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NASA Scientist Warns "California Has One Year Of Water Left"
Authored by NASA Senior Water Scientist Jay Famiglietti, originally posted Op-Ed at The LA Times,
Given the historic low temperatures and snowfalls that pummeled the eastern U.S. this winter, it might be easy to overlook how devastating California's winter was as well.
As our “wet” season draws to a close, it is clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought conditions. January was the driest in California since record-keeping began in 1895. Groundwater and snowpack levels are at all-time lows. We're not just up a creek without a paddle in California, we're losing the creek too.
Data from NASA satellites show that the total amount of water stored in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins — that is, all of the snow, river and reservoir water, water in soils and groundwater combined — was 34 million acre-feet below normal in 2014. That loss is nearly 1.5 times the capacity of Lake Mead, America's largest reservoir.
Statewide, we've been dropping more than 12 million acre-feet of total water yearly since 2011. Roughly two-thirds of these losses are attributable to groundwater pumping for agricultural irrigation in the Central Valley. Farmers have little choice but to pump more groundwater during droughts, especially when their surface water allocations have been slashed 80% to 100%. But these pumping rates are excessive and unsustainable. Wells are running dry. In some areas of the Central Valley, the land is sinking by one foot or more per year.
As difficult as it may be to face, the simple fact is that California is running out of water — and the problem started before our current drought. NASA data reveal that total water storage in California has been in steady decline since at least 2002, when satellite-based monitoring began, although groundwater depletion has been going on since the early 20th century.
Right now the state has only about one year of water supply left in its reservoirs, and our strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly disappearing. California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying for rain.
In short, we have no paddle to navigate this crisis.
Several steps need be taken right now.
First, immediate mandatory water rationing should be authorized across all of the state's water sectors, from domestic and municipal through agricultural and industrial. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is already considering water rationing by the summer unless conditions improve. There is no need for the rest of the state to hesitate. The public is ready. A recent Field Poll showed that 94% of Californians surveyed believe that the drought is serious, and that one-third support mandatory rationing.
Second, the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 should be accelerated. The law requires the formation of numerous, regional groundwater sustainability agencies by 2017. Then each agency must adopt a plan by 2022 and “achieve sustainability” 20 years after that. At that pace, it will be nearly 30 years before we even know what is working. By then, there may be no groundwater left to sustain.
Third, the state needs a task force of thought leaders that starts, right now, brainstorming to lay the groundwork for long-term water management strategies. Although several state task forces have been formed in response to the drought, none is focused on solving the long-term needs of a drought-prone, perennially water-stressed California.
Our state's water management is complex, but the technology and expertise exist to handle this harrowing future. It will require major changes in policy and infrastructure that could take decades to identify and act upon. Today, not tomorrow, is the time to begin.
Finally, the public must take ownership of this issue. This crisis belongs to all of us — not just to a handful of decision-makers. Water is our most important, commonly owned resource, but the public remains detached from discussions and decisions.
This process works just fine when water is in abundance. In times of crisis, however, we must demand that planning for California's water security be an honest, transparent and forward-looking process. Most important, we must make sure that there is in fact a plan.
Call me old-fashioned, but I'd like to live in a state that has a paddle so that it might also still have a creek.
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not exactly
Energy traders took power plants offline for maintenance in days of peak demand to increase the price.[9][10] Traders were thus able to sell power at premium prices, sometimes up to a factor of 20 times its normal value. Because the state government had a cap on retail electricity charges, this market manipulation squeezed the industry's revenue margins, causing the bankruptcy of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and near bankruptcy of Southern California Edison in early 2001.[
enron traders exploited a GOVERNMENT cap on power. free markets would have prevented this shit all together
As I seem to ask (rhetorically) on nearly every thread these days, "Who the $@*& do we think 'Government' is, anyway?"
Well, Ya. the IMF helped Enron to get the "Privatized' water rights to Argentina's water...
Indeed. And (broken record) who the $%@# is the IMF, anyway?
After a few decades working with and around large corporations (but never directly for), you'll never hear more people talk about the "Free Market" than in corporate circles, and you'll never find anybody working harder to make sure it never happens. The last damned thing of Earth corporate interests want is a "Free Market."
I agree but they won't ever look to the market in commifornia as bureuacrats sitting at their desk sipping their bottled water debating how to get water.
Already happened. Appears that Bershire Hathaway controlled the Sacramento Valley watershed. Also Las Vegas.
http://www.smallcapnetwork.com/Tweaking-Warren-Buffett-s-Strategy-Wester...
and the groundwater has been fracked-up - it makes for a cool party trick - flaming glass of water - cheers!
Flaming fields too!
Flew to Vegas from San Diego last weekend. Why is every golf course still "green" year round?
Priorities California, priorities.
Why didn't you take the train? Oh, nevermind.
Oklahoma hasn't forgotten how California treated the "Okies" during the dust bowl.
Time for the Okiefornians to move back to Oklahoma and be treated the same way they were in California. Love 'em. Strong people.
Not to doubt the "official" pronouncement on California's water, but I live in Colorado and our mountain snow runoff supplies much of the water to LA and Phoenix. We've had a great year for rain/snow and its not over yet. March is the snowiest month.
They have plenty of water. Maybe not underground, but from us.
Maybe the NASA scientist looked out a different window than you did?
Tough choices, let the Delta Smelt naturally fend for itself, there tree huggers.
http://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/es/species_info.cfm
Quick, build a fence and keep those Kalipornians in.
Gee, I didn't see your comment until I'd already posted mine higher up. Amazing how great minds, etc.
I have an idea:
Let's stop chemtrailing the west coast and allow the moisture on-shore? The drought in the West and the Record cold and snow in the East are tied at the hip through geo-engineering. Here in North San Diego, we have chemtrail sunsets with colors like you wouldn't believe. And while it snows in Texas but rains in Montana, nobody has the presence to ask how the heck this can happen? Ridges are created to kick the jet stream so far North that they bypass half the country reentering in the midwest and further East.
For great real information to support this please check out the Geoengineering Watch on Youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXNf_g7aqaQ
Bake California. Freeze New York. Leave everyone else the fuck alone. About time we finally started getting our money's worth from the government.
In all seriousness, I have little doubt that weather modification experiments are occurring. Of course they have to remain secret, if for no other reason than to keep the armada of land sharks away.
They must remain secret because they are all backfiring.
"Yes! Chemtrails will Stop AGW!! (hippies cheer).
"Sir, the evidence is in. The chemtrails are causing droughts."
"Use stealth planes nobody can see."
"Yessir."
I second the motion about stopping the injection of the stratosphere with hygroscopic particulates. (SAI)
The crazy fucks in charge can move the jet stream.
http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/jet-stream-manipulation-is-fueling-we...
Not so secret tarabel. If you want authentic chem trails, come to Spain...
Apologies for the rough translation from Spanish (and caps) but you get the gist:
"FOUR WORKERS IN THE STATE OF METEOROLOGY AGENCY OF SPAIN (AEMET), have confessed IN THE CADENA SER DAY October 4 of 2014, THAT SPAIN IS BEING SPRAYED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITH AIRCRAFT SPREADING THE ATMÓSFERADIÓXIDO OF LEAD, silver iodide YDIATOMITA (AMONG OTHER COMPOUNDS). THE REASON IS TO MOVE THE RAIN AND BE ABLE TO CLIMB THE TEMPERATURES, CLIMATE BY CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR SUMMER TOURISM AND IN TURN HELP CORPORATIONS OF AGRICULTURE. THIS IN TURN IS PRODUCING COLD DROPS WITH GREAT intensity. THE REGION OF MURCIA, VALENCIA AND THE PROVINCE OF ALMERÍA, ARE BEING AFFECTED THE MOST AS IT DOESN'T FALL OR DROP IN MORE THAN 7 MONTHS, producing CATASTRÓFICAS COLD DROPS, PLUS CREATE RESPIRATORY DISEASES IN THE POPULATION by inhaling LEAD DIOXIDE AND OTHER toxic compounds. THE MILITARY AIRPORT OF SAN JAVIER IN MURCIA, IT IS BEING USED FOR THE LAUNCH OF THESE AIRCRAFT, BEING THE MOST ACTIVE IN SPAIN, declaring ALSO IN THE REPORT THAT THIS IS GOING TO GO FROM bad to worse. A REPORT THAT HAS BEEN REFERRED TO THE EUROPEAN UNION TO INTERVENE IN THE MATTER".
Scary shit
"And while it snows in Texas but rains in Montana, nobody has the presence to ask how the heck this can happen?"
Well, actually, entire books have been written and published devoted to that very subject. /sarcasm not intended, though it's possible to interpret it that way/
Brian Fagan, devoted much of his career to writing about how climate change in Europe affected Europeans during historic and/or prehistory. He also included the world-wide climatic changes during those periods and the effects it had on the peoples of those regions.
Mr. Fagan discusses the jet stream changes at length in several of his books. Go to smile.amazon.com and search for some of the books below. Many of them have Amazon's "look inside" feature that allows one to read selected pages of the book. One may also download samples of some of his book and read them with the Kindle or Kindle reader application.
I highly recommend reading Mr. Fagan's books. It will help to dispel this nonsense that "chemtrails" are somehow evidence of "geoengineering" by evil "alphabet" agencies. They may or may not be evil, but they have certainly never exhibited the technological capabilities required to override the Sun's enormous role in driving the world's climate.
Some of Mr. Fagan's books:
The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850, Dec 24, 2001
Before California: An Archaeologist Looks at Our Earliest Inhabitants, Mar 28, 2003
The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization, Dec 29, 2004
Chaco Canyon: Archaeologists Explore the Lives of an Ancient Society, May 1, 2005 [Spoiler alert! A Mega-drought ended Chaco Canyon. A Mega-drought similar to that currently afflicting California. Hmmm?]
Fish on Friday: Feasting, Fasting, and Discovery of the New World, Feb 20, 2006
The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations, Mar 4, 2008
Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations, Feb 10, 2009
The Complete Ice Age: How Climate Change Shaped the World (The Complete Series), Oct 19, 2009
Laboratory for Anthropology: Science and Romanticism in the American Southwest, 1846-1930, Sep 15, 2010
Beyond the Blue Horizon: How the Earliest Mariners Unlocked the Secrets of the Oceans, Jul 23, 2013
The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels, Aug 19, 2014 [I do not endorse nor believe Anthropogenic Climate Change has any significant supporting evidence.]
You are clearly a disinfo troll and "climate change" advocate.
Not only has "geoengineering" or "chemtrails" been verified, but all you have to do is look up! (sarc aside). How is it that two jets can fly side by side and have one trail dissipate naturally while the other "persists" all day and blocks out the sky? Next you'll try to tell us that HAARP isn't real?
Save your trolling for elsewhere. There's "climate change" alright, the one they manipulate with said practices.
Geeze, Gregg comes up with pre political science references and you come up with a smarmy retort.
Little wonder you lack credibility.
It's not nice to mess with Mother Nature. We've started down that slippery slope and will not likely turn back. Brave New World here we come. But what fun it is to solve problems of our own creation. Scientists will surely help us. Dr. Strangelove is one.
NASA along with NOAA and other agencies (Evergreen Airlines, CIA) have assisted in laying down "chemtrails" for a couple or more decades now, thus, among other aims, geo-engineering drought in CA and the American Southwest. Dane Wigington has details for those of you who still believe in Mother Nature (www.geoengineeringwatch.org). Now that we have all celebrated with great awareness the fourth Anniversary of you know what -- I won't insult your intelligence by naming the event -- desalination better remove a host of radionuclides, especially ones that no one seems able to measure. The orcas are going, man as the predator of that species and others will go next. Count on it (www.enenews.com). Articles like this one are disinformation and attempt to direct your attention away from the several elephants in the room.
In the original Superman movie Lex Luthur caused an earthquake along the San Andreas fault line after purchasing the land east of there. It is a bit of a stretch and maybe not connected... but
As this drought plays out maybe someone with awesome skills can check and see who buys up the vacated land.
It's really strange how people leap to conclusions based on either very flimsy evidence or no evidence (e.g., an ancient gold artifact that superficially resembles, uh, a bird, the space shuttle, an airplane without a horizontal stabilizer, uh, must be evidence of visitations by Ancient Aliens to our ancient ancestors; thready, very high altitude trails resembling lower altitude aircraft condensation trails must be evidence of geoengineering by the evil CIA; etc.) and then selectively construct their theory around their preferred conclusion.
Those "chem-trails" could be, and more likely are, cosmic ray tracks through the upper atmosphere. Although, the nomenclature is rather misleading. Cosmic rays are not electromagnetic "rays", but actual particles of matter, accelerated by very distant phenomena to such high velocities that their energy levels exceed the highest electromagnetic energy spectra, Gamma-rays.
The fact that we are seeing them more often, often enough to conjure a world-wide conspiracy into existence to explain them, might not be a good thing. Not because they are the phenomena central to the "chemtrails" theory, but because it may indicate a general weakening in the Inter-Galactic plasma density.
I'll leave it to the interested reader's own research to discover those implications. [Here are some helpful research terms: Plasma Universe; Electric Sun; Inter-Galactic plasma density; coronal cold fusion.]
And here's some research for you: CFR SRM.
It's not a theory, it's a fact, and it's right there in the policies for all to read.
"the biggest scientific assessment in the whole history of scientific disciplines ever... most solid evidence you can get in any scientific disciplines..."
Dr. Michelle Jarraud, SecGen, World Meteorological Organization, co-sponsor of IPCC. 31MAR14. Scientist by trade.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZONwnqWFe8&feature=player_embedded#t=619
@gregga777 - if you truly think as you represent you do about "chem-trails", then either you have not researched this yourself, or you haven't observed the skies over your head very often, or you are a disinfo person form NASA. Did I win theprize?
Oh no...the hippes will be moving east...
Quick! Time for a fence along the Sierras.
So that, um, the water can't escape California.
sounds like a shovel ready job... I like it tarabel
They'll just be moving back to where they came from, silly.
The Great Carnac see composting toilets in your future..
Nancy Pelosi...
"Well you'll just have to see how dry it gets before you come inside."
I am always instantly leery of anyone who uses the word "thought leader". People who insist upon leading the thoughts of others down the path they wish them to go are propagandists and tyrants.
State your case, let others state their case, and then let the people make up their own minds. What this guy wants is instant obedience to his viewpoint, not cooperation.
Fracking probably opens up holes in the rock and lowers the water table like poking a hole in the bottom of a bowl.
so you're saying we knocked the bottom out of it...
I think he's saying that their water spilled through to China.
“Fracking probably opens up holes in the rock and lowers the water table like poking a hole in the bottom of a bowl.”
Of course!
Just like wearing mirrored sunglasses while looking at the sky probably burns holes in the clouds and vaporizes them, like burning a hole in paper with a magnifying glass.
Very sound argument.
I think it is pretty sound.
Communist states always have shortages of something.
except dependent low info's
Parts of North Western Nevada (Reno etc.) are quite dry this year. We have a well on our property and a solar pump. When the town runs out of water we should be able to supply drinking and flushing water for a few neighbors. Which comes first, Carrington Event, financial collapse, deserted land, ogallala dring up, nuclear war ... premature death? No matter, BTFD.
Why can they not all come at once? Like in a good orgy.
Not in my belief system, but well worth the time to study.
"During the 1970s, belief in the rapture became popular in wider circles, in part because of the books of Hal Lindsey, including The Late Great Planet Earth, which has reportedly sold between 15 million and 35 million copies, and the movie A Thief in the Night, which based its title on the scriptural reference 1 Thessalonians 5:2.[52] Lindsey proclaimed that the rapture was imminent, based on world conditions at the time. The Cold War figured prominently in his predictions of impending Armageddon. Other aspects of 1970s global politics were seen as having been predicted in the Bible. Lindsey suggested, for example, that the seven-headed beast with ten horns, cited in the Book of Revelation, was the European Economic Community, a forebear of the European Union, which between 1981 and 1986 had ten member states; it now has 27 member states."
They are going to run dry and many will die.
I doubt we will be that lucky.
And all of the SoCalsurferdudes will gaze about at the desolate landscape and say, "Gnarley..."
What with nothing growing I thought they were gonna say "not so Gnarley"
You want to see an example climate change Ducks are Dying in the Hamptons as there is too much ICE. http://www.wsj.com/articles/long-island-rallies-to-save-starving-ducks-1...
Ducks? Who needs ducks? Flying overhead they keep me awake at night. Save the smelts.
double post
Serves them right for sending people like Pelosi, Feinstein and Boxer to Washington DC. You voted for Obama twice California
The fucking place can rot for all I care
Now THAT's the spirit! United We Stand!
I thought we had to love America, or leave it. And California - I think it's a part of America. I guess that attitude changes with the party of the presidency for certain folks.
your side has done everything in it's power to divide, what the hell are you talking about
Hey, they went all commie an stuff out there. Tell them to elect Libertarians or they are cut off.
Also, make them study Austrian economics.
You don't have to like people who spend their lives calling you a bunch of stupid racist gun lovers.
But if it's true, aren't we just calling a spade a spade?
That's my biggest problem with racist Bible-thumping bigoted gun nuts: They're not willing to own their beliefs and wear them like the red badges of courage they should.
Ben Carson is one such example.
Wear your bigotry on your sleeve. We'd be better off if you did. That way, people would know who to not serve when you walk in to a place of business.
That lawmaker in Oklahoma has it correct:
http://www.bilerico.com/2015/03/oklahoma_dem_wants_to_make_anti-lgbt_bus...
-- From an amendment introduced by Oklahoma Democratic State Rep. Emily Virgin to Oklahoma's so-called "religious freedom act," which would grant bigoted businesses a license to discriminate against LGBT people on the basis of their religious beliefs. Virgin's proposed amendment would make these businesses own that bigotry by posting a public notice of discrimination.thanks for proving my point
Thanks for missing mine.
your comments & links, splans everything you say
One eye beam coming up, oh kind, caring, and compassionate specimen of homo superioris.
Emily the Virgin? I don't think so. And I don't see the problem. Discrimination is an attribute of a thinking, intelligent being.
& the faster the better
So how about South Carolina and voting Lindsey Graham over and over?
You know,,, "...arguing that lawyers and trials should not be provided to anyone accused of terrorism and can be imprisoned indefinitely for life with no recourse ..."
That Lindsey Graham... California NOT.
Lindsey Come out of the Closet...
Sorry. I thought this was a thread about California. I very well may have mentioned Mr Graham is a douche had it been about South Carolina - but its not.
What the fuck was your point?
I had the same 'Huh' moment.
Citizens get rights.
Combatants don't.
that's not a valid reason to NOT legalize 5-10 million illegal aliens already looting CA, imagine the debt capabilities of a legalized CA voter population, bullish fior public debt referendums!
wtf, a nasa scientist who doesn't preach the evils of agw at every opportunity???
Neither does SPACEX's Elon Musk but if you ask him about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO0DRa5gLoI&feature=player_detailpage#t=23
BTW,
SPACEX along with NASA and the USAF successfully launched the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) about four weeks ago, due to arrive at L1 early in June 2015.
Just my luck, powdered alcohol everywhere and not a drop of water to be found!!!
What?!?
You mean putting farms in the middle of deserts is a bad idea?
Who'd have thunk it?
At least it will mainly only hit the healthier amongst us, the masses get their food from China.
more illegal immigration will fix this - lol lol
Build a giant pipeline from the Great Lakes to CA.
Pump away.
attached to Chicago's sewer
main drop off point - cesspool hollywood
Repurpose and reroute the Keystone XL. Those Canadians don't need all that water...
I'd VETO it....
HOPE! HOPE and CHANGE !!!!!
Ow! Those red arrows! I was just thinking of jobs for the displaced shale workers. Honest.
gimme my free ObamaWater
Liberals hate pipelines, it can't happen.
Already been deeded to the Chinese.
Better the people move. Preferably to Chicago. They'll love the windy city. No corruption there and the water's fine, though a little cold for swimming and no waves.
Couldn't have happened to nicer folks. /s
Just think if we built NAWAPA in the 60's or anytime since, this wouldn't even be an issue.
..and of course since California is next to an ocean, they have easy access to a source to desalinize.
But Wall Street's frauds and Wars have ruled the day, so California is screwed until the pressure is strong enough for NAWAPA or mass desalinization get built and become operational. Only long term solutions, so in the here and now...they're fucked.
Glass-Steagall
It must be merely a coincidence the drought in CA began just when they became uber liberal about illegal immigrants and worsened to catastrophic during the Obama administration illegal immigration amnesty program. a coincidence, ya, that's it.
"...coincidence, ya, that's it."
Actually, Yes, it is a coincidence. Did you read the article at all?
This is a Cyclical event over a long period of time.... The last 50+ years happened to be a wet phase....
Its a Desert.
Anyone else notice this?
"The public is ready. A recent Field Poll showed that 94% of Californians surveyed believe that the drought is serious, and that one-third support mandatory rationing."
So about 2/3 of the California public think that everybody but them should so something about it. Sounds about right...
Please flush hard. LA needs the water.
Long desalination* in CA. Have on fear, IDE Tech is here.
Short RE prices, as people migrate out of CA. Long RE prices in OR and WA, where water is still abundant, the climate is mild, but getting warmer and drier also (mountain snow packs melting at alarming rates after warm, dry winter).
* CA desal projects...
1. http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25859513/nations-largest-ocean-des...
2a. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlsbad_desalination_plant
2b. Israeli company (IDE Tech) building America's largest desalination plant in Carlsbad, California
http://www.haaretz.com/business/1.575985
2c. http://www.triplepundit.com/2015/01/largest-seawater-desalination-plant-...
People should not be allowed to migrate out of California unless they undergo some sort of re-education.
Colorado was a nice quiet conservative cowboy state, until the lefties from California moved in with thier socialist politics
I totally agree. When I moved there in '81, people said howdy and waved, even downtown. I finally left last year because I couldn't stand the bullshit anymore. Trying to get a effing building permit in the people's republic or Jefferson County is like being investigated by the FBI. So sick of the politically correct, nasty tempered, urban leeches, and moved back to Texas and I love it.
It's amazing how many states would be improved with just one little nuke in the right spot.
Not that metro Denver really counts as actual Colorado. But it's still the real deal outside the urban boundaries and ski areas.
p.s. Long Nuclear ('Nukular') Reactors to provide the energy for desal plants. So you might find the two co-located for practical and security purposes.
Note that I predicted this before on here, as it pertains to Saudi Arabia in response to a ZHer question "Why is KSA building nuclear reactors when they have so much oil?".
ALL countries with an arid climate and access to plenty of seawater will use nuclear+desal plants. E.g. Iran, India, Pakistan, Israel.
Most of the world’s problems can be laid at the feet of these two.
Jethro Tull
http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/004f.html
Fritz Haber
http://www.scienceheroes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=441:haber-fertilizer&catid=195:fritz-haber&Itemid=528
Haber was a Jew. More evidence of Zio conspiracy to fuck up Jerry Brown's tenure as Governor
I bet customers of California Water Services Grou (CWT) are really digging the water utility's regulated return on water services that they won't be able to use.
Stop the chemtrails and HAARP. Arrest the perps. Then the rains will return.
They will. You can see the change in the clouds when they start and when they stop.
Ski Acres in Snoqualmie is closed this year. First time I ever saw that in 35+ years in the area.
The Olympics look really dry too, worse than ever. There have been visibile fires over the last two years also.
I was in Singapore last week. Lots of supertankers sitting idle. I'm not sure if it's practicable to fill up those ships with drinking water but I read somewhere recently that bottled water is more expensive than oil. Possible short term solution while they figure out if desal is a viable long term option. Then again, the Californian dock workers may not let them unload.
Local, regional, continental, and global climate changes. Just ask the English viticulturalists. Or the Norse cod fishers. Or the Mongol pastoralists. Or the Mesopotamian grain farmers. In other news, water boils when sufficiently hot.
For sure, but you sure picked some bad examples.
English grapes -
After the treading, large amounts of honey would have been added for sweetness and to produce an alcohol content of about 10 to 12 per cent...
In Roman times, Britain had a slightly warmer climate than now; and, with 500 to 600mm of rain a year, Northamptonshire is at the lower end of the British precipitation range, which would have meant fewer fungal problems. The area would therefore have been suitable for grape production.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/veni-vidi-viticulture--remains...
"Slightly warmer" doesn't mean Spanish or French temperatures. It means 1-2oC (max) for a few months - you'll note the Romans were adding honey (mead) and post-processing the slightly unripe grapes via yeast fermentation. The temperature? A little thing called "the dark ages" explains it. (volcanic eruptions so large the entire globe suffered from it, then we moved into the industrial ages with Europe reducing 80% of forests and so on).
Norse Cod fishers - cod is a cold water species. You're referencing over-fishing.
After his voyage in 1497, John Cabot's crew reported that
and around 1600 English fishing captains still reported cod shoals
"so thick by the shore that we hardly have been able to row a boat through them."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_fishing_in_Newfoundland
You'll note that cod are no longer there, since you ate them all.
Mongol pastoralists: well, yes. Not many people, Mongols rose to power at roughly the same time as the black plague ravished europe and the grasslands permanently suffered. Not sure of your point here.
Mesopotamian grain famers. Ecological disaster zone: water loss, tree loss, soil loss. You'll note that the entire area in the ME is now a desert? There's a reason for that, and it's not "local climate" - it's exhaustion caused by humans.
So, out of 4, you hit maybe 1 and for the wrong reasons. That's impressive.
I believe the descriptive phrase is: Things change. Or more appropriate to this forum: Shit happens.
That graphic is dramatic, but .16 meters equates to about 1/2 foot of water, not much really.
This is more alarmist greenie nonsense, been reading about the west's water problems since Cadillac Desert, nothing has been done about the "problems" and they haven't manifested as the alarmists predict.
We have enough alarmism in the alternative media we don't need to reguritate MSM nonsense.
.
Um, wow.
Have you seen this picture? Might make things a little clearer to you:
http://ca.water.usgs.gov/projects/central-valley/images/subsidencePole.jpg
Image location:
Land subsidence is a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth's surface owing to subsurface movement of earth materials. The principal causes are aquifer-system compaction, drainage of organic soils...
http://ca.water.usgs.gov/projects/central-valley/land-subsidence-monitor...
Zios buy up the water rights and SHAZAM!!! All the liquidity dries up. Who'd a thunk it?
They happen to have a full freaking ocean beside, but I guess desalinization is not eco-friendly enough. So, they'll rather die of thirst... it's the Darwinian thing to do.
See the discussion yesterday or so...
Desalinization ain't gonna help them... (have you read any of the details of what is involved or how much energy it takes or how much you get?)
Do you know the gallons used per day for Ag in California alone? They don't make Desalinization plants that big.
You might as well suggest getting it from Mars.
Piece of shit Liberal cesspool State. Thirst is but a fraction of that States problems.
Ah yes. Such an article always brings out the anti-caleefornia types, with their [they think] witty and [they think] funny remarks.
But maybe they have a point: "A recent Field Poll showed that 94% of Californians surveyed believe that the drought is serious, and that one-third support mandatory rationing."
So virtually every Californian believes the drought is serious, but far less than a majority support mandatory [i.e. universal] rationing. My math says that 2/3 of the folks polled are indeed short-sighted morons.
Well with a skyrocketing 3rd world population I would suspect that the USA will require more and more of food production water to be shifted to drinking water, and potable water is at a PREMIUM in the world.
In fact an important point is the WATER SHORTAGES that increasing 3rd world population demographics predict for the USSA.
Cali is on its way to a population of 50 million or more.
3rd world people are NOT into conservation, ecology, so enjoy the future.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-23/its-very-extreme-drought-drug-c...
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Overpopulation in the United States will become THE single greatest issue facing Americans in the 21st century. We either solve it proactively or nature will solve it brutally for us via water shortages, energy crisis, air pollution, gridlock, species extinction and worse.
U.S. population will double from 300 million to 600 million on its way to 1 billion in the lifetime of a child born today if we fail to change course.
- Frosty Wooldridge (2000)
American Border Patrol
"... Or nature will solve it brutally for us...."
Here's the graph of Mother Nature taking care of an inbalance...
THE INTRODUCTION, INCREASE,
AND CRASH OF REINDEER ON ST. MATTHEW ISLAND
Nice hype but the population growth curve is actually flattening. Global population doubled from 3.5 billion early Seventies to 7 billion roughly 40 years later and is reaching 9 billion in 20 years. There is still growth in the world but not to that extend in the US population. China and India are flattenig which is THE reason for the lower demand of all resources going forward. China is not building another 50,000 miles of highways over the next 30 years for example. The demand that was created due to China's construction boom was a one-time blip and is not going to come back. Oh, they're still building and have some massive projects going but not to the degree they have been going.
While i agree with what you're saying one point i would make is that US population WILL continue to grow but it will be imported growth from the south...
Agree with you on that but I don't know how big of an impact that will have when at the same time, the traditional US population is shrinking.
Just ban the term "climate change." Problem solved.
I read alot of comments about desalination plants. As great as this technology is, it is not the be all end all. To desalinate millions of gallons of seawater requires enormous amounts of energy. It can be done but at what cost?
As long as there are no watering restrictions in place for golf lawns and backyards or irrigation systems, there doesn't seem to be the will to even consider that. Let alone face the music and charge multiples just for fresh water.
Yes, mankind (not specifically the breed of Homo-Californimus) is so stupid that they would rather die of thirst than stop watering the lawns. They would stay put in the desert instead of moving North or East. Instead the population of CA is still growing.
Once the last bit of oil has been depleted from CA, they can gift it to Mexico.
There seems to be an abundance of energy now. What is more important to Cali...Water or Energy?
Abundance of energy? At what cost?
Water management is key.
It isn't the availability, of course, it's the cost. Folks won't choose to spend one additional penny for water until they're forced. The desal plant proposed where I live on the central California coast has been in the works since at least 1991. We've seen countless lawsuits, jurisdictional battles, protests, etc. If it does get built, it will be because the water district has threatened residents with severe rationing and huge cost increases.
http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/cover/the-monterey-peninsula-s-...
Desal is 5X pumped water.
Maybe 5x pumping from a local well, but not 5x pumped from the Colorado or Eastern Sierras.
This is Zero Hedge. We are supposed to find ways to both be synical and take advantage of the opportunities that this provides. Cheap land. Sure, no water right now, but time to start getting your land barron on.
This is Zero Hedge. 99.9% of us know how to spell 'cynical'.
and more than 50% cant detect sarcasm.
I love seeing MDB riling up the masses.
Good catch. I will promptly fire my editor and add him to the unemployment figures.
" ... but the technology and expertise exist to handle this harrowing future."
Stop exporting water.
Only export dried fruits and dried vegetables.
I'm here in the desert, in Riverside County, near where the Colorado desert meets the Mojave. There is a native palm here, the California Fan Palm, washingtonia filifera: http://www.desertusa.com/flora/california-fan-palm.html
It is the only native palm in the western US. It grows naturally in the desert, but only where groundwater consistently surfaces. Where this happens, palm oases form. They are few and far between, but where they exist, they last for millenia. They are gorgeous spectacles: http://media.sdreader.com/img/photos/2011/05/06/Indian_Palm_Canyon_t658....
And they, and the groundwater, are going strong.
The fear-mongers seek to transfer wealth. Resist these goons.
For informative reading on a dry summer day try "The King of California: J.G. Boswell and The Making of An American Empire" by Mark Arax & Rick Wartzman. It's a blow-by-blow accout of California's agricultural history. It ain't the gold, Harry. It's the water, the cotton and the lettuce.
How about looking into desalination and reservoiring Pacific water? Am I missing something here?
BINGO!!!
No, instead they want to .... "The law requires the formation of numerous, regional groundwater sustainability agencies "
Instead of spending money on worthless "agencies" to "study" the problem and hand out dictates let's spend the money to actually construct something that will begin adding supply...
Nothing new...It Never rains in California, Albert Hammond
Who cares? Real estate is up. Buy bottled water from HELOC loan to flush the toilet.
I was thinking that all those millions of illegals will have an adverse impact on what demand but then again, beaners don't use too much, do they?
@Monty Burns
"don't use too much, do they?"
Living among them I can tell you they use MUCHO AGUA, their niños PLAY with water for HOURS, wash their 17 cars with water despite ordinances against it. They also POLLUTE water sources, but that is their "Culture" and everything about them is MAGNIFICO, may I make a book recommendation, if it wasn't allowed to go out of print:
http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Middle-Finger-Lawless-Sierra/dp/B001OW5N0U
Here is a review of it:
http://www.vdare.com/articles/out-of-mexico-a-british-journalist-survive...
A must-see documentary ("FLOW: For the Love of Water") deals with the dwindling global supply of drinking water, and its transfer from the public ownership to private ownership.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/flow-for-love-of-water/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow:_For_Love_of_Water
Flow: For Love of Water is a 2008 documentary film directed by Irena Salina produced by Steven Starr and co-produced by Gill Holland and Yvette Tomlinson . The film features interviews with water and community activists Maude Barlow, Peter Gleick, Ashok Gadgil, Rajendra Singh, and Vandana Shiva. The film won the Grand Jury Award at the Mumbai International Film Festival and the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the United Nations Film Festival.
The film deals with attempts at privatization of water infrastructure. Major businesses depicted in the film are Nestle, The Coca-Cola Company, Suez, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It competed in the Documentary Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.[1]
FLOW launched a Right To Water campaign to add a 31st article to the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, Article31.org. FLOW was released theatrically by Oscilloscope Labs in September, 2008, and then invited to screen for the UN General Assembly on the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, where the first 50,000 signatories to Article31 were presented to the President of the General Assembly, Father Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann.
Vlad: "Defense Minister, you are upset."
"Yes. How was your disappearance?"
"Great. I had Bath House on a high. Now he's crushed again. I was reading Sun Tzu at the monastery. Back to your problem?"
"The Bath House has tunneled under Siberia and is pumping our water to California."
"Use the secret weather machine. Wash California into the Pacific."
"Yessir!"
edit
The message is clear: start drinking.
How about moving all this radiated water from Fukushima to California? They've got huge tanks full of it. You'd just need to market it right like a high energy powerdrink or something.
yeah, tell them it will make them sexier & will charge their osamma phone at the same time
Sell it to Dasani (owned by KO). Bottled water isn't regulated anyway.
Democrat policy strategist: "Let in more wetbacks. Problem solved."
Well I was wondering when this was gonna pop back up on the radar... It's been like a 12,000 lb. pink elephant squatting in the living room now since early January, but CA news just seems to have had a 'move-along-now-nothing-to-see-here' attitude about it. Indeed, the '76 & '77 drought ain't got nothing on this baby...
We need to build a giant ass wall across the Rockies and keep those crazy fuckers from leaving and spreading to the rest of the country, as if it isn't already fucked enough.