homeowners' group that recently teamed with the vintners to support the water district bill. "It's a race to the bottom."
* * *
Of course, none of this matters as stocks are at record highs...
»
- 23456 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
No problem. Winter is coming soon.
Was there no winter last year? Or the year before that? Maybe it will turn around, maybe not. Take off your ideological glasses and realize that sometimes the shit hits the fan regardless of your personal desire to not be told what to do with the groundwater that affects people other than you (yes, there are people other than you).
The Rapes Of Graft
...well said, man, well said!
+1
I travelled to LA and other places in SoCal many times back in the day. Aside from the traffic, what I was surprised by the most was all the people with lawn sprinkler systems. They had lush, green lawns in the middle of July, even when my lawn in PA had browned out and gone into hibernation. And PA is not a desert, like most of SoCal is.
I often wondered why they would even WANT to spend money on water for their lawn. I kind of liked when mine went into hibernation from the heat and lack of water- you didn't need to mow it any more.
It seemed like a very forced, artificial system to me. But not exactly like the Vegas strip. Vegas is completely fake, but "The Valley" in LA wasn't just fake, it was fake across a HUGE area.
Same here. I do not water my lawn in PA at any time. It goes brown then it goes brown and I have 340 ft well with plenty of water. Incorrect priorities. Brown lawn in August is beautiful. Sign of end of summer.
This is rich.
Maybe they will use the same authority the careless and evil government dweebs seem to have been granted to inject a secret toxic fracking chemical mix into the earth after they have devastated the subterranean rocks.
and..and.. and... we are drowning from the rain in the commie republic of northeast Illinois (from which I will soon be a refugee).
um..who would like a mile or two of perimeter protected by a single angry white guy who has a fair understading of ballistics?
I am looking towards GA or AL right now.
You can be black.. that's ok.. I'm just happen to be white and angry.
California ->> Nevada
So California REALLY needs water and the California government's first move is to limit the amount one can take out of the ground? Brilliant! Maybe they can also pass a law forcing Earth to make it rain. The audacity and stupidity of man is well beyond sustainable levels.
With California being the biggest welfare state 1/3 and their governor openingly welcoming illegals. I hope California gets water soon or eventually they will have to start migrating east ruining the other states they inhabit in their wake.
Most emigration from CA is to Texas. Kind of funny to think that Texas will become the next California (via wealthy ex-Californians).
Why do Californians come here to Texas? The ideologies most prevalent in this great state are pretty much the polar opposites of those which dominate in [pinko-commie] California.
30 acres in GA on dead-end paved road, seeking angry white man with knowledge of ballistics, $3,400 per acre. Access to spring fed seven acre lake hidden in valley, with two acre grassed de-stumped home site on a small slope going to stream. Msg me if interested.
7 acre lake? More like a pond 'bro.
pond schmond..
spring fed sounds cool..maybe just need remediation to keep the skeeters down..
what are the neighbors like.. where is the church .. how is the sheriff.. ?
We are talking about commitment here. I am liking the description.. price is not scary.
If I shoot a squirrel from my porch with a .50 BMG, will anybody near-a-bouts care?
..I don't do much with eMail... how to connect?......
not sure if or how chat at zh works try xcori8r at g mail . com
Check your email MT. Info sent, and did not get back an undeliverable msg, so I'm assuming it went through. If not in inbox, check your SPAM, and let me know here if you did not receive. Wild tree
Brown lawn in August also means one doesn't have to mow every 5 to 7 days.
My Laotian neighbor here in Texas said to me one day,
“you Americans are funny, you spend the spring prepping your fields, weeding and fertilizing, in the summer you water your crop and put out pesticides to kill pests and every week you mow it down and leave it to rot or bag it and put it by the curb for the trash man”
You have to have some type of ground cover growing to prevent soil erosion and to cover all the debris the builders left behind.
Ground cover is what I have....dandelions, clover, broadleaf weeds, and a little bit of grass thrown in. The bees next door seem to love it and I like having honey they produce from my weeds :-)
I fucking hate the neighbor's lawn. It has some kind of thick fine grass which ruthlessly snuffs out everything around it, but turns brown if it doesn't rain once a week. When it does rain (like this year) it's harder than hell to mow unless you scalp it like a putting green. They fertilize it all the time and now it has invaded our yard another 5 feet this year. Fuck! I"m about ready to launch chemical warfare on the shit!
I'm happy with an assortment of no-maintenance grass and broad-leaf which usually means something is green and growing when it gets dry like it does 9 out of 10 years in Oklahoma.
Replace "lawn" with human (un)"civilization" and you got it nailed to the wall!
Regards,
Cooter
Oddly enough, "the Valley" is suppose to be a swamp. So is the S.Joaq Valley.
Classic tragedy of the commons scenario is about to play out.
Yeah, I don't get the lawn thing either. I love it when mine dies off in the summer and I don't have to mow it. Eventually though the nut trees will shade it into oblivion and then no more mowing for me!! I think the lawn goes way back when people thought they were "Special" and could have huge expanses of worthless grass. While the serfs lived in small shacks and had no lawns. If the serfs were smart they would read about square foot gardening and put in a rain barrel and a roof top garden. If they were smart...........
NoDebt - In many cases home owners are *forced* to do what it takes to maintain lush green and finely landscaped front yards as per city and/or neighborhood code. Those that don't first get warned, then get warned even more sternly, then finally fined for being an eyesore. It's crazy in a way, but true, especially in more affluent areas where everybody is so hyper crazed about their always rising property values. Any neighbor that does not play along gets thrown to the city council wolves. In some cases, it is now okay to remove the grass and landscape with native plants/fauna instead. This though is also an expensive proposition to do, although at least then the water consumption is gone.
Drove my Chevy to the Levy, but the Levy was dry...
If this goes on another year or two, they won't call it "Killifornia" for nothing!!
It's already a madhouse that feels like it could blow at any minute, add this water nonsense to it, and it's going to get medieval!!
Perfection in simplicity.
"The Rapes of Graft."
Weird weather, here, on coast. Warm winter, cold summer.
San Francisco is always like that.
66 average highs in the summer.
Greedy CA politicians + greedy real estate developers caused an unsustainable rise in population in the Southern CA desert.
Good thing there are plenty of landscapers among them. We're gonna need a lot of xerescaping or whatever to switch to astounding. Then they can go back home.
As I have said before on ZH, every drop of water that was ever saved by an "environmentalist" person, law, regulation, agency, trend or a simple doofus trying to help, was promptly sold to a developer so we could have new housing construction in the suburbs. If the retarded populous had flushed twice and taken 20-minute showers, there would have had to be less expansion, and therefore fewer than the current 40 million population of California. Then, the 25% smaller population could simply dial back consumption during any drought, adjusting it to normal, quite plausible levels.
Instead, every drop of "saved" water was given to another household. Now, nothing can be done except stopgap consumption of groundwater.
Human beings, generally, are inadequate to their ambitions, and most cannot think or analyze independently. 99% of thought is pre-packaged and, sadly, this includes our so-called "leaders."
That's a great example of Jevons Paradox. Applies to so many things.
Never even heard of Jevon's Paradox before. Talk about being behind the curve. Thanks for posting it. Makes a lot of sense once ya think it through.
Milestones
Not paying attention to my posts? :-)
Anyway, welcome to another step up in learning via the Red Pill.
Watt the F**k?
Kudos for whipping out Jevons Paradox. I've been injecting it here on ZH for years now and very few people can manage the logic behind it...
Kudzu for whipping out Jevons Paradox.
Watt the F?
combination of political power of real estate developers/finance/construction/retail
and
cultural dogma that maximal growth is good (for business), cannot be stopped,
creates jobs, etc.
also good profit margin to obtain property in cheap desert or swamplands,
then build and sell (often with tax and other incentives to attract "growth")
All about "growth," isn't it?
No one wants to admit that it just cannot continue. The ways in which we (general society- as programmed by TPTB) try to hide this fact result in all sorts of really bizzare/stupid excuses for why shit is failing...
That comment, sir, is brilliant! Fucking brilliant!
I almost never greenie (or reddie), just not my bag. But sometimes something gets my goat.
Regards,
Cooter
Nobody can say it better than that! Thread closed.
I think it's a Game of Thrones Joke.
I love California, and the West in general, but that water situation is brutal. Here in North Florida were still getting our usual July August rainy season. It's raining right now. 50+ inches a year. We don't have the spectacular beauty of the west but water, and lot's of it, is sure a nice consolation.
With rain comes lot's of bugs and mosquitos.
No mosquitos at my location. Only place I've ever lived in Florida without mosquitoes. I credit being surrounded by hay fields and pasture. Go a 1/4 mle away to the woods and it's skeeter city.
Recent invasive species of bugs a different story. Stink bugs and Asian cockroaches are thick. I may actually start putting in green houses.
A province south of Manila, where my wife has relatives, was devoid of mosquitoes. Being a country-boy I found it quite refreshing to go there after being overwhelmed by them in the city: flies by day, mosquitoes by night...
Sigh, not so lucky where I am currently living.
...."raining".....water? Or neighbor's bullets...from their "backyard range"?
Yeah, I suspect there are many reasons most places win out over Florida....not just IQ....
50+ inches of rain, but the the devil is in the details. It probably breaks down to about 20 inches of rain and 30+ inches of corexit. Californians would would probably take that ratio and smile at this point............
I find it very hard to believe they were'nt already regulating ground water in California. I'd love to see a short list of what is not regulated.
1. Increases in Government spending.
End.
Nobody really cares what you find "hard"....try reading a book ...or two....California, Nevada..."the wild west"...shoot from the hip ...is still on the law books, Jeb....
Nothing. Actually, I think even that is regulated.
Banger, a kite doesn't fly well with out a string.
Thanks Rand for the community outlook what would we do without your communtiy gestalt..
Region 9 still looks good...just remember it's the Mojave Desert.
Regions 1, 2, 3...all corporate, GMO-Monsanto Agribusiness....hear that sucking sound????.....sucking the very life out of the nation's breadbasket....and the water that feeds it....everyone..."Go Agenda21!"...break...[clap, a back to postions]
The have no water? Then let them drink wine! Or buy ours. - Marie Antoinette
It's a Zero Sum game at this point. IOW: Whoever can afford the deepest wells, and the best and most Lobbyists, wins.
[Spock voice] Well said, Captian....highly logical.
Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a clusterfuck lobbyist....I don't know anything about water...you all want miracles!!!
Deep wells means $$s to pump. I recall hearing quite some time ago that 10% of CA's energy is for pumping water.
It was around 19% as recently as 2006. And something like 11% is just to move it over Tehachapi and into LA. Ridiculous.
Wow!
It's sad, we tend to hide the real under-workings of our infrastructure from folks to such a point that they have no idea: and when there has to be some sort of "adjustment" people rebel (thinking that they're entitled to whatever- many, even here, think such action is a conspiracy [Agenda 21], when in fact the real conspiracy was to just dumb us down so that we consume [good for business, which also generates tax revenues for govt]).
Makes me appreciate my spring that produces water from the side of the mountain that I live on - all year, every year. No matter how dry it gets, my spring has never run dry - yet.
Had the use of a great spring. Had to switch to a well (a lot of work to rehab it). I have a LOT more volume from the well, and the water, with some reasonably simple treatment/filtration, is pretty good (I drink it). My well ain't going to go dry.
General note to all: NO WATER IS PURE; unless treated, there are no assurances that you won't catch "the bug" (bigger issue with spring and shallow wells).
Sadly, that isn't true. When you drill to deep you get salt water. If you break that barrier your well is finished.
Shit's getting real if vinyards are involved. Then again, the bankers can afford imports so nevermind.
Damn skippy! My two-buck chuck is already 2.5 buck chuck....no more wine baths for the cat if it goes to 3-buck chuck.... Pretty soon, it will have to be re-named....25-buck "Charles"....
But ma' missus just haz to hav her strawberries and cream in the mornin' year roun' dontcha know? I drove the Durango 200 miles to every darn Wal-Mart in the county before I finally found her strawberries, they were frozen and she done beat me up good boy.
A friend lives in an area that grows almonds. He (and the folks on that land) watches his well drop drastically as the local almond growers pump it down. Since he is non-conventional his water use (also does some almonds, though small scale) is a lot less.
It's pretty much all the result of what we've all demanded. And like I always say: BIG = FAIL.
They keep approving new residential and commercial construction as well. There is no extra water to help with the current demand, let alone NEW homes and commercial buildings that will all need to be plumbed for water. Planning commissions out here are running around with their fingers in their ears chanting "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" After that they run to the bank to deposit checks from the developers.
Well, a deep deep hole in the ground,,,sometimes it has water, sometimes not.
[Beavis and Butthead voice]....heh, heh, heh....heh, heh, heh....he said "hole"....heh, heh, heh....heh, heh, heh.....
Texas Tea
Was talking to a well-driller before I'd bought my current property. He told me that he cannot NOT hit water.
Exactly the heart of the problem.
Seriously? Are we to believe the ground is actually sinking?
http://rrrojer.net/2009/11/sinking-central-valley/
Sisters farm is twenty feet lower in elevation than it was ten years ago. Plays hell on the roads other infrastructure like water pipes and sewers.
"Seriously? Are we to believe the ground is actually sinking? "
Ja, ja....und vhat eez da ground sinking about?
Said the same German coast guard. below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR0lWICH3rY
They spend very little on road maintenance - I am guessing it gets syphoned off for other shit. In L.A. city, the roads are getting to be in pretty rough shape. Now everthing will be blamed on the drought and taxes raised yet again to met the natural disaster.
Old Phart - that is amazing
....yeah, its the brilliant idea of state "competition"....no transportation taxes...no property taxes....just let the world's 6th largest economy and all ITS FUCKING SEMI TRUCKS comin in and out ground down the infrastructure until it crumbles ....like the midwest....Amerikkka, FUCK YEAH!
Phweewww....good thing we have TRILLIONAIRE OLIGARCHS!!! USA, USA, USA, USA, USA,!!!!!
Gates! Buffet! Ellison! Waltons! Koch Bros.! Adelson!!!! Yeeeeeeee, haaaaa...i'm gonna eat muh saddle...
"In L.A. city, the roads are getting to be in pretty rough shape."
That's the way it always goes: eventually the cost for maintaining infrastructure is way too high. I think that Catherine Austin Fitts has some interesting findings about why many places get run-down (hint: think "developers")
Way OT but thought interesting such that Tylers might incorporate into a future piece.
Kissinger's back, hidden in the editorial section of the WSJ with a piece on global governance. Must read.
Is someone panicking?
Henry Kissinger on the Assembly of a New World Order The concept that has underpinned the modern geopolitical era is in crisishttp://online.wsj.com/articles/henry-kissinger-on-the-assembly-of-a-new-...
He absolutely should be the first Criminal Pure Evil Psycopath to made an example of on a World Scale for all to see.
Hung upside down, throat slit so he may drown in his own blood while simultaneously being set on fire.
Thank you, holdbuysell, the article is worth the time to read. Know your enemy is a wise course to take.
Just finished reading it. and still do not like Kissinger after all these years. He needs to retire and stay retired. Never felt he really understood American culture, definately not my generation.
in the piece, he gives putin a free pass for his actions in ukraine.
How am I going to warsh my Tesla?
Good question...but I'd love to watch you turn a hose to a plugged-in electric car....gene pool thing...
That's because all the illegals fuck and make anchor babies, so the population is increasing past the level of sustainability.
Eventually, humans will be like a bacterial culture that dies off due to its own waste products. It is inevitable.
Can you imagine what Will happen to this state should the remainder of 2014 going into 2015 be like 2013/2014...? And what if it were to continue for another year after that? It isn't unthinkable. What is unthinkable however, is that the last time we dried out here in Kali (1976), there were HALF as many people living in the State... With no new large dams built since... You can figure out the rest.
"Consuelo"....if you really lived in California...you would know that only midwest bumblefucks call it "Kali"...to make fun of their hero....who is a shit stain on the state....
Draaaaaaaaiiinaaage! DRAINAGE, Moonbeam, you...boy. Drained dry. So sorry.
If I have a milkshake, and you have a milkshake...and I have a straw. See? There it is. And my straw reaches acroooooooooooooossss the room and starts to drink your milkshake, I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE! I drink it up!
On another note - Mexico's migration to Aztlan Norte does not include water lasting a lifetime. Just as shipping lettuce to NYC from Cali is a form water transfer, so is migration a form of water use transfer. If you don't have enough water for the current businesses and residents, the borders should be closed for a bit and maybe not just the international border.
"Aztlan Norte" used to actually be "Mexico"...until the syphylis and small pox-infected Free Mason clan "annexed" it....
Sorry, one can only go back in history long enough to start at the "good chapter." The "national story" is always that way...
Yeah i live in Ca.,most of the dumbasses grass is still green while mine is brown.If we don't get a lot of rain this year the SHTF will happen.
Agreed. Isn't it amazing how much "east-coast is the center if the universe" mentality pervades the country? California is a "semi-arid" environment....without snow pack and rain....its mostly "high Chapparal", dudes....dusty, dry, thorny...only the robust thrive....
...ran my best marathons in 105 degree weather here.....yes!
Most cities (and ALL HOA) in SoCal have laws on the books against 'eyesores' that specifically include lawncare (gotsta be green; none of that 'Arizona Lawn' stuff that uses rocks and plants indigenous to the deserts of the Southwest). Most cities also control water flow and water/sewer billing.
State has implemented a $500 fine for ANY runoff that reaches the street from hoses, sprinklers - even flushing out the water heater (enforced by the tried-and-true rat on your neighbor system).
Neither local nor state .gov give a damn about saving water; either way they're going to screw everyone out of a few more bucks for regulatory malfeasance, increasing rates, or both while the state runs dry.
............bullish on tax-funded desalination plants
Except those will be "subsidies" that the tribe really doesn't want to take but are "forced" by the G to do so.
"Government To Regulate Groundwater For 1st Time As California Drought Becomes "Race To The Bottom"
Is that because they did such a good job with the surface water?! LOL
An American, not US subject.
"Government, being a criminal syndicate of theft and violence, always accomplishes the opposite of the stated goal. Always."
"Is that because they did such a good job with the surface water?! LOL"
Actually, well water can be considered "surface" water.
"An American, not US subject."
Whatever... (like it really has any meaning)
It is more than the words, it is the idea, and an attitude--The words only hold and convey the idea and the attitude.
The idea is of one being the owner of one's self, and being in a consensual partnership with a Constitutional government.
The attitude is of not being obedient as a slave to one's mortal enemy, a treasonous and criminal government.
An American, not US subject.
"Do not agree with me. Do not follow me. Think for yourself and then follow where that takes you."
Well, I agree that it's mostly about attitude. Not sure that wanting to be identified as being "an American" is a good thing...
I believe that there should now be made a distinction between "US" and "America."
America is the American people and the country they inhabit. The US, or DC US, are the criminal occupiers of the American country and oppressors of the American people.
The US, or United States, is the government of criminals and the nation (DC US) that they form and represent. They are a criminal enterprise operating outside the bounds of the legal strictures that created it--the Constitution.
But once again, my main motivation is to get people to think about what their situation is: Whether they are US or American. Whether they are free or obedient.
An American, not US subject.
Ideas and thought are why Orwell spent so much time on words and ideas in 1984. And why he wrote Politics and the English Language, from which this quote comes:
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
"Americans"
are Americans from Canada to Argentina.
Some Americans have ancestors here before the European invasion and conquest..
Some are also citizens of the USA.
Typical myopic and arrogant belief that all "Americans" come from the USA.
Thank you for advancing my line of targeting. I always find it a bit "interesting" to hear/read others proclaim some high ground when doing so uses slogans/anecdotals/beliefs rather than facts... Don't get me wrong, emotions serve a purpose, it's just that they don't tend to serve up facts...
Keep letting those useless eaters from south of the border in Gov. Moonbat. (Brown)
Because you're so "useful"? I guess we should call you "tool", then....hey "tool"...startle us more with your rapier-like wit and sage economic insight...you must have a doctorate.....right?
- View
- Votes
Personal information- Biography
-
RelationshipsOffworld Investment Strategist
- Relationship actions
-
- Become Majestic12's Contact
HistoryMajestic12 = tedious troll
I don't think that this has any meaningful value in debate logic. As the question was asked: and what makes YOU so valuable?
So does sucking up all of the groundwater reduce or increase the possibility of a major earthquake? What's the effect of hydraulics on fault lines?
The sun and the amount of CME's effect earthquakes. Water tables evaporate. Dig deeper or find another water table within your proximity. Don't let these jackasses fool you for a moment.
So...no hope of this situation causing the whole thing to slide off into the Pacific? ;)
Thanks. Don't live there. My experience with wells is, the deeper the well, the better the flow and water quality. I'm with you, dig deeper and stop whining.
"My experience with wells is, the deeper the well, the better the flow and water quality."
Have any numbers to substantiate?
We had two wells when we lived in Santa Cruz County, CA. One was ~170', and the other was at ~190', about 200 ft. above sea level'. They both had large Ag style pumps, >10GPM flow. Never had any problems with water supply, but that was with normal precipitation.
We had a well in Nothern Nevada (Lyon county), at ~90 feet, out in the high DESERT, about 4600 ft above sea level. Never any problems with water.
Here in S. Thailand, our well / water table is at ~5 meters/16 feet. We are maybe 50 ft. above sea level. The well level does drop down 1-2 feet during our "summer/dry season," but comes back quickly with the rains.
I am not a geohydrologist, but it seems to me that the water tables in CA. should be huge (they are underground lakes, no?). Thus, if they are really having problems with these water tables, they must be refilled or it is GAME OVER for population and industry.
Side note: we are so glad to have relocated out of California... oppressive government regs. and police (Police State anyone?), expensive fees, taxes, and cost of living.
We relocated to Asia about two years ago, and are happier here.
"Life is better on the other side."
"They both had large Ag style pumps, >10GPM flow."
Any Ag (livestock etc) well is going to be doing a LOT more than that: yes, I see the ">" symbol, it's just that I'd have that "10GPM" bumped up a LOT higher in order to start approaching most water needs for Ag.
"I am not a geohydrologist, but it seems to me that the water tables in CA. should be huge (they are underground lakes, no?)."
MANY municipalities supply via wells, and we're talking MASSIVE amounts of water pumped from them! I thought that a local well up the road from me at 700gpm would have to be one of the greatest producers in existence, until I started doing research on water treatment and saw stuff like this (from http://www.usgs.gov/info_qual/documents/JA_renken2005v11no4.pdf):
Bullish real-estate in Arizona Bay
Just to add elements to this "debate," deeper means more minerals. If you like iron, which is the most likely element that you'll encounter, then by all means keep digging deeper! NOTE: my shallow well's most recent lab results (this month) came back with raw water iron levels around 0.65mg/L- I'm thinking that there's a LOT of folks out there that could only WISH to have that low of a number.
Because water sources have such variabilities there is really no hard and fast rule on what's best: all I could ever come up with that felt, to me, like a good rule to follow was: better to go with what you have/know than to drill a new well- and that's what I ended up doing.
Again, one needs to keep in mind maintenance. If my well had been hundreds of feet deep there would have been no way I'd have undertaken its rehab, and, I have doubts as whether I would have paid someone else to do it (I'd already primed myself to go the route of rainwater collection).
Sadly, if you owned a well and did some homework, deeper does NOT mean more water. Deeper could mean contamination of gas, salt water, drill past the aquifer, etc.
"Sadly, if you owned a well and did some homework, deeper does NOT mean more water."
There's someone within a couple miles of me that has a well that's around 185' deep and was flow-rated at something like 2gpm (not even enough to suit building codes/requirements). I can't imagine the frustration of having shelled out so much for all of that to only get 2gpm! I'm sitting just up from 40' and have 30gpm: having a shallow well means I have to be mindful of bacteria, something that I have covered/addressed (per lab verification).
The South will rise again! Should we send water to 'em through pipelines (at skinner prices like they sold Electronic Bubbles) or just let 'em dry up and blow away?
What's scary is we're not fixing anything and Sue Luft had to drill a second well to 540 feet after one 355 feet deep went dry.
How the fack they wanted to fix anything when they continum to drill more wells?
you should stop growing rice and marijuana in the desert, it's stupid ...
Thai rice is more expensive. I'm not sure which rice is more irradiated.
Strength through exhaustion!
People have been made blind so that the growth paradigm, which feeds TPTB, can march on...
Yes, that is the real story, endless growth, failure without more and more growth. Water, oil and natural food. Now we are forced salinazition plants, 2 mile deep oil wells in the ocean and GMO plants for farming. Our society can not survive with 7 billion people without it. Write the book.
One cannot come out and really call it for what it is lest one be attacked from one side (TPTB's System) as a "nutter," and from the other side (the masses) as some sort of eugenicist (or "AGENDA 21" supporter). I tend to not suggest "solutions" because the very word suggests permanence, and nothing is permanent; and, further, I am well aware of my own limitations of analysis using a human brain (something that ideologues fail to take note of).
I have the sinking feeling that the "Race to the Bottom" sounds like a rayciss remark.
;-)
Agenda 21. We have warned you in the past.
Fuck, man. On one side it's the "the terrorists are going to get us" and on the other it's the "the Agenda 21 folks" are going to get us. Meanwhile it's NATURE that is/will be getting us.
I'd recommend saving pickle jars to store one's pee. An aquired taste, but doable in a crisis.
here comes the flush meter and asset confiscations.
Hopefully there is enough water for Al to water his lush lawn and fill his pool and hot tub.
http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Al+Gore/Al+Tipper+Gore+New+House+Montecito+...
I know my fair share of California farmers.
What this is all about is killing small farmers - guys with less than 320 acres.
California has no problem letting big league drink companies pump the water system dry to bottle all that tap and spring water into little plastic bottles for 1000% markup.
And they won't stop the mega-farms - headquartered in Chicago and Delaware because they own the legislature.
But what they will do is make it very expensive to sink a new well or go deeper.
So the only guys that survive are the big boys who buy up the drier lands at a discount for later expansion AND have the money to own the strategic wells.
Might as well outsource the aqueduct system T Boone Pickens.
A fair number of farmers have been selling their water rights seasonally instead of farming. Sometimes the water goes for over $500/acre ft. The state is going to muscle in on behalf of big farms to kill farming competition.
They are even rolling out the Agenda 21 stuff too.
More democratic party fascism.
There is also a conspiracy theory on this that they are using HAARP to create the high pressure zone off shore that does not allow storms to come in.
Given the shit that they have done I wouldn't put it past them.
Ding ding ding ding. Give this man a prize. Just to let everyone know how deep the rabbit hole goes- take a drive up I5 north of Sacramento towards Redding. Notice anything stupid? Like the Sacramento River raging to its banks? Draining Lake Shasta. Now why is that? Google recent pictures of Shasta damn. It is so low that the town of Kennet is coming up out of the water.
So why drain all its water into the ocean? That's right, the delta smelt. You know, that non-indiginous species of some fucking tiny fish. Yes, this is how far in advance this shit is planned out. Get the stupid politicians to pass a law with the backing of some fake green organization to protect a fish in a region that used to flood and dry up every year before Shasta dam was put in.
In fact, most resevoirs are systematically being emptied into the ocean in California.
Combine this with HAARPs high pressure ridge off the coast and you will wipe out the few remaining farmers who refuse to use GMO seeds. But don't worry, the farm land will be picked up cheap and the rain will magically start falling again. Mark my words.
Wasn't there a movie about this? Voyage to the Centre of the Earth, or Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
Chinatown
That is correct. It's all staged to implement Agenda 21. The wild life are suffering, the forests are stressed, and if they continue manipulating the weather there will be mass movements of people.
Here in Texas drilling a well for at least 600 feet is typical. What are those Cali fruits and nuts complaining about.
"Here in Texas drilling a well for at least 600 feet is typical. "
No way in hell would I EVER brag about having a 600' well! I've rehabbed a shallow well (under 40'- hell will freeze over before it goes dry) and found that that was plenty of work (one can expect to lose a pump at some point, and hauling out hundreds of feet of pipe and wire, well, no fucking thanks!).
Read Cadillac Desert.
The guy did years of research.
Los Angeles/San Diego never should have happened, it was all about greed.
We are returning to normal, 140 yrs drought, 240 yrs drought.
Its a desert.
If El Nino does not develop this fall or winter, then we are at crisis point. This fucking El Nino is so stop and go, develop and falter. Nobody knows what it will do, all we do know is the California needs El Nino in the worst way!
If you are going to California.
BYo H2o ... Bitchez
dig all the way to China