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How Many People Will Have To Migrate Out Of California When All The Water Disappears?

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

The drought in California is getting a lot worse.  As you read this, snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada mountains are the lowest that have ever been recorded.  That means that there won’t be much water for California farmers and California cities once again this year.  To make up the difference in recent years, water has been pumped out of the ground like crazy.  In fact, California has been losing more than 12 million acre-feet of groundwater a year since 2011, and wells all over the state are going dry.  Once the groundwater is all gone, what are people going to do? 

100 years ago, the population of the state of California was 3 million, and during the 20th century we built lots of beautiful new cities in an area that was previously a desert. Scientists tell us that the 20th century was the wettest century in 1000 years for that area of the country, but now weather patterns are reverting back to normal.  Today, the state of California is turning back into a desert but it now has a population of 38 million people.  This is not sustainable in the long-term.  So when the water runs out, where are they going to go?

I have written quite a few articles about the horrific drought in California, but conditions just continue to get even worse.  According to NPR, snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada mountains are “just 6 percent of the long-term average”

The water outlook in drought-racked California just got a lot worse: Snowpack levels across the entire Sierra Nevada are now the lowest in recorded history — just 6 percent of the long-term average. That shatters the previous low record on this date of 25 percent, set in 1977 and again last year.

California farmers rely on that water.  Last year, farmers had to let hundreds of thousands of acres lie fallow because of the scarcity of water, and it is being projected that this year will be even worse

More than 400,000 acres of farmland were fallowed last year because of scarce water. Credible sources have estimated that figure could double this year.

Fortunately, many farmers have been able to rely on groundwater in recent years, but now wells are running dry all over the state.  Here is more from NPR

Last year was already a tough year at La Jolla Farming in Delano, Calif. Or as farm manager Jerry Schlitz puts it, “Last year was damn near a disaster.”

 

La Jolla is a vineyard, a thousand-or-so acres of neat lines of grapevines in the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. It depends on water from two sources: the federal Central Valley Project and wells.

 

Until last year, Schlitz says, wells were used to supplement the federal water.

 

“Now, we have nothing but wells. Nothing. There’s no water other than what’s coming out of the ground,” he says.

 

Last year, one of those wells at La Jolla dried up. The farm lost 160 acres — about a million dollars’ worth of produce, plus the wasted labor and other resources.

Are you starting to understand the scope of the problem?

Despite all of the wonderful technology that we have developed, we are still at the mercy of the weather.

And if this drought continues to drag on, it is absolutely going to cripple a state that contains more than 10 percent of the total U.S. population.

In an attempt to fight the water shortage, Governor Jerry Brown has instituted statewide water restrictions for the first time ever

California announced sweeping statewide water restrictions for the first time in history Wednesday in order to combat the region’s devastating drought, the worst since records began.

 

Governor Jerry Brown issued the declaration at a press conference in a parched, brown slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains that would normally be covered by deep snow.

 

“Today, we are standing on dry grass where there should be five feet (1.5 meters) of snow,” Brown said. “This historic drought demands unprecedented action.”

So what will these restrictions include?

The following is a summary from Natural News

  • A ban on non-drip irrigation systems for all new homes.
  • A requirement for golf courses and cemeteries to “reduce water consumption.” (And yet, the very idea of green golf courses in the middle of a California desert is insane to begin with…)
  • Force farmers to report more details on their water usage so that the state government can figure out where all the water is going (and where to restrict it even further).
  • Outlawing the watering of grass on public street medians.
  • Discussions are also under way to throw “water wasters” in jail for up to 30 days, according to another LA Times article. The most likely source of intel for incarcerating water wasters will be neighborhood snitches who monitor water usage of nearby homes and call the authorities if they see too much water being used.

If the drought does not go on for much longer, these restrictions may be enough.

But what if it continues to intensify?

The following graphic shows the U.S. Drought Monitor map for the state of California for each of the last five years in late March…

California National Drought Monitor

It doesn’t take a genius to see the trend.

And scientists tell us that this might just be the beginning.  There have been megadroughts in that area of the country that have lasted more than 100 years in the past, and there are fears that another megadrought may have begun.  The following comes from National Geographic

California is experiencing its worst drought since record-keeping began in the mid 19th century, and scientists say this may be just the beginning. B. Lynn Ingram, a paleoclimatologist at the University of California at Berkeley, thinks that California needs to brace itself for a megadrought—one that could last for 200 years or more.

 

As a paleoclimatologist, Ingram takes the long view, examining tree rings and microorganisms in ocean sediment to identify temperatures and dry periods of the past millennium. Her work suggests that droughts are nothing new to California.

 

“During the medieval period, there was over a century of drought in the Southwest and California. The past repeats itself,” says Ingram, who is co-author of The West Without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climate Clues Tell Us About Tomorrow. Indeed, Ingram believes the 20th century may have been a wet anomaly.

If this is a megadrought, it is just a matter of time until massive migration will become necessary.

In fact, one UN official is already talking about it

If the state continues on this path, there may have to be thoughts about moving people out, said Lynn Wilson, academic chair at Kaplan University and who serves on the climate change delegation in the United Nations.

 

“Civilizations in the past have had to migrate out of areas of drought,” Wilson said. “We may have to migrate people out of California.”

 

Wilson added that before that would happen, every option such as importing water to the state would likely occur— but “migration can’t be taken off the table.”

So how many people will ultimately have to leave if this drought continues for many years?

5 million?

10 million?

20 million?

And where will they go?

 

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Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:38 | 5957116 Thirst Mutilator
Thirst Mutilator's picture

My dream would be that Diane Feinstein & Barbara Boxer are given a can of motor oil to walk thru Death Valley like 'Dominic Greene' at the end of QUANTUM OF SOLACE...

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:42 | 5957136 HedgeAccordingly
HedgeAccordingly's picture

instead of building electric cars and all that BS.. they should have been building and perfecting desalination....but you know that is not "sexy"

 

http://hedgeaccordingly.com/2015/04/california-gov-jerry-brown-orders-st...

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:42 | 5957140 whotookmyalias
whotookmyalias's picture

They don't need to walk through death valley, the central valley is good enough...

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:42 | 5957144 wee-weed up
wee-weed up's picture

 

 

OMG... is it zombies?

No... here come the Kalifornica dried-up scabs!

Run for your lives!

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:53 | 5957190 ACP
ACP's picture

I hope not.

Besides, where else will they get that welfare standard of living? They'll protest the government to build desalination plants and increase taxes to do so.

I hope that's not wishful thinking...(nervously wringing hands)...

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:00 | 5957215 smithcreek
smithcreek's picture

I'm not concerned.  Climatologists have been telling us for decades we can and must change the temperature of the Earth, up or down depending on the latest predictions.  I'm sure conjuring up a little rain for Cali is no big deal for them.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:14 | 5957280 Publicus
Publicus's picture

Once the water is gone, they can drink wine.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:17 | 5957293 OldPhart
Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:37 | 5957343 lordylord
lordylord's picture

Commiefornians leaving CA and spreading their disease to the rest of the US is propbably the scariest effect of climate change. 

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:03 | 5957421 stacking12321
stacking12321's picture

stefan molyneux correctly points out that a lot of the problem with the california drought has to do with government mis-pricing of water as a resource, and govt favoritism towards cronies and big ag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4yqKxYlJrM

there should not be any water shortage - raise the price of water to reflect actual demand, and it will cut down on waste and inefficient use, and eliminate shortages - no water rationing required.

 

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:36 | 5957503 angryBuddhist
angryBuddhist's picture

Me wonders how many desalinization plants we could have built with the $4T+ wasted on blowing up the middle east only to rebuild it and blow it up again? Perhaps it would have been cheaper to blow up California and rebuild it instead.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:53 | 5957546 jal
jal's picture

They will be drinking red and it wont be wine.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 20:29 | 5957648 barliman
barliman's picture

 

The human body is over 80% water ...

821.5 deaths per 100,000

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm .... only  5 million gallons of water per year from the dead  (wine presses pressed into new uses!)

There are going to have be "volunteers"

;->

NOBODY gets to LEAVE ...

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 21:34 | 5957807 chumbawamba
chumbawamba's picture

Once again, it's simple:

First, you stop watering the golf courses.  The rich people will understand.

Second, you stop watering the lawns.  Even the little people will have to suffer.

Third, if necessary, you stop filling the swimming pools.  We have AC, we'll live.

If the drought actually persists, and this is not just more Mike Snyderism, an equilibrium will be reached after enough people either die from dehydration or from battles over water resources.  The population will balance itself to the environment's ability to sustain it.

It's called "nature".  Look into it.

I am Chumbawamba.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 21:46 | 5957823 barliman
barliman's picture

 

I'm calling CAA ... Discovery Channel will buy this in a heartbeat!

"If the drought actually persists, and this is not just more Mike Snyderism, an equilibrium will be reached after enough people either die from dehydration or from battles over water resources.  The population will balance itself to the environment's ability to sustain it."

You provide the "thoughtful" commentary.

I'll goad the masses to excess and extremes.

 

ETA: You mean they haven't done ANY of those three steps yet??? I am going to have to get on twitter and encourage people to SJW acts of aqua-terrorism, "Puncture your neighbor's pool. Give the water back to Gaia!"

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 21:51 | 5957830 Billy the Poet
Billy the Poet's picture

 

SCTV S01E23 - The Grapes of Mud

 

in which the Joad family flees California for the friendlier climes of Oklahoma.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgNnIpHc_XM&feature=player_detailpage#t=714

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 23:19 | 5957959 OceanX
OceanX's picture

The other day I was looking at a 2000 census map, it reported 25% of California as non-english speaking.  I thought, they will go back from whence they came...

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 08:13 | 5958290 ilion
ilion's picture

Why won't Californians turn to Obama? He can probably help. I mean he was able to bring peace and prosperity to the world. Let's just ask him to spend less time pounding the guy he is married to and instead bring rain to California. God help him!

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 11:12 | 5958573 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

Obama will give us 30 million new immigrants to help use the remaining water.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 12:00 | 5958656 franciscopendergrass
franciscopendergrass's picture

No Democrat let alone Republican is gonna touch this state.  Its not a battleground state.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 20:05 | 5957583 consider me gone
consider me gone's picture

Blewit up, rebuilt, blew it up again....best laugh all day

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 21:42 | 5957819 wisefool
wisefool's picture

I'm with your way of thinking, but as other posters have stated, desalination is boring technology, no matter how valuable a drop of water can be in the desert, finding WMDs is where the $4T+ tax money should go. How long 'till we see ISIS driving electric cars? Shiny 2014 Toyota's are passe.

Sun, 04/05/2015 - 09:08 | 5960580 OutaTime43
OutaTime43's picture

Desalinization plants use a LOT of power. It's not a very efficient way to collect water. It would be cheaper and more efficient to pipe water down from the Pacific Northwest.  Plenty of water up there. 

Sun, 04/05/2015 - 09:06 | 5960575 OutaTime43
OutaTime43's picture

Big Ag?  Sure, who needs food , right?   Lets jack up the cost of water and see how expensive your grocery bill gets. Those subsidies are the only thing keeping many poorer americans from starving.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 00:05 | 5958003 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

We need to build a wall and secede the country from California.

PS - La Raza, all yours.  Cheers.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 01:39 | 5958068 Trogdor
Trogdor's picture

Exactly.  Sane America, prepare to be Kalifornicated.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 11:28 | 5958599 dirty belly
dirty belly's picture

You need to understand, the California cities are mostly, not all, normal people.  The rest of California is full greedy selfish a-holes, stupid red necks, ignorant hillbilly's and nut jobs that DID come from Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kentucky, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and surprisingly a great many from places like Alexandria, W. Virgina, Washington, D.C. and other military driven states.

So, no need to worry, 'your' kind is just returning home.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 21:55 | 5959951 seminal1
seminal1's picture

You need to understand, the California cities are mostly, not all, abnormal people. California is full greedy selfish a-holes, stupid illegal aliens, ignorant welfare recipients, and left wing nut jobs that DID come from New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, D.C. and other bankrupt blue states.

So, no need to worry, 'your' kind is just returning home.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 12:07 | 5958667 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

fukem - let the progressive liberal democraps there learn to drink sea water or dry up & blow away.... but u can bet liberal progressive democraps in Ore-gone will welcome them

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:19 | 5957282 knukles
knukles's picture

What amazes me is how many fuckwits seem to think that "The Drought" stops at CA's state lines.

Also betcha that under Hillbillary there will be a realization that drought in CA is bad for the chillens and migrants, so federal money gets used to build the desals.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 09:23 | 5958379 ultramaroon
ultramaroon's picture

Right. The whole southwestern United States and the Great Plains are headed for much more profound desertification.

"...the mean state of drought in the late 21st century over the Central Plains and Southwest will likely exceed even the most severe megadrought periods of the Medieval era..."

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/1/e1400082

 

There won't be enough government money in the US Treasury to whip this one, however. The central government won't be able to steal enough to turn it around. But they are already using desertification as an excuse to rob us all blind.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:27 | 5957310 Zirpedge
Zirpedge's picture

California is the greatest state. Without a doubt. I'm sticking it out with these handy guides to generating water from condensation, forget desalinization.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Water-in-the-Desert

http://www.iflscience.com/technology/bicycle-bottle-system-condenses-hum...

This crisis was created by the hype surrounding "Delta Smelt" a foreign invasive species mind you. We dumped all the water held in dams into the ocean in 2011 to save the smelt. http://82.221.129.208/sanjoaquin.html The likes a Warren Buffet and private enterprise have set up this combination of dumping our water storage and the RRR (Rediculously Resilient Ridge) with HAARP.  http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/weather-warfare-assault-on-california...

Give it another year and a half and we will have a serious buying opportunity in farmand in California's central valley. 

I'm starting a Warka Water Generator Business, investors PM me if you are interested.

http://www.wired.com/2014/03/warka-water-africa/

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:36 | 5957339 Poundsand
Poundsand's picture

It's Bullish!  Just talked to my buddy in So Cal, and instead of letting those beautiful yards turn into bare baren dirt, they are all having to tear out the grass and install; barkdust, turf, rock.

Imagine the uptick in employment!

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 08:38 | 5958315 eurogold
eurogold's picture

In Germany we pay 7 Euros for a cubic meter of water 1000 Liters - (around 250 Gallons)

3 Euros to bring it in and 4 Euros to get it out of the house as waste water.  

Dry up you suckers in CA.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:57 | 5957405 Not Too Important
Not Too Important's picture

"This crisis was created by the hype surrounding "Delta Smelt" a foreign invasive species mind you. We dumped all the water held in dams into the ocean in 2011 to save the smelt. http://82.221.129.208/sanjoaquin.html"

The farmers weren't denied water because of 'saving the smelt'. That might have been what they were told, but this was right after Fukushima blew up, and the water was contaminated with enriched uranium and plutonium - and about 3,000 other isotopes. They were waiting to see how bad it was. Many resevoirs were drained.

Of course, the rainwater to replace it is all contaminated with the same radiated shit now, too, but there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Bottom's up!

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 20:01 | 5957499 NihilistZero
NihilistZero's picture

The smelt bullshit began before Fukishima...

The fact is you could have every resident leave CA and there would still be a water problem.  Agriculture is the main water consumer in CA, of course there will be a federal solution.  As soon as those that are meant to profit from said solution have positioned themselves.  All you CA haters are being willfully ignorant of what this water issue means for EVERYONE.  And even the most lefty nut jobs didn't support the government building more reservoirs for dry years.  Wonder why the "progressive" CA legislature never proposed spending on THAT...

(Actually I don't wonder.  It was so they could create this false crisis so their campaign contributors could benefit)

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 22:00 | 5957840 nmewn
nmewn's picture

See, the idea is to build on crisis, to profit from crisis.

A decent degenerate central planner will always calculate the peaks & valleys of any growing crisis for optimal profit. The consumate evil central planner knows there will be light snowfall years and heavy snowfall years (its the stuff of nature of the region) the trick is to pour concrete around streams in the heavy snowfall years and dam it up into reservoirs, to provide the illusion of forethought and "progress" in water sports!

Now nature speaks again for the region (instead of the central planner) its saying so many don't belong here.

The central planner is saying let 100 people suffer so one head of lettuce can grow and be sold.

Pick your poison ;-)

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 23:04 | 5957941 NihilistZero
NihilistZero's picture

The conclusion I'm drawing is the Federal and State officials are in the pockets of some VERY specific agribusinesses.  The goal is to push out even large agribusinesses that aren't connected.  When the water flows again, which we all know it will, those very specific businesses will profit.  As for the reservoirs, we sure didn't build any during the heavy snowfall years!  Oddly enough SoCal is doing pretty good as far as water for the populace as rain and reservoir levels are looking better than the past few years.  It's only the farmers in the central valley who are coming up short.

As you so eloquently stated, the solution will be found at the peak of dryness.  And I'm sure that solution will involve an even larger monopoly of the CA farm trade by the largest entities.  And whatever the source of the water, I'm sure it will have been bought for pennies from a connected interest years before this "crisis" began :-)

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 04:34 | 5958183 eternitarian
eternitarian's picture

Geoengineering at its best. Wipe out the small farmers so Big Ag can move in.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:08 | 5957444 Freddie
Freddie's picture

They just need 20 million more illegals and the problem is solved.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:10 | 5957269 Antifaschistische
Antifaschistische's picture

let's see....

If everyone in LA goes back to Mexico

Everyone in Bakersfield goes back to Oklahoma

If all the students at UCLA, Berkley and Stanford go back to China and India

Everyone in SF goes....oh crap, no one will want them....I don't know, maybe Thailand.

...then, that will help for a while.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:34 | 5957329 HairyChestedFrogman
HairyChestedFrogman's picture

Thailand is paradise, don't take that away. 

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:13 | 5957464 NumNutt
NumNutt's picture

How about Detroit? You got a city with no people, and people with no city. Win win situation. I think Detroit also already has all the socialist utopia policies in place (that is how it ended up a failed city) so the new transplants will feel right at home. Now i think I will go drink a big ass glass of my fresh well water, and even spill a little down the front of myself just because I can....

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:17 | 5957475 MichiganMilitiaMan
MichiganMilitiaMan's picture

Just wait until they all move to your state and start voting for their progressive policies.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 02:22 | 5958093 nightwish
nightwish's picture

Wait until the ground moves (the big one) under socals feet and see what happens when many caverns with vacated water  (dry wells) collapse, along with level ground above

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 06:26 | 5958227 new game
new game's picture

yup, collape. word defined,ha...

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 11:41 | 5958616 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

"Just wait until they all move to your state and start voting for their progressive policies."

Great.....they're coming to Florida I imagine.  Whatever.....we have half of New York and Latin America anyway....why not the Fruits and Nuts.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 09:02 | 5958348 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

Or east LA, lmao.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 09:03 | 5958351 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

And the cunts won't be allowed to have a gun either.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:48 | 5957167 cossack55
cossack55's picture

Make sure you put radiation filters in those desal plants.  Maybe dead sea lion filters also. 

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 02:28 | 5958099 spyvsspy
spyvsspy's picture

Exactly!

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:41 | 5957139 Consuelo
Consuelo's picture

That would definitely be thirst mutilating...   And fun to watch...!!!

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:07 | 5957253 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

Breaking News...Hipsters caught looting and carrying off cases of bottled Fiji water.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:47 | 5957142 alphamentalist
alphamentalist's picture

"Once the groundwater is all gone, what are people going to do?"

Since they are from California I suppose you can rule out praying. Maybe they will turn to human sacrifice to appease Auqufina the Earth Goddess of potable water? Whatever it is, I am sure it will be uncomfortable to watch.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:52 | 5957185 JLee2027
JLee2027's picture

Nobody fucks with the Jesus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZR58d77a4A

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:49 | 5957169 JLee2027
JLee2027's picture

we built lots of beautiful new cities in an area that was previously a desert

This is not true. California was arid, yes, but not a desert like Death Valley.

 

I have written quite a few articles about the horrific drought in California, but conditions just continue to get even worse.  According to NPR, snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada mountains are “just 6 percent of the long-term average”

 

Meaning as I said, California was never a desert as claimed....DUH

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:39 | 5957349 Poundsand
Poundsand's picture

You know there are degrees of arid, and semi-arid areas right?

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 20:19 | 5957631 JLee2027
JLee2027's picture

Thank you. Perhaps semi-arid would have been a better word choice.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:52 | 5957181 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 I'll drink to that... That scene was classic.

 Bond returns back to MI-6 HQ and 'M' asks him if he knows anything about the motor oil in his stomach.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 22:05 | 5957845 thetruthhurts
thetruthhurts's picture

Lay about 600 miles of pipe from Hermiston Oregon will get you to Sacramento then figure it out.

Start sucking the Columbia.

Think of the jobs!

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 11:51 | 5958642 Colonel Klink
Colonel Klink's picture

By no means forget Nancy Piglosi in that scenario!!!

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:37 | 5957119 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

Welcome to California, now go home.
-Bumper sticker in CA circa 1985

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:43 | 5957359 Omen IV
Omen IV's picture

the overwhelming majority of water use is for farming - shut it all down - there is enough farmland with water in South America - forget about the water vampires!

the population ex farmers can survive for 1,000 years

 

fuck em let them eat dirt

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:32 | 5957496 in4mayshun
in4mayshun's picture

And what do you suppose happens to your state's economy when the 8th largest economic engine in the world collapses? You think ya'll just keep rollin without a hiccup?

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:47 | 5957530 knukles
knukles's picture

And down goes the rest of the country right along with the world's 5th largest economy.
Thus happens, y'all think the economy is bad now, best be stockin' some canned goods cause the price of food'll skyrocket.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 21:09 | 5957744 TuPhat
TuPhat's picture

Not,  I don't eat californicated food.  I think maybe you meant wine.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 02:29 | 5958100 Bananamerican
Bananamerican's picture

why is it that California keeps creeping up in the global rankings on ZH? We used to be 9th.....then 8th, 7th, 6th...Now we're 5th?? sheesh

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 00:14 | 5958010 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

Is that a bridge we are not eager to cross?  Is not the collapse/reset/end welcome here?

 

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 00:30 | 5958026 TheGreatRecovery
TheGreatRecovery's picture

We lived through the collapse of 2000, and the collapse of 2008,  And the collapse of the USSR, and the collapse of Iraq and Libya, and several collapses of Argentina and Brazil.  And the collapse of Europe and Japan and China in World War 2.  Hiccups, yes.  But "sky is falling", no.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 08:10 | 5958285 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Meteors are  an infinitesimally small part of the sky.

Like cosmic butterfly wings.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 08:17 | 5958292 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

Currently I am looking at a Blood Red Moon in the San Diego sky.

 

Nice view in the Western sky.

 

Anyone reading on the West Coast of the USA, or into the Mountain and Desert West, may want to take a look...

Sun, 04/05/2015 - 10:04 | 5960672 TheGreatRecovery
TheGreatRecovery's picture

Oh!  We also lived through the collapse of the South in the Civil War.  That (and the Civil War itself) was expensive.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:38 | 5957121 mercy
mercy's picture

Further west, into the Pacific Ocean.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:48 | 5957171 Max Steel
Max Steel's picture

lol . Have some mercy , mercy . 

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:53 | 5957186 blindman
Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:40 | 5957124 the grateful un...
the grateful unemployed's picture

how about the Middle East?

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:44 | 5957153 BrosephStiglitz
BrosephStiglitz's picture

California is like a trip to Disneyland relative to places like Dubai: a city in a desert region which sprung out of the dirt in less than 40 years.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:56 | 5957204 Skateboarder
Skateboarder's picture

And they go and put a muhfucken indoor ski resort all up in that bitch. 'Scarcity' doesn't apply to rich people.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:17 | 5957294 BrosephStiglitz
BrosephStiglitz's picture

Scarcity applies to everyone.  The rich are just the ones bitching the loudest when it comes around to biting them in the ass.  "I used to have a private yacht, and a blah blah blah."

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:40 | 5957125 BrosephStiglitz
BrosephStiglitz's picture

Julius Caesar would have just massacred any migratory groups in order to maintain stability in adjacent regions.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:50 | 5957176 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

They had aqueducts back then.  They'd never get the approvals and permits today.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:59 | 5957217 Squid-puppets a...
Squid-puppets a-go-go's picture

julius caesar was a psycho asshole whos style of leadership should not be admired or emulated

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:06 | 5957246 BrosephStiglitz
BrosephStiglitz's picture

Julius Caesar was one of the greatest statesmen in history.  Really.  (So was Augustus.)

But I'm not suggesting that his tactics are acceptable (or applicable) in the modern day, but I am pointing out that with great migration comes great unrest.  Enough for past rulers to turn to genocide.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:09 | 5957267 knukles
knukles's picture

One historian says he overused the executive order

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:18 | 5957298 GoldRulesPaperDrools
GoldRulesPaperDrools's picture

Works for me.  Might as well put all that ammo that the gub'mint been hoarding to good use.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:40 | 5957127 stant
stant's picture

More likely they will use the EPA to steal land and farms in the water rich areas of the us east of the Mississippi

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:43 | 5957129 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

Let's rent farmland to the Chinese, they'll ship the water in from China, but only if they hire the local hipsters.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:33 | 5957328 RiderOnTheStorm
RiderOnTheStorm's picture

If we could get the Chinese to build cheap hydrogen powered cars, they could ship them all to California, sell them at Walmarts, and everyone there could guzzle all the water they wanted directly from the tail pipes.  Problem solved!!!

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 08:13 | 5958289 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Geese, our iceberg plans went up in smoke huh?

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:40 | 5957130 kowalli
kowalli's picture

They haven't  money to migrate so answer is 0

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:44 | 5957150 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Bingo.  National Guard to be bringing in emergency shipments of bottled water, and WiFi hotsposts with shade tents and espresso machines.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:59 | 5957218 kowalli
kowalli's picture

not sure about water, mb more fema camps

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:42 | 5957133 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

Coney Island? How about Detroit?

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:46 | 5957151 alphamentalist
alphamentalist's picture

My thoughts exactly. Some wet place with broken, leftist politics. Detroit has to be the top of that list.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:41 | 5957134 One And Only
One And Only's picture

"So how many people will ultimately have to leave if this drought continues for many years?

5 million?

10 million?

20 million?

And where will they go?"

Back to fucking Mexico.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:49 | 5957173 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

The Mexicans aren't going anywhere. They're still needed to clean out  rich people's flush toilets.

It's the insufficiently diverse and vibrant who'll be sent packing first.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:58 | 5957410 TheRideNeverEnds
TheRideNeverEnds's picture

Its not the Mexicans fault, they just come to use the water that Americans don't want to use...

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:41 | 5957138 whotookmyalias
whotookmyalias's picture

Been talking to my wife about getting out.  She finally gets it.  This state has been wasting time and money on all the boondoggles the progressive agenda can dream up and hasn't done one fucking thing about water storage and desalinization.  Good job.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:53 | 5957189 Citxmech
Citxmech's picture

Leaving that shithole 15 years ago was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:08 | 5957261 B2u
B2u's picture

Good choice.  I left 17 years ago.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:54 | 5957392 Kprime
Kprime's picture

Born and raised in Burbank.  I left there 44 years ago. 

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:57 | 5957395 Buster Cherry
Buster Cherry's picture

Born in San Diego, then lived in Anaheim a mile from Disneyland

Left 1964

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 00:18 | 5958013 Agent700
Agent700's picture

Born and bred on the beach, lived the prototypical blond surfer life. Left in 1997, found many places so much better around the world! Socially and naturally.

All family and friends still think it is Golden and unequalled......

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 08:40 | 5958320 PoliticalRefuge...
PoliticalRefugeefromCalif.'s picture

Don't concern yourself with being the last guy out and having to flip off the light switch, those lights will eventually go out by themselves.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:42 | 5957141 Callz d Ballz
Callz d Ballz's picture

Just like good sheeple, they'll wait till the faucet doesn't render a drop before the alarms go off. 

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:42 | 5957143 Consuelo
Consuelo's picture

But, but, but...   What about all the Realtors...?

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 04:39 | 5958186 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

To paraphrase a Realtor:  "Dessication, dessication, dessication!"

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:47 | 5957147 db51
db51's picture

I'm here in So Illinois and we are under our 4th Flash Flood Warning this year.   Corn and soybean planting should be underway....but fields are flooded with more on the way.   Southern Illinois is great for growing grapes.   There are plenty of other places to grow vineyards...so STFU already and close down  and go somewhere there is FUCKING WATER!   

 

You commie Lib vineyard owners will be right at home here in Libtard Illinois.....Home of Barack Hussein Obama, Crooked politicians and plenty of minority welfare workers to hire to pick grapes.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:01 | 5957228 jomama
jomama's picture

dumbest post I've read in a while.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:52 | 5957387 Kprime
Kprime's picture

Admitt it, someone read the post to you.  You're obviously too stupid to know how to read.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:18 | 5957478 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Truth hurts for some people. Welcome home dope.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 20:08 | 5957600 Clycntct
Clycntct's picture

Here let me help you out with one that's dumber.

Jo Mama now thats a funny name.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:09 | 5957258 itstippy
itstippy's picture

Not a dumb post.  

I'm an old fart and I remember when we grew and canned vegetables on a commercial scale here in South Central Wisconsin.  Green beans, sweet corn, and peas mostly.  There was a big Libby's vegetable canning factory in my home town.  It was tasty stuff, too.  We exported it all over the country.

Now we only grow dent corn for ethanol.  We import fresh vegetables year 'round, grown in California and trucked East overnight.  It's very energy and water intensive, but we can get fresh broccolli in Wisconsin in February.   It's expensive, but the nutritionists say we should eat fresh instead of canned.  Anyone who feeds their kids canned vegetables from the Midwest is a bad parent.  Ask Michelle.

Eat your damned peas! 

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:10 | 5957461 valley chick
valley chick's picture

Don't forget cranberries as WI is #1 producer of cranberries. :-)  Stevens cranberries are the best for cranberry sauce and get them from Wetherby Cranberry Co in WI.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:30 | 5957488 itstippy
itstippy's picture

Har, time for another Old Fart recollection . . .

I used to go North for deer season.  A friend of a friend had a good place, and lots of friendly people to get drunk and play euchre with.  There was a big Ocean Spray cranberry processing plant outside Babcock.  They had a machine that would sort the berries by bouncing them - if they didn't bounce they were bruised and no good.  They'd dump the bruised berries in huge mounds in a pit outside of town.

The mounds of rotting cranberries fermented into an alcohol mash.  The black bears loved them.  The locals would drive their pickups to the cranberry dump at night with a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon.  They'd park on the hillside, facing down toward  the rotting cranberry mounds, and illuminate the scene below.  Drunken local good 'ol boys and gals watching the drunken black bears staggering around.  Later they'd all go home and fight and fornicate like drunken bears and drunken folks do.

Good times.  

 

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:49 | 5957536 knukles
knukles's picture

LOL as an past-Mid Westerner, I'll betcha most readers here don't have a clue as to euchre.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 20:09 | 5957599 itstippy
itstippy's picture

Euchre is a great card game for drinking.  You play with only half a deck, literally and figuratively. 

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 00:27 | 5958019 Agent700
Agent700's picture

Love reading this old timer shit! That's when America was still a real place filled with real people doing real things. Before the banker Ponzi politicians......

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 11:43 | 5958620 Ginsengbull
Ginsengbull's picture

Nowadays, they probably throw a shovel full of sulphites into the bruised crap, to stop the spoilage,  and sell it as generic sauce and juice.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:20 | 5957266 Vullsain
Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:19 | 5957301 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

"Southern Illinois is great for growing grapes.   There are plenty of other places to grow vineyards."

Not so when it comes to most wine grapes:

Vines are only physiologically active above 50° F. The degree days are the total of the average daily temperatures above this point. Grapes need at least 1700 degree days to reach maturity. Region I is coolest at less than 2500 degree days; Region II has from 2501 to 3000; Region III, 3001 to 3500; Region IV, 3501 to 4000; and Region V, over 4001. This information helps growers select appropriate varieties to match their climate.

http://www.winepros.org/wine101/viniculture.htm

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:53 | 5957389 Buster Cherry
Buster Cherry's picture

There are cooling degree days and heating degree days. 55 degrees is the divider between the two, I believe.

 

You can get a tracking printout from NOAA. Its what we do when we have to make utility variance reports.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:45 | 5957157 Robert Paulson
Robert Paulson's picture

OTISBURG?!?!?

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:46 | 5957160 blindman
blindman's picture

alaska , watch out.
.
North To Alaska ~ Johnny Horton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSt0NEESrUA

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:52 | 5957170 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

The locusts that plague commiefornia are sure to fuck up any place they end up migrating to.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:51 | 5957180 ThroxxOfVron
ThroxxOfVron's picture

" Once the groundwater is all gone, what are people going to do?  "

1. In the case of the illegals: hopefully they will take their anchor babies and head back south of the border never to return..

2. In the case of the various brands of statists, green-dereamers and and neo-libs: fuck off and die in the desert.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:53 | 5957187 Rootin' for Putin
Rootin' for Putin's picture

Oh, if only they were not a land locked state.

Desalination - It provides fresh water and fights rising sea levels.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:54 | 5957192 Infinite QE
Infinite QE's picture

radiated, desalinated fresh water. Mmm goood.

Sat, 04/04/2015 - 11:47 | 5958626 Rootin' for Putin
Rootin' for Putin's picture

we will call it Irradiated, and say it keeps longer.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:55 | 5957199 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 As a native Kalifornian, I can only say, NOT ENOUGH! Thank God there's still some small conservative enclaves left in this liberal progressive hell hole.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:55 | 5957202 Zandalf
Zandalf's picture

I just discovered an old, unopened 12 oz. water bottle in my basement here in nyc. First CA bidder that comes up with $50, gets it! Uh, plus shipping & handling...

Let's go surfin' now, ev'rybody's learnin' how!

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:25 | 5957313 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

"I just discovered an old, unopened 12 oz. water bottle in my basement here in nyc."

You may be in possession of illegal water.

SWAT raid in 3..2..

The banksters need to repay us.

 

"We strangled him to death because he was selling 'loosie' water bottles. Water can only be sold as part of a case that is properly taxed by the state, county, and city and showing tax stamps."

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:56 | 5957205 The Duke of New...
The Duke of New York A No.1's picture

No need to worry about it .... Bernanke has come up with a solution; He will throw all the Stragglers under a Bus and they'll be done with forever;

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz1lwc25ox1rnua94o1_500.gif

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:02 | 5957232 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

 Can't that asshole cocksucker Bernanke print water? Fuck You Ben                                                                      

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:56 | 5957206 malek
malek's picture

Zero.
They will build desalination plants using vast amounts of natural gas.

(And few years later they will demand other states running electricity generation using coal to pay them an equalization because CA produces so much less CO2. But the other states don't do energy-intensive desalination you ask? What has that to do with it, will be the answer.)

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:08 | 5957255 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

The hell they will. The plants would block the NIMBY's views of the Pacific. And why? So pasty-faced Okies who work for a living and believe  in God can afford to keep clogging the freeways with cars and Sacramento with Republicans?

What will happen is that the rich will get to keep their perfect lawns and organic almond milk, and tell the poor whites to learn to live with water rationing or astronomical bills (or both) or go back to Oklahoma and stay there.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:47 | 5957371 Buster Cherry
Buster Cherry's picture

I'd rather be in Oklahoma any day.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:09 | 5957453 cossack55
cossack55's picture

I'm pretty sure that OK has more earthquakes now than CA.  Another benefit of fracking.  Been to Medford lately.

 

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:57 | 5957208 Senseless Urina...
Senseless Urinal Cake's picture

Just confirmed the truck for the end of the month, I'm out of the East Bay heading back East over the Rockies. 

So only 4,999,999 more to go.  FUCK YOU  BAY AREA and your delusional thinking.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:04 | 5957242 sleigher
sleigher's picture

I did exactly that 4 years ago or so...  Haven't looked back or missed it once.  I hope it is the same for you.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:57 | 5957209 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

As long as rich parasites can keep their golf courses and organic almond milk, precisely nothing will be done. Standing in line for a water ration because rich NIMBYs refuse to allow the building of adequate deslination plants (they'd ruin the views of the Pacific from the NIMBY 's dream homes) will be a prole problem.

Our masters never get serious about dealing with a problem affecting proles, if they ever do until it starts affecting them personally. By then it's usually beyond fixing. 

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:04 | 5957427 e_goldstein
e_goldstein's picture

Desal is only the first step.

Next you have to figure out how to get the radiation out of the water.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:10 | 5957460 cossack55
cossack55's picture

At least they can ship the salt to the salt flats, lead trailers, of course.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 17:58 | 5957212 Oldballplayer
Oldballplayer's picture

I dont care where they go.  Its too cold for them to come here.

Too bad, I still have six inches of snow on my lawn.  No shortage here this summer.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:00 | 5957221 exartizo
exartizo's picture

lots of them will come to Texas.

lots of them will go to Arizona and New Mexico.

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 19:10 | 5957456 More Ammo
More Ammo's picture

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Or HELL NO! Too many psycho libs here now!

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:01 | 5957226 Jim in MN
Jim in MN's picture

 

 

What did one Californian say to the other Californian?

 

"Come, let us raisin together."

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:08 | 5957244 Somethingrottei...
Somethingrotteindenmark's picture

They are coming to Florida in droves, Warm Weather, no State income tax and homes that cost 75% less. Fukushima has to also be one of the reasons people are leaving, with the Pacific Ocean glowing!!

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 18:09 | 5957262 cigarEngineer
cigarEngineer's picture

98% of jobs in Florida top out at about $100k/yr. I'm serious. Even NASA engineers of 16 years make about that much.

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