This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

The Greatest Water Crisis In The History Of The United States

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

What are we going to do once all the water is gone?  Thanks to the worst drought in more than 1,000 years, the western third of the country is facing the greatest water crisis that the United States has ever seen.  Lake Mead is now the lowest that it has ever been since the Hoover Dam was finished in the 1930s, mandatory water restrictions have already been implemented in the state of California, and there are already widespread reports of people stealing water in some of the worst hit areas.  But this is just the beginning.

Right now, in a desperate attempt to maintain somewhat “normal” levels of activity, water is being pumped out of the ground in the western half of the nation at an absolutely staggering pace.  Once that irreplaceable groundwater is gone, that is when the real crisis will begin.  If this multi-year drought stretches on and becomes the “megadrought” that a lot of scientists are now warning about, life as we know it in much of the country is going to be fundamentally transformed and millions of Americans may be forced to find somewhere else to live.

Simply put, this is not a normal drought.  What the western half of the nation is experiencing right now is highly unusual.  In fact, scientists tell us that California has not seen anything quite like this in at least 1,200 years

Analyzing tree rings that date back to 800 A.D. — a time when Vikings were marauding Europe and the Chinese were inventing gunpowder — there is no three-year period when California’s rainfall has been as low and its temperatures as hot as they have been from 2012 to 2014, the researchers found.

Much of the state of California was once a desert, and much of it is now turning back into a desert The same thing can also be said about much of Arizona and much of Nevada.  We never really should have built massive, sprawling cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix in the middle of the desert.  But the 20th century was the wettest century for western North America in about 1,000 years, and we got lulled into a false sense of security.

At this point, the water level in Lake Mead has hit a brand new record low, and authorities are warning that official water rationing could soon begin for both Arizona and Nevada…

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US, has hit its lowest level ever. Feeding California, Nevada and Arizona, it can hold a mind-boggling 35 cubic kilometres of water. But it has been many years since it was at capacity, and the situation is only getting worse.

 

“We’re only at 38 percent full. Lake Mead hasn’t been this low since we were filling it in the 1930s,” said a spokeswoman for the US Bureau of Reclamation in Las Vegas.

 

If it gets much lower – and with summer approaching and a dwindling snowpack available to replenish it, that looks likely – official rationing will begin for Arizona and Nevada.

And did you know that the once mighty Colorado River no longer even reaches the ocean?  Over 40 million people depend upon this one river, and because the Colorado is slowly dying an enormous amount of water is being pumped out of the ground in a crazed attempt to carry on with business as usual

The Colorado River currently supplies water to more than 40 million people from Denver to Los Angeles (as well as Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe—none of which lie directly on the river). According to one recent study, 16 million jobs and $1.4 trillion in annual economic activity across the West depend on the Colorado. As the river dries up, farmers and cities have turned to pumping groundwater. In just the last 10 years, the Colorado Basin has lost 15.6 cubic miles of subsurface freshwater, an amount researchers called “shocking.” Once an official shortage is declared, Arizona farmers will increase their rate of pumping even further, to blunt the effect of an anticipated sharp cutback.

The same kind of thing is going on in the middle part of the country.  Farmers are pumping water out of the rapidly shrinking Ogallala Aquifer so fast that a major crisis in the years ahead is virtually guaranteed

Farther east, the Ogallala Aquifer under the High Plains is also shrinking because of too much demand. When the Dust Bowl overtook the Great Plains in the 1930s, the Ogallala had been discovered only recently, and for the most part it wasn’t tapped then to help ease the drought. But large-scale center-pivot irrigation transformed crop production on the plains after World War II, allowing water-thirsty crops like corn and alfalfa for feeding livestock.

 

But severe drought threatens the southern plains again, and water is being unsustainably drawn from the southern Ogallala Aquifer. The northern Ogallala, found near the surface in Nebraska, is replenished by surface runoff from rivers originating in the Rockies. But farther south in Texas and New Mexico, water lies hundreds of feet below the surface, and does not recharge. Sandra Postel wrote here last month that the Ogallala Aquifer water level in the Texas Panhandle has dropped by up to 15 feet in the past decade, with more than three-quarters of that loss having come during the drought of the past five years. A recent Kansas State University study said that if farmers in Kansas keep irrigating at present rates, 69 percent of the Ogallala Aquifer will be gone in 50 years.

At one time, most of us took water completely for granted.

But now that it is becoming “the new oil”, people are starting to look at water much differently.  Sadly, this even includes thieves

With the state of California mired in its fourth year of drought and a mandatory 25 percent reduction in water usage in place, reports of water theft have become common.

 

In April, The Associated Press reported that huge amounts of water went missing from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and a state investigation was launched.

 

The delta is a vital body of water, serving 23 million Californians as well as millions of farm acres, according to the Association for California Water Agencies.

 

The AP reported in February that a number of homeowners in Modesto, California, were fined $1,500 for allegedly taking water from a canal. In another instance, thieves in the town of North San Juan stole hundreds of gallons of water from a fire department tank.

In case you are wondering, of course this emerging water crisis is going to deeply affect our food supply.  More than 40 percent of all our fruits and vegetables are grown in the state of California, so this drought is going to end up hitting all of us in the wallet one way or another.

And this water crisis is not the only major threat that our food supply is facing at the moment.  A horrific outbreak of the bird flu has already killed more than 20 million turkeys and chickens, and the price of eggs has already gone up substantially

The cost of a carton of large eggs in the Midwest has jumped nearly 17 percent to $1.39 a dozen from $1.19 since mid-April when the virus began appearing in Iowa’s chicken flocks and farmers culled their flocks to contain any spread.

 

A much bigger increase has emerged in the eggs used as ingredients in processed products like cake mix and mayonnaise, which account for the majority of what Iowa produces. Those eggs have jumped 63 percent to $1.03 a dozen from 63 cents in the last three weeks, said Rick Brown, senior vice president of Urner Barry, a commodity market analysis firm.

Most of us are accustomed to thinking of the United States as a land of seemingly endless resources, but now we are really starting to bump up against some of our limitations.

Despite all of our technology, the truth is that we are still exceedingly dependent on the weather patterns that produce rain and snow for us.

For years, I have been warning that Dust Bowl conditions would be returning to the western half of the country, and thanks to this multi-year drought we can now see it slowly happening all around us.

And if this drought continues to stretch on, things are going to get worse than this.

Much worse.

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:09 | 6095882 PoasterToaster
PoasterToaster's picture

When Californians move to other states they usually bring their shitty laws and attitudes with them.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:20 | 6095901 Ginsengbull
Ginsengbull's picture

Let's build a wall around Cali, to keep them in, like a penal colony or something.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 01:31 | 6096107 Ofelas
Ofelas's picture

Down the ditches for a thousand years
The water grew Ira's peoples' crops
'Till the white man stole the water rights
And the sparklin' water stopped

Now Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed

[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 01:33 | 6096112 The Wedge
The Wedge's picture

They can always move west.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:05 | 6095868 Barley Burnside
Barley Burnside's picture

A gradual temperature rise due to greenhouse gases cannot by any stretch of the imagination match the scale of these post-fukashima weather events. The avoidance of any mention, much less research, into radiation effects on weather, is leaving North American communities unprepared and defenseless against the lethal onslaught, which has probably already doomed many marine and coastal species while contaminating the food supply for the human population.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:06 | 6095871 bigrooster
bigrooster's picture

Learn how to farm motherfuckers!  For those of you who can't, and have no other practical skills except collecting an EBT payment each month I welcome you demise.  

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:14 | 6095894 tarabel
tarabel's picture

 

 

A great substitute for EBT would be forty acres and a mule.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:35 | 6095927 Ginsengbull
Ginsengbull's picture

In some far-away country.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:44 | 6095964 Buster Cherry
Buster Cherry's picture

It was actually the first EBT circa 1865 for the coloreds that Lincoln emancipated when we lost the war.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:08 | 6095877 PoasterToaster
PoasterToaster's picture

Anytime there is a shortage, you can point straight to "government". 

This artificial crises is entirely the fault of the central control freaks.  There is no drought.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:11 | 6095886 tarabel
tarabel's picture

 

Once the water is gone?

Where do they think it went? The Earth is essentially a closed hydro system. The fact that it isn't falling on the Sierra Nevada does not mean it got shipped to Mars. It's just falling somewhere else on the planet. Plus, wells are recycling water that was effectively taken out of general circulation millions of years ago and are thus increasing the available supply at the surface.

Every state in the West has been visited by the circulating drought over the past ten or fifteen years. It is just now lifting in Colorado and is obviously settling down on California for a while. Then it will rotate over to another region, just watch.

These guys suggest that the Colorado River is "dying". No, it isn't. It produces a reasonably fixed amount of runoff every year. If too many hands dip into the bowl, there is nothing left to reach the Gulf of California. I don't really understand why Caifornia and Arizona get such a large share of its water anyhow, since they contribute practically nothing to its flow. Does Colorado or Nevada get a cut of the San Joaquin?

California profits immensely due to its geographic location on the Pacific coast and doesn't share any of this bounty with other states. Why should others suffer water shortages and restrictions from the snowpack that fell on their own blessed geographic location in order to maintain the selfish and greedy Californians?

 

 

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:49 | 6095971 KashNCarry
KashNCarry's picture
'Raise the River vs. Move the Ocean. Full Story.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oySDfoHuIP4

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:12 | 6095888 Ginsengbull
Ginsengbull's picture

Fuck California, and all the liberal scumbags that reside there.

 

They can drink the water that they wring from migrant workers socks, and sweaty underwear.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:33 | 6095922 Ginsengbull
Ginsengbull's picture

Every time I flip through the TV channels.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:27 | 6095911 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Maybe I'm a Cynic, but we will

- Screw on land or in outer-space
- Raise Crops on Land or in Hydroponics
- Pay out the ass for Food, and Domestic Products
- Pay out the ass for Insurance, Banking, and Credit
- Get Zero Interest on Savings or Safe Investments

"What are we going to do once all the water is gone?"

- Support family members that are obnoxious, unwanted, crude, loud, and uncouth

- Support Immediate Family even if they make no efforts to get educated, find jobs, start a business, or learn how to take care of themselves

- Try to avoid being Shot or Stabbed by Family members that are frustrated by life

- Use No Contact Judges Orders to stay safe from Family members...

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:40 | 6095943 Buster Cherry
Buster Cherry's picture

I'll help my blood family as best I can, and I'll help others I choose to.

Those others I choose will be natural born Americans and one Brit from Sheffield.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:31 | 6095919 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Wait until it starts raining unicorns, the liberals will be crying about the mudslides. 

http://www.weather.com/news/news/camarillo-springs-ventura-county-mudslide

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:33 | 6095921 foghorn leghorn
foghorn leghorn's picture

I've said it a million times and I'll say it again. If clouds can't form in the upper atmosphere because of solar energy arrays heating up the upper atmosphere. Then they will form some place else. At least for a little while.

California’s new solar power plant is actually a death ray that’s incinerating birds mid-flight

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/188328-californias-new-solar-power-pl...

So where will the clouds form if not in the upper atmosphere?

WATCH: Time-lapse video taken over two years captures San Francisco fog washing over bay

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/watch-time-lapse-video-captures...

This can't go on forever so soon even the fog will disappear. Hopefully in the future our descendents will realize what caused the drought and come up with ways to prevent the government from interfering with the free market.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:37 | 6095933 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

The law of unintended consequences at work.

But we were told that "green" energy is good for the environment, right?

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:48 | 6095958 foghorn leghorn
foghorn leghorn's picture

Its funny that the very thing that is supposed to help the environment is actually hurting it a lot more. So what do they want to do about all of this? Increase what they are currently doing wrong, unbelievable.

http://grist.org/climate-energy/the-bright-side-of-californias-drought-m...

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:57 | 6095980 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

To find out why, simply ask: Cui bono, Who Benefits?

The Billionaire and Trillionaire Globalists - through their hoarded wealth, they control the global financial systems, governments (and hence military), corporations, Big Energy, Big Ag, Big Pharma, legal systems, education, entertainment and media.

They are insulated from all laws, and so they practice bribery, extortion, murder, theft and every other crime with absolute impunity.

They have set up the UN, Bilberbergers, CFR, Tri-Lateral Commision, Club of Rome, BIS, FED, etc, in order to secretly plan and carry out their objectives.

The financial system is their Kingmaker, and these are the Neo-feudal Kings:

The corrupt BILLIONAIRE and TRILLIONAIRE GLOBALISTS.

The buck stops with these individuals- they are the Apex of the Pyramid.

We live in a world of, by, and for the Globalists, with corruption at the highest levels - anything for a buck.

That's who benefits.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:00 | 6095991 foghorn leghorn
foghorn leghorn's picture

This is precisely why I keep posting against them and their cabal. Oh  they censor me all the time but I just find another place to post on.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 02:44 | 6096173 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

You are making this up.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 01:54 | 6096139 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Eh, how are solar arrays heating up the atmosphere?

Solar arrays are mirror arrays. Mirrors that concentrate sunlight on a central tower, heating it. The tower heats up and "heats the air" but so would have the ground without a bunch of mirrors on top of it.

I think you are making this up, or not backing it up, or your evidence depends on specific factors such as the emmisivity of the ground around the solar plants and were some of those factors different, the result could as well be the opposite and the solar plants are actually cooling the sky by preventing the ground under the mirrors from heating up!

Mentioning the factoid of some birds getting fried around the towers is suspicious as well, like you are not buying your own arguments and added some dead birds trying to suggest some sort of "fire and brimstone" imagery to short circuit Zerohedge's born again christian remaining logical brain zones?

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:35 | 6095929 TradingTroll
TradingTroll's picture

I'm getting so tired of hearing about this man made catastrophe.

 

Does noone have a brain? Does noone travel? Does noone research.

A city of 1.7m people supplies its metropolitan populace with this water:

Perth Seawater Desalination Plant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Seawater_Desalination_Plant

 

But, despite all those billionaires in the US (Buffet, Gates, Ellison) noone cares to look into this?

 

And the Saudis are one-upping Perth with a solar powered plant:

http://cleantechnica.com/2015/01/22/worlds-largest-solar-powered-desalin...

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:37 | 6095932 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

We can overnight a dog bowl of water to Kalifornia serfs from the east coast of United States of America. 

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:40 | 6095946 CuriousPasserby
CuriousPasserby's picture

One word: DESALINATION.

The Earth is covered with water.

Humanity is a bunch of idiots!

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:48 | 6095970 the grateful un...
the grateful unemployed's picture

smart phones, stupid water

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:04 | 6095996 Government need...
Government needs you to pay taxes's picture

Desal has something for everyone.  .Gov control, jobs for morons, budget for graft, and TAXES galore.  I'm shocked they didnt do that when they were building high speed rail and bridges to nowhere. 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:50 | 6096056 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

You might be on to something. Using apple pay, the apple watch can transform perspiration into spring water. $0.99 a teardrop dose. The first 100 callers will receive 10 free hours to access your icloud personal directory. 

 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 04:13 | 6096240 DutchBoy2015
DutchBoy2015's picture

So will desalinzation take the radioactivity out of Pacific water?  Fukushima is just getting started.  Not reported much.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:49 | 6095969 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Another thought, place your mouth on the tailpipe of a Toyota Prius. The Government EPA states that all electric cars meet emission standards by dissapating water vapors. Suck on a tailpipe collective water imbeciles. You're simply broke, looking for another handout. 

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:56 | 6095979 lasvegaspersona
lasvegaspersona's picture

So Bernacke printed the annual production of the Colorado River basin in just over a year...wow.

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:59 | 6095986 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Bernanke pencil whipped a new derivative contract via keyboard entry. 

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 23:57 | 6095981 Lolitsa
Lolitsa's picture

I have to admit I really like living in So. Cal. due to the weather and region in general but with this draught noise, I'm thankful I don't have a big fat mortgage on a crap shack built on a postage stamp sized lot in a meh neighborhood. I'm already looking for property in the Great Lakes Region. THAT is the place to be.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:04 | 6095995 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Head over to SW Florida or the Atlantic Ocean shores of South Carolina. Both locations are awesome. FYI 

 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 07:48 | 6096471 dougie
dougie's picture

Well, except for that rising ocean level thingie.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 06:45 | 6096374 Moe Howard
Moe Howard's picture

I recommend South Side Chicago or Gary Indiana. Plenty of water.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:02 | 6095994 Government need...
Government needs you to pay taxes's picture

The 'we are all California' theme is utter BS.  Other states grow fruits and vegetables.  Those other states can grow more, as can Latin America.  With all the tax inefficiencies and .gov nonesense in CA, it might actually be cheaper to the end-user once the substitution takes place.  Now, people who buy those fruits and nuts subsidize ALL of Governor Moonbeam's wetdreams.  Like CA-healthcare and all those delightful environmental regulations.  I'm getting longer E Coast agricultural land. In my area, there are no fewer than 6 stratified underground aquifers, including the Floridan.  That, plus 50 inches of rain per year and warm sun, has grown rice really well for 150 years.  Ironic that CA will go out via a combination of 'global warming,' Japanese radiation, and Chinese coal dust.  Couldn't happen to a more appropriate group of people.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:07 | 6096000 jmc8888
jmc8888's picture

We never really should have built massive, sprawling cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix in the middle of the desert. 

Bullshit.

It's called water management.  You build these places, you need it.

What's happened is we don't have water management, like ALOT OF THINGS IN THIS COUNTRY THAT WE USED TO DO THAT WE GAVE UP DOING.

We are not animals.  We have minds and can EASILY overcome these obstacles.  Except, the ease of it, is exponentially getting harder since the day of reckoning caused from our abandoing our American ideals and what we used to do, arrives.

The answer isn't.... being at the whim of nature, the answer is, using our minds to overcome nature.

 

We did that last century.  But we refuse to do it this century.

 

We will suffer until we get a clue, and the clue isn't... 'we shouldn't have cities there'.

 

What an anti-American perspective....let's take our ball and go home approach.  What fucking morons. 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:23 | 6096026 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Ask the Kenyan White House monkey to release the TPP report. A little comedy to show you why his global program will fail. My wife is Asian, she cannot stand India people. I won't even tell you her foul mouth expletive language. Russell Peters sums it up. Enjoy 

 

Jew vs Indian, Why Chinese can't do business with Indian. Russell Peters

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k2W8aGgmn1A

Russell is a great comedian. Keep up the great work. :) 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 02:36 | 6096166 basho
basho's picture

"We are not animals."

true, an animal has more sense.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:21 | 6096023 Quantum Nucleonics
Quantum Nucleonics's picture

This article is more than a bit hyperbolic and alarmist, i.e. total bullshit.  Yea, it's a drought, that's why they call it a desert.  There have been far, far drier periods than currently in the last 1000 years.  It was drier through most of the 14th and 15th and 19th centuries.  It was far, far drier throughout the 11 and 12th centuries.

Ground water is not "irreplaceable", it gets replenished over time - though it is being drawn down faster than its replaced.

Sure, it's a problem because you've got 40 million people living in a desert and they have not spent any money on infrastructure in decades.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:35 | 6096043 Savyindallas
Savyindallas's picture

we can't spend on infrastructure. We have more wars to fight. Once we have defeated terrorism by destroying much of the world-to make the world safe for Israel, then we can worry about these temporary domestic problems. Americans are a tough , resilient people. We can do without water. Keep investing in the stock market and you can buy all the bottled water you want. If you have no money to invest in the market -drink less and take fewer baths. And try not to sweat so much -it smells. 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 01:17 | 6096093 The Wedge
The Wedge's picture

Who's California going to war with?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:32 | 6096587 hootowl
hootowl's picture

We can't spend money on our own infrastructure.  Ovomit and Killary need hundreds of millions of our taxdollars to rebuild disintegrating mosques in the ME.......Not to mention the 50 Billion dollars Ovomit wants to pay the Iranian muscum to sign his phony weapons agreement.

We brought this insane horror upon ourselves.  We are no longer capable of self-governance.  There are too many human parasites among us.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:36 | 6096045 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Tell us how you really feel. 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 02:35 | 6096165 basho
basho's picture

total BS LMAO.

your own comments give it validity LOL

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:32 | 6096036 IronForge
IronForge's picture

Guess we can all watch this for the sake of...

...Throw Back Thursday...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_Pirates

BTW, Mithras (alluded in the Film) was the predecessor to Christianity, with the VAT and most European Churches being built on top of one of their Temples.

Funny thing, Mithras.  Born from a Virgin, had 3 Wise Men bearing Gifts...

http://www.truthbeknown.com/mithra.htm

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:44 | 6096048 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

Nonsense. Mithras was NOT the "predecessor to Christianity."

"Many anti-Christian writers attempt to use Mithraism to discredit Christianity. While a non-Christian myself, I'm forced to take a hard look at the material I've posted on this website in the past and have come to the conclusion it's false. The claims don't add up, the evidence is lacking. They are little more than anti-Christian propaganda, which is not my purpose here. Let's take a hard look at what do know and don't know. What I present is my opinion based on the best evidence I can find":

http://www.sullivan-county.com/bush/travilocity1.htm

"In an effort to cast doubt on Christianity, skeptics will attempt to point out parallels between the beliefs and practices of Christians to those of the Roman cult of Mithras. In this article we will examine the most commonly encountered parallels and answer their claims":

http://www.strangenotions.com/exploding-mithras-myth/

"Back in the Roman era, Mithraism was perhaps Christianity's leading competitor for the hearts and minds of others. Today Mithraism is religiously a non-factor, but it still "competes" with Christianity, in another way: It is a leading candidate for the "pagan copycat" thesis crowd as a supposed source for Christianity":

http://www.tektonics.org/copycat/mithra.php

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 04:08 | 6096231 Joe A
Joe A's picture

"Many anti-Christian writers attempt to use Mithraism to discredit Christianity".

They really don't have to because Christianity is pretty good at discrediting itself. How many Christians actually live like Christ (if the figure really existed)? How many Christians love their neighbours like they love themselves? How many turn the other cheeck? How many live with the down trodden?

Christ said: "what you have done to the least of me, you have done to me". The believers that act truly in the name of Christ besided, most people who call themselves Christians do not live like Christ at all but think they have a ticket to the 'after life' over non-Christians just because they were baptised and go to church.

Religions, any religion, hardly ever practices what it preaches.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 06:02 | 6096331 Bazza McKenzie
Bazza McKenzie's picture

Don't know how many Christians live like Christ but there are an awful lot of Muslims trying to live like Mohammed -- murder, steal, rape, murder -- they're doing it all over.

They definitely are practicing what they preach.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:32 | 6096589 VisionQuest
VisionQuest's picture

A pivotal point in the Gospel narrative is the entire sixth chapter of John, particularly verse 44. http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jhn&c=6&t=NLT 

Anyone who receives an intimation of immortality should not look askance or seek explanation from others like themselves. The Father of us all is not looking for slaves, he is looking for friends. Jesus said as much: John 15:15. http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jhn&c=15&t=NLT#s=1012015

Wise up.

Here's what William Wordsworth had to say about immortality:
http://www.bartleby.com/101/536.html

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:50 | 6096060 bluez
bluez's picture

Well anyhow, being New Englanders, we accepted the New Orleans Hurricane Katrina victems -- no sweat. California hipsters -- no way.
They can dry up and die.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 01:18 | 6096094 Bear
Bear's picture

More Katrina victims emigrated to California than any other state. It is interesting though how 'E Pluribus Unum' has morphed into everyone against someone else. Racial, economic, age, class, region, religion, you name it and someone will stand up and attack. I think we live in an age where 'otherism' has been promoted by almost every group of people and turning all of us against one another. When the TPTB can keep sufficient numbers of individuals in constant chaos and battle they become free to operate unfettered. 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 00:52 | 6096062 Mad Cow
Mad Cow's picture

Running out of water is one of the important "hells" to fear for the new climate religion.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 01:27 | 6096104 Ofelas
Ofelas's picture

What are we going to do once all the water is gone?

 

invade Canada, they have water, oil.....problem solved the usual way

 

signed Canadian Bacon

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 03:27 | 6096195 Aussiekiwi
Aussiekiwi's picture

Blame Canada!

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:23 | 6096560 hootowl
hootowl's picture

Damnable Canuck water hoarders.

Where is that Ovomit water pipeline when we need it.

Will importing Canuck water become a source of water pollution?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 01:44 | 6096106 Rusputin
Rusputin's picture

Well boys and girls you have nothing to drink but you sure do frack some black gold in them there parts :-)

http://www.cafrackfacts.org/fracking-in-california/where-is-fracking-occ...

About 50,000 active wells in 2013 and a decent oil output of 500,000 bbl per day, waay da go Californ-i-ay!

To frack a well head into production takes about 1 million gallons of water, so to get these babies on stream you've pushed 50 billion gallons of water down those holes to bring up that black nectar, that's water you can't drink again by the way. This process basically charges the well head ready for action.

http://www.waterworld.com/articles/wwi/print/volume-28/issue-5/regional-...

But there's much more... Each well head ejects 100,000 gallons per day of nasty wastewater, which has to be disposed of, usually down old wells and in ponds - best not drink or swim in there. But there's more... That's only 60% of the water you need to push down there, the other 40% 'gets lost'. So assuming you recycle the wastewater, you actually lose 40 ,000 gallons per day 'somewhere' plus the oil output a whopping...

Da, da, daaa... 10bbl per day of oil per well. Did you say TEN? Yes, 10bbl per day per well. What, you lose 40,000 gallons of water per day to get 10 barrels of oil out? Well, that is 419 US gallons of oil per day per well.

So with an average well 'life' of 150 days you need 6 million gallons of water per well, so add the 1 million gallons and you get 7 million gallons needed per well lifetime, times 50,000 wells, that's 350 billion gallons of water for 8.4 billion gallons of oil. The data says only 126 billion gallons of water was used and wasted in 2013 by the way, but we never believe the government so let's take the higher figure, about 1 billion gallons of water per day for fracking - that's the amount of water flowing over Niagra Falls in a period of 22 minutes or 1500 Olympic sized swimming pools per day.

Americans use 100 gallons of water per day, Europeans 50 and Africans 2 to 5. California has 39 million residents, that's 3.9 billion gallons per day. At about 1 billion gallons per day, fracking water per resident is 25 gallons per day.

OK Californians, you choose... Drinking oil or water?

P.S. Fracking can also pollute ground water and rivers, so that has to be taken into account, but that's a whole new ball game.

 

 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 03:26 | 6096194 Aussiekiwi
Aussiekiwi's picture

Thank you Rusputin, that was very enlightening information, thanks for taking the time..

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 09:18 | 6096761 Billy Sol Estes
Billy Sol Estes's picture

Thanks Matt Damon for some sensational nonsense.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 09:31 | 6096838 Rusputin
Rusputin's picture

Cheers Billy, I did laugh out loud at that - give the lady a drink etc, priceless... But you should have a look at the data :-) you might not be able to flush your toilet next year.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 10:10 | 6097005 gcjohns1971
gcjohns1971's picture

Americans use 100 gallons of water per day, Europeans 50 and Africans 2 to 5.

Such statistics are non-sense, usually made up for a political speech, and then endlessly repeated as though they were the object of research.

I am not pumping 100 gallons out of my well daily.

That's nuts.

And even if I were... It is going into the sceptic drainfield just a few dozen feet away from the well, from where it will return to the aquifer.

Would you like to play the 'Destroy The Water Challenge'?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 13:15 | 6097827 Matt
Matt's picture

Water usage includes the water that goes into growing your food, providing your energy, etc. Contaminated water is not clean water. Pumping water takes energy.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 01:51 | 6096136 Dre4dwolf
Dre4dwolf's picture

Step 1

Salt Water

Step 2

Desalinate

 

 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 04:11 | 6096239 DutchBoy2015
DutchBoy2015's picture

So will desalinzation take the radioactivity out of Pacific water?  Fukushima is just getting started.  Not reported much.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 02:05 | 6096145 henry chucho
henry chucho's picture

You could overlay a graph of the hordes of illegal Mexicans streaming across our southern border (on their route from So Cal to Southern Oregon),with the U.S. drought monitor,and you would have an exact match..

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 10:29 | 6097104 Zymurguy
Zymurguy's picture

We won't be calling them wetbacks for long now will we?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 02:32 | 6096164 basho
basho's picture

"We never really should have built massive, sprawling cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix in the middle of the desert. "

yeah, mea culpa you greedy bastar*s

"But the 20th century was the wettest century for western North America in about 1,000 years, and we got lulled into a false sense of security."

what a BS line this is "false sense of security"

nobody looking at tree rings in the 20th century. nobody realizing that things go in cycles.

FU

tic toc

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 02:43 | 6096172 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

No one forced anyone to move to Las Vegas.

If the southwest dries for good, people will simply move. Or water will become so expensive that only those moderately wealthy will live there.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 03:22 | 6096188 Aussiekiwi
Aussiekiwi's picture

true, but the poker was good, what you gonna do.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 03:45 | 6096211 SmittyinLA
SmittyinLA's picture

What are we going to do once all the water is gone?

Tax ocean water of course http://news.yahoo.com/california-considers-rules-making-seawater-drinkab...

those looters socialists in C A move fast

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 04:10 | 6096236 DutchBoy2015
DutchBoy2015's picture

So will desalinzation take the radioactivity out of Pacific water?  Fukushima is just getting started.  Not reported much.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:38 | 6096608 Hope Copy
Hope Copy's picture

Ya.. the radio ctive element by inlarge would be removed as most would be the size of the chlirine and Sodium adoms that where being removed.. Now it is the type of desalinization that does the removal that would be the dependent factor. 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 03:50 | 6096215 Peter Pan
Peter Pan's picture

What's the fuss? One of India's prime ministers used to drink a litre of his own urine every day.

This should nicely complement the shit the American people are fed by their politicians on a daily basis.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:03 | 6096499 Jack4952
Jack4952's picture

Reply to PETER PAN:

Normal urine contains a high concentration of sodium. Thus, drinking urine would be equivalent to drinking sea water: it will raise the concentration of sodium in your blood and KILL YOU.

The ONLY way a person could drink his own urine and survive if IF that person drank a HUGE VOLUME of FRESH WATER an hour or two ahead of time. This fresh water would decrease the sodium concentration (osmolality) in the blood, which would cause the pituitary gland (lower part of brain) to decrease its output of ADH (anti-diuretic hormone). This lowered level of ADH in the blood would cause the kidneys to release more water into the urine (with a much lower sodium concentration than in normal blood). In essence, the urine released would be so DILUTED (contain so little sodium) that it would be safe to drink. (This diluted urine would also be nearly colorless.)

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 09:01 | 6096681 Mike Honcho
Mike Honcho's picture

Most bizzare comment ever.  Why are you so versed on urine consumption?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 10:05 | 6096995 IndianaJohn
IndianaJohn's picture

Indicates that Gandy was a freak of nature.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 19:12 | 6099113 silverer
silverer's picture

I read it helps control dandruff.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 04:37 | 6096268 fiftybagger
fiftybagger's picture

17 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? 18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.

40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. 41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

1 Kings 18 King James Bible

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 05:42 | 6096314 pff136
pff136's picture

I teach my daughter at home. We use older history/social studies textbooks so as not to deal with all the propaganda. One was talking about early American history and when the Spaniards settled California. It specifically talked about how dry the state was and how they were able to reroute water into the inner part. Back in the 1980s/90s thereabouts, the environmentalists were "yelling" about the smelt fish being endangered because of how the way water was coming in. They won the fight but I don't remember what year and the water was rerouted back out to the ocean. This was done not too long ago, maybe in the last decade? Anyone here from California might know all the details. Is it not possible that these decisions to reroute the water to save a fish might be why the drought has gotten so bad? We also know how rich the state is in resources (like one of the top 5 economies in the world). I've heard of atmosphere seeding but don't know a lot about it. Knowing what we know about this country owing a lot of money to countries like China, I wouldn't put it past a govt to force people off land to provide resources to another country. May sound far-fetched but one has to wonder.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 06:21 | 6096348 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Don't know about that environmental bullshit. However, someone here will support the facts. I grew up on well water and a water softner unit. We always had to buy 50 pound bags of salt. The morning showers were unreal. City water sucks. Drill a water well. Experience a water softner bath or shower. 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 10:00 | 6096979 IndianaJohn
IndianaJohn's picture

My hard as nails well water, LaPorte Co. IN, is fine drinking water and makes great beers. No softeners for me. The livestock though, prefer rain water, which is naturally soft. I lived in Chicago for decades. Now I am happy that there are no dead men in my well. No chlorine or flouride either. Prosit!

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 19:11 | 6099112 silverer
silverer's picture

Hard water is good for you.  Builds your blood.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 05:44 | 6096316 B2u
B2u's picture

Let's give the southwest back to Mexico....

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 05:50 | 6096325 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

According to the US media, President Obama can walk on bottled water crates. They refer to him as the messiah.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 05:58 | 6096329 Raoul_Luke
Raoul_Luke's picture

Hallaluja!  It is the mother of all broken windows!  Our economy is saved!  Praise be to Lord Keynes!!!

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 06:13 | 6096340 imaginalis
imaginalis's picture

Lay the Keystone pipeline from Canada to LA and pump water instead of shale oil.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 07:04 | 6096399 Unstable Condition
Unstable Condition's picture

....and of course, our beloved "leaders" will fall back on this, as usual.

 

The Seven Rules of Bureaucracy

Rule #1: Maintain the problem at all costs! The problem is the basis of power, perks, privileges, and security.
Rule #2: Use crisis and perceived crisis to increase your power and control.
Rule #3: If there are not enough crises, manufacture them, even from nature, where none exist.
Rule #4: Control the flow and release of information while feigning openness.
Rule #5: Maximize public-relations exposure by creating a cover story that appeals to the universal need to help people.
Rule #6: Create vested support groups by distributing concentrated benefits and/or entitlements to these special interests, while distributing the costs broadly to one’s political opponents.
Rule #7: Demonize the truth tellers who have the temerity to say, “The emperor has no clothes.”

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:14 | 6096503 hootowl
hootowl's picture

Unstable;

Most of what you say is true, but that doesn't mean that we aren't facing a real water crisis.

The Ogalalla Aquifer isn't replenishing because all the plains and midwestern rivers have been levied and channel water, and floodwaters, that used to build the fertile bottom lands and replenish the Aquifer, all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico where chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and other petroleum pollution from corporate farms and chemical companies throughout the American Heartland have created a "Dead Zone" of thousands of square miles and is increasing every day.

The topsoil in the American Heartland that is necessary to support our robust food crops is only about one-third of what it was just a hundred years ago and is being rapidly depleted year by year.  Short-sighted, incompetent land usage and river management by university/urban/government/narrow-minded/cloistered "perceived" savants, government "Army Engineers", and industrial/corporate farming interests are setting us up for a mighty collapse in our potable water and consumable food supply.  Greed, of course, and its attendant political power, are at the root of this insidious national suicide.

We export much of our food, and blithely burn up our crops in our vehicles, while destroying the very eco-system that is the source of our produce.  The vast majority of us don't even realize that we are destroying ourselves.  We have yet to perceive who our real enemiy is, because it is us.  What will you tell your grandchildren when they ask what were you doing when all this was going on right under your nose.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 07:04 | 6096400 Your guess is a...
Your guess is as good as mine's picture

Solar-powered water purifiers. 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 07:16 | 6096414 overmedicatedun...
overmedicatedundersexed's picture

the Roman's had a water distribution system that carried water to it's cities - some of it sill standing 1000 yrs later..seems they had more advanced engineers than today, or more practical pols running things...there is not a water problem there is a lack of true leadership.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 09:02 | 6096684 Billy Sol Estes
Billy Sol Estes's picture

You couldn't be more wrong. The LA Basin is already pumping water in from other parts of the state, are you suggesting they should just do it more efficiently?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 07:51 | 6096476 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

Some of the gals that hangout on the beach can come live with me.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:17 | 6096543 RougeUnderwriter
RougeUnderwriter's picture

El Nino year this year dude - you'll get more water than you can deal with shortly

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:19 | 6096546 Comte d'herblay
Comte d'herblay's picture

Update:

When the H2O is kaput, switch to "Angry Orchard Cider".

L.A is now flooding.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:20 | 6096552 bamboojay
bamboojay's picture

Let them eat bottle water.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:22 | 6096557 OutaTime43
OutaTime43's picture

We have around 4 to 5 billion more humans than the earth can sustain without fossil fuels.  Once the oil begins to deplete , the population will follow. Add that to the fact that our soil is even more dependent on hydrocarbon energy to maintain its fertility and it adds to the problem.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:31 | 6096585 Hope Copy
Hope Copy's picture

pay them to go sterile..  it bis only 'funny money' anyway

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 08:52 | 6096650 VisionQuest
VisionQuest's picture

There isn't much talk, ever, about the accelerated movement of the earth's magnetic north pole. Wouldn't such an alteration affect weather patterns? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/adjust-your-compass-now-the-no...

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 09:53 | 6096945 gcjohns1971
gcjohns1971's picture

In the US South West there was a huge continental plate lifting many thousands of years ago.

Rather than just pushing up mountains - which it also did - it created a gargantuan plain at high altitude.

Literally former sea-level flat land was pushed over a kilometer into the sky.

The entire plate was raised, water table, aquifers and all.  But the raising left the aquifer isolated. 

And for thousands of years now...that one-time low plain -now high plain- has been becoming drier and drier.

The reason it is becoming drier is simple.

The open aquifers are cutting deeper and deeper into the rock, leaving the water further and further from the surface.

The closed aquifers are being drained by wells and pumping.

The Southwest United States was lush and heavily vegitated 1000 years ago.   It was still vegitated 150 years ago, with many visible surface rivers even in desert areas.

Much less now.

In the future it will be even more arid.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 09:00 | 6096680 Billy Sol Estes
Billy Sol Estes's picture

You live in a desert, there was no water to begin with. Live with it.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 19:08 | 6099104 silverer
silverer's picture

Dust on a hard roll, anyone?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 09:32 | 6096836 gcjohns1971
gcjohns1971's picture

I challenge one and all to a little game.

 

It is called 'destroy the water'.

I give you a cup of water, and you try to destroy the water. 

DESTROY THE WATER.  I do not mean evaporate the water...because evaporated water is still water.

I do not mean pour out the water...because water in the ground is still water.

I mean DESTROY the water...make it into something that is not water such that it will not immediately reform into water.

I don't believe there is any way to do that without keeping the components (hydrogen and oxygen) separated in containers.

You see, even with electrolysis - splitting it into component atoms of Hydrogen and Oxygen - as soon as the hydrogen is free it will react with the Oxygen in our air and soil to re-form into water.

So.

If you can't destroy water in any even semi-permanent way....

 

...they how is it physically possible for the water to be 'gone' rather than simply relocated?

 

ERGO...

It is not about temporary weather, nor long term geographical trends.

It is about control.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 09:57 | 6096947 withglee
withglee's picture

What are we going to do once all the water is gone?

We have these enormous bodies of water called oceans and seas. There is enough volume in them to sustain all living organisms forever. We now have this ogre called global warming or climate change which supposedly raised the temperature a degree or two. This is working to our advantage. It evaporates the surface of these enormous stores of water more quickly than before global warming. That water vapor rises and condenses on debris in the air called dust and pollution. We are supposedly creating this in greater amounts as well. Plus, we are melting ice which is causing this water surface area to increase as well. Everything we are doing is leading to "more" water.

So the problem is not one of running out of water. The problem is getting the water to where we choose to use it. Rain forests seem to attract water (i.e. that's where the planet chooses to use it). Further, they consume CO2 and produce O2. We like that too. So we need more rain forests (we used to call them jungles) and that means more trees and that means more CO2. It means using more plastic and less wood. And we need more pollution.

The solution is obvious ... more fossil fuels (which of course aren't fossil sourced at all ... but that's the current lore ... which if it were true, we'd need more dinosaurs.).


Fri, 05/15/2015 - 10:20 | 6097058 Zymurguy
Zymurguy's picture

I think we should all do our part to get moar water transported, pumped, piped out to CA.

After all, we don't want those fuckers coming back over the Rocky's.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 11:02 | 6097261 BlussMann
BlussMann's picture

Thank God our Liberal Democratic system of bought and paid for Zio politicians had the foresight to build hundreds of desalinsation plants up and down the Left Coast, instead of spending trillions on lunatic wars that accomplished nothing but death,misery and wealth for the American Zio Oligarchy ! A Fascist government probably would have built the plants but avoided the wars.

The USSA also needs another 200 million or so African immigrants to diversify the western desert -preferably Somalis.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 11:21 | 6097370 teutonicate
teutonicate's picture

And do you think any of the millions of illegal Mexican immigrants, let in courtesy of the cabal, are going to flush the toilet less often so that "Whitey" can hang on to California longer? Don't bet on it.

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 19:07 | 6099103 silverer
silverer's picture

Buy stock in camel breeders!

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 11:23 | 6097382 HedgeFun
HedgeFun's picture

Im going to short potato chip makers and anything else salty.

 

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 13:37 | 6097905 VangelV
VangelV's picture

Thanks to the worst drought in more than 1,000 years, the western third of the country is facing the greatest water crisis that the United States has ever seen. 

I guess nobody checks the facts any longer.  If you look at the acatual evidence you will find that California has suffered through megadroughts that have lasted for more than 100 years

http://tinyurl.com/mfdhtvf

Through studies of tree rings, sediment and other natural evidence, researchers have documented multiple droughts in California that lasted 10 or 20 years in a row during the past 1,000 years -- compared to the mere three-year duration of the current dry spell. The two most severe megadroughts make the Dust Bowl of the 1930s look tame: a 240-year-long drought that started in 850 and, 50 years after the conclusion of that one, another that stretched at least 180 years.


ref: http://tinyurl.com/no55jo8

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 19:06 | 6099100 silverer
silverer's picture

So this is the normal progression of things.  People who try to change and modify it or interfere in any way are guilty of an attack on the environment, and should be arrested immediately and serve long prison sentences.  So it is written.  So it shall be done.  Yee ha!

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!