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"We're Not All Equal When It Comes To Water" - Rich Californians Blast Conservation Efforts
Facing an epic drought of Dust Bowl proportions, California is, in AP’s words, “sparing fewer and fewer users in the push to cut back on water usage.” Earlier this week we reported that, for the first time in decades, the state is imposing mandatory cuts for senior water rights holders. “The order applies to farmers and others whose rights to water were staked more than a century ago,” AP noted, adding that “many farmers holding those senior-water rights contend the state has no authority to order cuts.”
This of course comes on the heels of an executive order from Governor Jerry Brown which went into effect on June 1 and calls for cities and municipalities to cut consumption by between 25% and 36%, cuts which, while feasible for the likes of Santa Rosa, which can afford to give away 50,000 low-flow toilets, are unrealistic for other, more fiscally challenged locales. And while some good samaritans are willing to sacrifice their lawns (albeit with the help of taxpayer subsidies) for the good of the state, other, more affluent Californians contend that while money may not be able to buy happiness, it should damn sure be able to buy water. The Washington Post has more:
Drought or no drought, Steve Yuhas resents the idea that it is somehow shameful to be a water hog. If you can pay for it, he argues, you should get your water.
People “should not be forced to live on property with brown lawns, golf on brown courses or apologize for wanting their gardens to be beautiful,” Yuhas fumed recently on social media. “We pay significant property taxes based on where we live,” he added in an interview. “And, no, we’re not all equal when it comes to water.”
Yuhas lives in the ultra-wealthy enclave of Rancho Santa Fe, a bucolic Southern California hamlet of ranches, gated communities and country clubs that guzzles five times more water per capita than the statewide average. In April, after Gov. Jerry Brown (D) called for a 25 percent reduction in water use, consumption in Rancho Santa Fe went up by 9 percent.
So far, the community’s 3,100 residents have not felt the wrath of the water police. Authorities have issued only three citations for violations of a first round of rather mild water restrictions announced last fall. In a place where the median income is $189,000, where PGA legend Phil Mickelson once requested a separate water meter for his chipping greens, where financier Ralph Whitworth last month paid the Rolling Stones $2 million to play at a local bar, the fine, at $100, was less than intimidating.
All that is about to change, however. Under the new rules, each household will be assigned an essential allotment for basic indoor needs. Any additional usage — sprinklers, fountains, swimming pools — must be slashed by nearly half for the district to meet state-mandated targets.
Residents who exceed their allotment could see their already sky-high water bills triple. And for ultra-wealthy customers undeterred by financial penalties, the district reserves the right to install flow restrictors — quarter-size disks that make it difficult to, say, shower and do a load of laundry at the same time.
In extreme cases, the district could shut off the tap altogether.
That’s right. Soon, residents of Rancho Santa Fe may be forced to stop watering their personal chipping greens or worse still, could find themselves standing in a brown fairway. And while some might argue that asking the community to cut back by 36% is reasonable, especially considering the hamlet uses 400% more water per capita than the state average, others, like resident Gay Butler (who enjoys trail rides on her show horse and whose water bill averages around $800/month according to WaPo) are outraged:
"What are we supposed to do, just have dirt around our house on four acres?"
(Gay Butler)
Here's a look at what's at stake should California decide to apply the same rules to rich people as they do to everyone else:
Before anyone loses sleep over what those scenic views would look like if everything that's green were to suddenly turn brown, rest assured that some wealthy Californians are prepared to take the fight to the bitter end to protect their lawns and fairways and on that note, we'll close with a quote from Yorba City's Brett Barbre who, when asked about the possibility that the state could compel him to put down his watering hose, said the following:
"They'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands."
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FUCK EM.
I used to drive by Rancho Sante Fe when I lived in San Diego to see what awesome cars would be on the road.
The neighborhood is locally infamous for the house where the Heaven's Gate cult committed mass suicide in anticipation of the comet Hale-Bopp.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_%28religious_group%29
More central planning. Great. It's worked so well for California so far.
Let the free market set the price of water in California. That'll wake these idiots up. It might even spur some private investment in desalination plants. Pay now, or pay later.
Ironically, Californians don't want dirt and want water, while the Chinese build islands of dirt to displace water
Che Loves Cowbell
Flush five million illegals.
Save the back nine!
Non story. The conservation measures being mandated in CA are too little too late in a state that has kicked the can down the road for years. Droughts are natural as part of the global climate. Water shortage could have been prevented or better managed if government wasn't too busy paying fat pensions, pushing the progressive agenda, and holding out their hands to the special interest groups. Tax payers have a right to be angry that they are now vilified by the same government that has been screwing them for years.
Maybe these grown brats should have spent some of their loot on desalination plants or R&D on new types of water collection. You know, stuff that would have actually benefited humanity, and made themselves look like heroes in the process. Instead they chose to piss it away on vanity and golf courses, and now they look like assholes for taking the last few gallons. Such a society is degenerate and due for the history books.
When the going gets tough...
Let them drink their own piss.
No sympathy here.
Were I living in the area in one of those nice places pictured, I would have already installed my own storage tank and had water trucked in from out of state, then written it off as a business expense.
Given this is the Land of Fruits and Nuts, such a strategy may be illegal and result in 20-life prison terms for defying TPTB.
There is only one question these Lame Brain Californians need to be asking....
WHERE IS THE DAMN PIPELINE??? (Haven't they had enough time to run one, surely?)
Welcome to fascist gov. / corporate profiteering 101, class is now in session....
We keep abanodoning the free market. Let them pay the true price of water, and it will either flow to them, or they will flow to it.
What is it about water that makes us go full retard with the socialism? In terms of consumption, transit, and ownership, it's all socialist. There should be no wonder at the current predicament. It is the only possible outcome when you don't allow the market to operate freely.
Commoditizing water is as asinine as it gets, the gov. could have pipelined the whole problem away, but they are instead seeking to capitalize on the shortage...
They are punishing the people & not silicon valley who is sucking it up by the millions of gallons...
Obviously this criminal corporatocracy is totally out of control....
Agriculture consumes 80% of California's water.
Almond production alone consumes more water than San Francisco and Los Angeles combined.
I like almonds
Who builds their house in the desert then is shocked when there is a drought and they have to stop watering their lawn?
Sea salted and covered in dark chocolate.
The soil in the central valley and the climate are tremendous assets from which a great deal of Americans benefit. Just add water and watch the area bloom.
Think of ancient Egypt and how the Egyptians were the breadbasket of the Mediterranean region. The Nile delta was far downstream from where the rain fell.
Dunno, but it would seem that it is easier to try to transport water to the central valley rather than transport the central valley to an area of heavy rainfall.
Just be careful with the resources.
We have a 10,000 gallon storage tank on our 10 acre property fed by our well. Our land is primarily covered with sage and manzanita, the native foliage. We water our garden, fruit trees and a small amount of drought tolerant landscape. No one has a lawn because we know our wells are rain water fed and therefore a waste of resources. This concept is not difficult to understand.
Rancho Santa Fe is 50 miles away from my house and I've seen custom made dog houses with their own personal Kentucky blue grass play areas. The only disappointment was the area didn't burn to the ground during the Witch Creek fire though it did get close. How tragic would it have been to see all those pretty mansions burning!
You don't seem to get Rancho Santa Fe. Ugly water trucks are not welcome on those streets, nor are storage tanks keeping with the beautiful architecture. They don't worry about such things because their money has always provided them security from life's troubles.
Miffed
Good fucking luck getting Desal or any other thing attached to the natural world past the litigation happy EnviroTerrorists.
He what Smelt it Delta It.
Profligates. A harsh, but classy word.
Like excrement.
OK, now you got me going. So Jerry and the Pope agree that the world has too many people. 6 Billion (Yes, that's with a "Capital B", kiddies, and straight form the Pope's encyclical) and that we out here in California as well as numerous other parts down yonder out west, are running short/out of water.
And so what the fuck does Governor Moombeam do? Aids in the (as in aide and abet) the massive flow of Illegal Aliens (that's right folks, they're still illegal under the law and dontchu forget about it) who are going to use even more of said scarce/no gots water.
Now, makes all the fucking sense in the whole sane world to ensure enough Democratic Votes when there will likely never ever be a serious Republican majority vote from the Hallowed People's Republic of Kalifornia ever again. (Just ask Mr Diebold)
BUT, it all does sit so ever well with Bill Gates vaccination programs (go to YouTube and find his TED talk where he said, that's right quoted in person, that vaccines should be laced with drugs toi make people sterile) and in concert with Rotary is passing the crap out all over thew world AND is right in line with the Georgia Guidestones and people wonder why there are tin foll wierdos.
BTW, most water used on golf courses is non potable out this here way, anyhow and would be just the fucking ticket for fracking, but Oh No, use potable water for that
Arrrraagghhh!
Deport illegals? From Cali? Never happen, 'cuz... dat rayciss.
Using them for fertilizer, OTOH...
We needz to tax livestock...with fake SSNs, who are less likely to collect benefits....to pay for Social Security.
Fucking govern-goddamed-mint.
rep=dem = two faces of the same coin
Knukles, if he doesn't let them in who will mow all those brown lawns? Think man, think!
.
...or paint them green?
They all work in construction now.
This story is exactly why the progressives and their socialist ideas never work. It is fucking easy to reduce water usage. Just raise the god damned price. That is the capitalist way, and it works. Perfectly.
In fact, they are out of water because they priced it too low and everyone wasted it. If it was priced correctly, there would be no shortages, no illegals and no over building in a desert climate. Now it's too late. The resource is probably gone for decades or forever.
Instead, brianless fucktards come up with water police and the use of force.
You know what they'll say - then only the RICH will get the water! As if that's a problem with something like fish?
let's wait to full desert and for the rampaging hordes for water.
It is really close, we will see first signs at the end of this Summer
I live in the central valley (former desert current agricultural capital of CA) and I tend to agree with you. Some smaller towns in the south valley have already had their public wells run dry and I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen in the bigger cities this year.
Wells have been dropping very quickly the past couple years and I doubt anyone really knows how much water is left.
who needs underground water if fed can print any amount of money?
"former desert current agricultural capital of CA"
SanJo valley was mainly swamps and wetlands b4 all that wet shit was sequestered by government projects. Sacramento was DC have something in common.
Didn't those Hale-Bopp loons cut off their pee pee before they went?
F**k Calliefornia. The f**k state that gets a daily sprinking for Fuki MOX mist each day. They volted for Obola and deserve that Fukishima MOX mist up their arseholes.
"All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others." Geo Orwell in Animal Farm
I watched with humor as one of those 'more equal' ones down the street bought a house that had let it's lawn go and now the new sprinkler system is keeping the brand new sod nice and green. The truth is if you overwater they'll give you a fine, that's it. This is a residue of the free market at work. They have the money and will pay those fines to keep their 100K landscape alive. Or else they'll pay for other sources of water. There are so many pickups on the freeway now with 1000L tanks hauling reclaimed water (which is free in unlimited quantity) to keep landscaping alive. I never saw one before this year but now they're everywhere. A lot of those manicured lawns are drinking what amounts to the Coors light you had last week. (I know, TMI). Long live free enterprise, I wonder why Obama hasn't taxed those containers so the po' folk can get their fair share of used potty water? Give him time.
Those containers are taxed on the local level. Get enough of them on the tax rolls and the school board will decide that they have a great tax base for issuing more school construction bonds and hiring more administrators.
"We droughted some folks."
"Its global warming!" Obama said, standing, in essence a desert...lol.
Yeah, right, thats why they get water from reservoirs, that USED TO BE desert with a "river" (really a creek) running through it.
Central Planning 101, build it, subsidize it, they will come.
You are right about the creek part, the Kings and San Joaquin are the two "major" rivers going through the central valley and they would really be considered creeks in any other part of the country.
Let me excercise a bit of creative license here.
"Put government in charge of the desert (oceans), and in 5 years there will be a shortage of (sand) water." -Uncle Milt...(the short one)
...where financier Ralph Whitworth last month paid the Rolling Stones $2 million to play at a local bar...
That's the real travesty in this story. I love the Stones' music, but they should've given up live performances years ago...
Like after they literally killed off Brian Jones.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2357631/Rolling-Stones-Keith-Ric...
Jones owned the name The Rolling Stones and essentially it was his band. It was a hostile takeover by the scum Glimmer Twins. Mick and Keith are gutter trash.
Mick and Keith are gutter trash.
Really? No one could ever tell just by looking at them.
We're all not equal when it comes to water? I'll bet a .223 to the head will kill you just as quick as it will some poor homeless schlep you arrogant fucker.
These assholes have their own private security, likely vetted through such infamous organizations as Blackwater, Xe, and Academi.
They'll probably be more than willing to shoot back...as long as their paychecks continue to clear.
You forgot Craft - since Boston they're available for new work.
Typical gated community Kali Kommies.....demand that others suffer to preserve their wealth...
"Isn't that special." -Church Lady...
People getting all pissy when socialized resources become scare? Inconceivable!
Welcome to Dune minus the worms and spice.
Substitue .gov goonies for the worms and pot for the spice and you are probably pretty close to reality. Never read the Dune books though so I can't be sure.
The worm is the spice.
"If you can control a thing, you can destroy a thing."
He who controls the Spice controls the universe ...
Frickin wankers don't care as long as they are rich.
"When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten, the last stream poisoned, then you will realize you can't eat money."
Water will be stolen from every source.
That is the mandate. All water will become like oxygen. Owned by private interests. For profit. Those with money will get all they need. All surrounding sources will be tapped and private.
Looking at British Columbia. Corporations are moving in on water sources. (under the guise of "hydro alternatives").. Canada is only a rape victim being groomed in the wings.
And pardon me? Pardon me. But what friggin idiot thought they could march down this desert road with lasting results?. Convert Kali into a garden state, Lost Wages into the fountain spewing capital of waste? Ariizona?
Much time has passed for desalination efforts that were never taken.
and THEN the fools opted for fracking just to boot stamp the garbage. Idiots.
50 million MORE illegal aliens will fix Callie-Porn-i-ah's problems.
Water wars will bring out the worst in people. It's going to be an ugly future, watching any remaining decency in man sold in piecemeal to highest bidders.
Hey, if catapaulting diseased animals over castle walls was a tactic, imagine what a water war against the rich might entail.
Catapulting diseased water balloons over the walls?
Escherichia coli?
Catapulting massive containers of flaming horsehit onto their property?
They will indeed, but I also think they will bring to light some amazing innovation and positive change. Like anything else, the majority will be swept up in propoganda and react emotionally when things go south, but some will look past the bullshit and find lasting solutions instead. It's just a shame that the emotionally reactive will vastly outnumber those working towards something better.
My daughter and her husband are building a house in Mexico. They are having their washing machine located on the 2nd floor so that the gray water from the wash cycle can be directed into a holding tank connected to the downstairs toilet. Where they live now, it is a manual operation. They use the wash water for flushing the toilet and the rinse water is reused as wash water for the next load. The water department flows water to their neighborhood 2-3 times a week. The water goes straight to the rooftop tanks from which it is gravity-fed. If the tank goes dry, you have to wait for water day and supplement with bottled water. You learn to be careful with water.
They introduced me to the green laundry ball. Theirs is old, but they still use less detergent than before. Mine is newer and I don't need to use detergent at all. I have really sensitive skin. The green ball has been a water saver for me because I used to put my laundry through extra rinses. No more extra rinses now.
"they" already tapped out northern USA USA sources. Now looking North. I mean no harm. But FU.
It going to be a bull market in chemical toliets, bed pans and wet wipes from Vegas to the coast.
Bullish Destroilets.
https://theimmaculateconsumption.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/destroilet.jpg
Composting toilets and waterless urinals.
They already did that, this is the result. If you can name a single water production facility in North America that doesn't issue bonds and have stakeholders you get a gold star. Protip: they were all finally sold in the 80's through under various acts, bills and pork barrel riders tucked away in financial bills and building codes. In Canada we call them Crown Corporations, in the USA you call them trusts, if you are looking for information on them. Practically every drop of water from the Panama canal to the North West Territories is privately owned and managed...badly.
As far as private sector ownership, their glass is empty from pretending a single resource taken for granted would remain at the extraction, usage and waste. To shut it all down, it will just takes a couple of long hot summers. It's probably a good time to review how to exist with 95% less water available and prioritize. I would suggest cooling for the nuclear sites, drinking water and sanitation as the movie industry or the $100,000 dollar a year membership golf courses aren't that high on the list of priorities.
(Still not seeing any BTC in the wallet either so I'll be around next month to collect, except the price will double from 200 BTC a week to 400 BTC a week. Pretty sure a bunch of richie rich twinks can cough up the satoshi in their pretty country clubs to keep the flow going. Israel, you're next btw, watch the example as your US left coast cheap ass skin flint kike cousins set the price of your water ration. Enjoy the blue empty sky in the meanwhile. Going to be a lot of it. Just a reminder, no 'contract' = no mercy. On the list of things to do: The whole package for you twerps and your friends this time around; both eggs and sausage. You can keep 'the tip'.)
In Canada most water is owned by the Crown.
Zion, in other words.
Worth a look: Zion of today belongs to Rome?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=E-WMjEl9fQg#t=138
..no contract, no mercy.
There it is. Todays fake, secret, illegal contracts (click agree, don't read it, click the box) will one day be replaced with real contracts.
Again....the battle of the ages is between the productive and the unproductive. Membership in either, is wealth agnostic.
In order for the latter to survive, requires obedience to the guns of government.
They'll truck it in at any cost. Shut it off.
I'm sure the U.N. will step in if they cut off folks water.
and when they'll get shot, they'll moan life ain't fair...
If they pay for the water they own it. Here we go again and say rationing is the answer. It's not. Let the locals decide if green grass is more important than drinking water. Local police don't respond to any calls. Let's see who wins.
Yeah well. What about all those veggies that appear in NYC grocery stores all winter?
Think maybe someone should have thought of some of this? I do.
Do those places in the pictures look like farms? No! They are mansions with the nicest landscapes in CA. Quite beautiful if you ask me.
What's your point. That farmers should get all the water they want? As long as they pay for it I don't have a issue with that. Again, what's your point.
Personally, anyone that demands fresh strawberries, blueberries, and so on year round should look what country they are produced. Can you say Chile, Mexico.
Buy in season and buy local produce only. Grow your own.
trade water
for vegetables..
Yup good on you. If you pay for a basic need you can use as much, waste as much as you like. Make oxygen and water a new corporation of greed. Let fracking contaminate ground water. Turn deserts into fountains.
I am rich. I get my putting green. You are not so please don't drink H20.
There are many things govs should get there frigging fingers out of maybe. But breathing and drinking water should never be corporation controlled. AND low and behold that is EXACTLY where corporations are staking ground. Go frigging figure.
Idiots.
Rationing? No. Should have been real knowledge that this was a desert. Kali idiots. Hollywood money will not buy rain. Fracking?
Next your going to tell me that I can't smoke on my patio. Then say I can't drink a beer on my patio. Then say I can't turn on my gas BBQ on my patio . Absolutely no wood chips. What's next? No wind chimes? LOL!
Your right to waive your hands about wildly ends at my face.
As long as there is available water resources, anybody should be able to buy it. But when water is scarce and keeping your recreational facilities green means somebody down river doesn't have enough to survive, then controls need to be put in place until the normal water level resumes.
So you just outed yourself as a socialist.
Of course the rich should be able to buy more than a poor person. Tough shit for you if that is a disadvantage. Maybe there shouldn't be 7 billion people, many living in marginal areas that cannot support life sustainably.
As the population rises, naturally there are fewer resources for each person. That doesn't mean you can vote yourself someone else's hard work and success. Instead, poor people should have fewer or no kids. Just as nature intended. Like it was in the good old days when people were self sufficient.
Let price decide. FIFY
Limozine Liberals.
Governor Moonbeam wanted this job. How's that working for you, Jerry?
Water?
You mean, like....from the toilet?
they can only suck fed money.
Funny thing is that all the Yellen and Benny cash cannot make it rain. Just like you cannot print gold. You cannot adjust rainfall. (although all the chemtrail kids will say they have tried).
Dustbowl and agri-collapse in Kali coming. Just watch Hollywood home prices COLLAPSE.
Not as if there was no warning. (but silenced and denigrated and manipulated gov. propoganda. MSM making fools of science that warned.)
This is not pretty.
And to those entitled idiots in gated water guzzling, unnatural communities. Answer me one question. WTF were you thinking?
You are supposedly so astute. So in-the-know.
It is basic frigging due diligence when buying a home to look at this simple supply stuff. Like water.
Idiots. Absolute idiots.
Next your going to tell me that I can't smoke on my patio. Then say I can't drink a beer on my patio. Then say I can't turn on my gas BBQ on my patio . Absolutely no wood chips. What's next? No wind chimes? LOL!
you can do everything you can until you affect someone else
Same mentality that makes people build houses on a fan at the bottom of a canyon. It is higher than the valley and gives a great view . . . for the ten or so years when rainfall is scarce. Then there is a gully washer and you realize why that fan was there in the first place. I see a lot of housing built on those things. Tsk.
Like the Town of Canmore in Alberta, Canada is built just downstream of a massive alluvial fan. The 100-year flood has only happened twice in the past 20 years so guess what, the govt. is fortifying the creek walls to prevent it from happening again. Another mini-New Orleans in the making...
This is what happens when you value conservation over production...
Nah, those mega-estates don't produce a thing. Dry the suckers up. What's left give to farmers and business.
This is what happens when you value conservation over production...
California, Nevada, etc, have used water generated elsewhere like a TOY. Warnings were there. So what is this "value conservation?" Nobody did anything but have a crack party on H2O and ignore every single reputable warning.
On climate change.
On fracking.
Conservation over production? California. The Vegas fountains of waste? Nobody ever conserved one bloody molecule.
Much of produce that supplies USA USA USA is about to collapse. How exactly are you going to view that? Maybe you were warned.
Next your going to tell me that I can't smoke on my patio. Then say I can't drink a beer on my patio. Then say I can't turn on my gas BBQ on my patio . Absolutely no wood chips. What's next? No wind chimes? LOL!
Aaack, wind chimes!
If ya live in a crowded place, ya gotta tuck in yer elbows.
Revolt perhaps?
He's probably talking about the many attempts over the years to build new dams, but the "save the wild rivers and white water kayak runs" have killed ithem.
I don't think Mr. Yuhas' sentiment is at all wrong.
Big Ag and Big Petroleum consume ~80% of the state's fresh water, yet the esteemed Gov. Brown hasn't said 'boo' about business interests cutting back.
So you know what? Fuck it. Mr. Yuhas is onto something.
That's because Big Ag and Big Petrol do Big Campaign Contributions!
Wrong, the farmers have been getting cuts around 25% and those with really old water rights are being cut as well. Simply not true.
The 25% cuts were mutually agreed last month so that the farmers wouldn't get pared back more drastically later on.
And the 'really old water rights' people had restrictions announced only last Friday!! And the magntitude of these cuts isn't readily apparent.
For once the NY Times did a story justice: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/13/us/california-announces-restrictions-on-water-use-by-farmers.html?_r=0
So technically Brown has said (and done) something. I stand corrected. But your spin is disingenuous; industry has thus far not been beaten up like profligate individuals.
Let them eat sandtraps.
we bogeyed some folks.
I just love it when money can't get you the things you really need. It forces us all to revert to being humans.
A very good example showing why the US economic system is in terminal collaspe because of political infighting...Michael Klare writes about this phenomenon in his book Resource Wars...reminds me of Easter Island when intertribal fighting caused deforestation and ultimate collapse....you dont see any of them telling the rest of the world how exceptional they are.....US looks pretty stupid to me.
Would it be brash for me to suggest that the ultra-wealthy in Rancho Santa Fe move somewhere else...somewhere that actually has water?
This takes the novelty out of being rich in the first place..."You'll have to pry my watering hose from my cold dead hands" Really? MOTHERFUCKER YOU'RE RICH GO TO WHERE THE WATER IS.
Actually fuck it. Live in the desert and fight over water. Dumb shits.
Those who are intelligent enough to make their money through honest means have already done as you suggest. Those entitled people that are the subject of this article don't have the intelligence or forethought to accept nature doesn't give a fuck about them or their laws.
Couldn't agree more. They should be landscaping with native plants anyway instead of destroying habitat (which they do on a large scale) simply for their vanity. This isn't the French or English countrysides. Look at Italian or Spanish estates, that's the Cali climate.
"Go where the water is"
There coming to Scottsdale in droves. Both rental and realestate markets are tight, I am expecting my rental to get sold out from under me after the lease expires. Too damn hot here anyway, 111 today and I am the literally the only one in the neighborhood without a pool. Nobody has grass, everybody has a pool.
I was talking about places like Jackson Hole Wyoming, Sarasota FL, the Shenandoah Valley, the Adirondacks, Williamsburg VA, Charlotte SC or any of the plethora of gorgeous places to live around the country and in states that aren't dictatorial and over burdensome.
...Scottsdale is the desert. I like Scottsdale but the desert isn't for me.
Yeah I can see why, damn near needed a pair of welding gloves to grab onto my steering wheel today. Northern Arizona (Cottonwood, Sedona, prescott etc) has plenty of water and a far more tolerable climate. No conceal permits or registry and your mostly left alone. This area is okay if your lucky and don't die of heat stroke while going to check your mail.
"You'll have to pry my watering hose from my cold dead hands"
Why bother -- just shut it off at the street, or better yet, the entire community.
I wanta see the water meter of Al Gore's place and Barbara Striesand's place and Spielberg's place... they're no doubt spinning like tops.
Forget anonymous rich guys --- lets go after famous rich guys and hang 'em high so people will really take notice. They're the hypocrites who helped cause this by intervening into politics for short sighted policies and decades of bad planning.
Desalination plants? NIMBY!
Windmills? NIMBY!
Limit immigration? NIMBY!
Weather manipulation control through chemtrails to drive people into the city per Agenda 21, And monsanto buying up all the farm land for pennies on the dollar, then the chemtrails will stop and California will be fine again...get real people and understand what world we are living in....We are not in Kansas anymore dorothy.
Those people should be the first targets, not the last. The farmers are facing huge cuts now, so they aren't getting a break. Hollywood turds? Silicon Valley pimps? Bill Gates? Maybe they will only be able to sell their 80 million dollar estates for 70 million. The unfairness of it all.
The farmers haven't been touched yet (as usual). All residential properties should come last in CA or anywhere else for that matter due to the tiny consumption compared to industry, if materially reducing the amount consumed is the goal.
Doesn't Bill Gates live off the lake in Seattle?
The other side of the story....
Rancho Santa Fe was once owned by Santa Fe Railroad. They were running out of good wood stock for their railroad ties, so they decided to plant this very large ranch with eucalyptus. This was several decades ago, and long since sold off to developers, builders, ranchers, etc. The end result is one of the few treed areas in San Diego county...which led to one of the most exclusive areas in the United States. For decades the county government has required a minimum 2.5 acre parcel size per house. In addition, the county has required that any landowner who wanted to buildthere, would first need Covenant approval. In order to get Covenant approval, the homeowner would need their landscaping plan approved. And of course, for decades the covenant required extensive landscape to be installed in these homes.
So, to take this full circle, the government essentially forced everyone in the community to landscape to a high level, and now, are throwing the very people they forced into this...under the bus as water abusers. And oh by the way, they can't mitigate the size of the property, because the government won't let them do that either. Understand that there are many folks living in RSF that would love to subdivide their property, and sell off the land for further development. But the environmental crowd and others have opposed a reduction in the lot minimum size to prevent higher density living in the area. Again, those environmentalists, are now on the other side of the fence complaining about the results of their own policies. Finally, there are many properties in the RSF area that are larger than the 2.5 acres. Many have orchards. Orchards need water. While many may have separate meters as Phil tried to do with his putting green, many won't. This will definitely skew the numbers.
By the way, the reason Phil would want a separate meter for his greens, is because the sewer is charged based upon water usage of the home. So, it makes sense that he get separate meters.
Of course, this whole point is moot. The whole 'you residents must cut back by 25%' is moot. Why? Because the amount of water consumed by residences is small in comparison to agriculture, industry, and environmentalism. Even if we cut water usage in HALF, that would only save CA about 10%. That is the proverbial drop in the bucket compared to what needs to be done yesterday.
The real issue here, why isn't the government coming up with ways to harness more water, either from runoff or from the ocean? Oh yeah, those environmentalists...It took 13 years to get the desal plants through the enviro lawsuits, but less than 2 years to build.
Desalinization is a total joke, completely inefficient, energy guzzling monstrosities that create a gigantic, I mean gigantic, issue of what to do with the salt. Usually it's just dumped a few miles out in the ocean in productive fisheries, which are already under severe pressure from overfishing due to high demand and population growth.
As for runoff, it's kinda hard to reverse engineer the horrid projects of the Corps of Engineers and the absolute greed of past politicians and developers. They've channelized the seasonal rivers and streams, turning them into concrete spillways and then built right up to the edges of those. Yeah, designing for runoff would have been a GREAT idea 70 years ago.
The solution is NOT to find ways to wring more water for an ever increasing unsustainable population. If you really think cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix are sustainable long term, much less California, you are in serious denial.
There are a lot of folks in San Diego county that will disagree with you at the moment. The Carlsbad plant comes on line in a few months, and the cost is not that unreasonable given the situation. I for one, am very glad to hear that we've secured about 10% of our water needs in San Diego from the ocean.
In terms of capturing runoff, the government is backed by the enviro lobby, so it won't budge on building new reservoirs, or reversing the latest Delta decision where we waste millions of gallons of clean water each year to save a little shrimp.
Only mass Desal efforts can savez us from the ravagez of Globull Warmings. - ManBearPig.
I favor desalination plants over the other bone-headed projects that have been discussed. But I agree that cities built in deserts are not sustainable long term, given the history of mega-droughts in the Southwest. If this latest drought is the new normal, which it could be for a decade or a century, we could see Las Vegas turn back into a 1-horse town with maybe a couple thousand people and a lot of empty buildings.
amen
The government forced rich people to over landscape their property in an area that is historically classified as desert?
When the government was forcing these rich people into this community were they using guns? Was it kind of like what the government did to the Japanese Americans during WW2 and just kind of forced them into this rich concentrationcampesque neighborhood?
Your premise is deluded just like the people who live there.
Food for thought: Rancho Santa Fe was also home to the Heavens Gate cult. Yeah, thaaaaat cult. The one who's members caught a ride on hail bop when they poisoned themselves and covered themselves in triangular tarps. Also speaking about deluded, there is a big Scientology church near downtown RSF. That whole area is full of weirdos to begin with. Lots of weird creepy shit happens there.
Re-read the comment. Slowly.
They don't just force 'rich' people...they force anyone who wants to build.
The city and the county will not approve any building permits unless the Covernant or the HOAs approve the plans first. That is the way it works here. You pay an architect to first get it through the maze of the HOA, then turn around and do the same thing again at the building department of the county or city. Are you starting to understand why houses are so expensive here? On top of that, a landowner pays a kings ransom in permit fees. What costs $15K in Utah will cost $90 to $125K in Southern California.
So, yeah, if you want to build on your property, you don't have a choice but to spend another $100k or more for landscape. (usually a lot more for these big lots) So ask yourself this question. You just built two years ago. You spent over $100K just in landscaping (because you had to), and now the government wants you to stop watering what you just planted. How do you react? Some people go out and turn off the water. Some people get pissed off. Can you blame either?
And these people couldn't build some place else? They HAD to build there? They get what they fucking deserve.
Are you suggesting that you should have the right to tell people where they build? And because they chose to build in a place faced with drought conditions, that somehow they deserve your wrath?
How do you react? The same way I did and move (I used to be a resident of San Diego County). The United States is a huge country with some of the most beautiful and peaceful areas in the world.
If you have the means you should GTFO.
I can't disagree with you there. This drought is the first big exposure to a completely haywire system in California. It is exposing the very soft underbelly to a completely clueless bunch of bunglers running the show at almost all levels of government. I personally know many wealthy folks that have left for other places. Unfortunately, I have two kids and a wife who don't understand, and simply want to be close to their businesses and family and friends. Until they have to start taking navy style showers, they aren't going to understand the beauty that lies in other places. lol
At some point you have to be a man and tell her it's time to pack up the shit and move to greener pastures.
Ahh yess,,,,it sounds good when you typed it no? It's a community property state, and it is never that simple.
It will be that simple when the choice is between a drink and a green yard.
"move to greener pastures"
You really have no idea how much money people make in CA, do you? When you are making the kind of money that you can afford to live in a place as described above, it's not like you can just get up and relocate. Maybe MCD employees can just transfer to a freer state with zero impact on their life, but finding $350k+ employment outside of CA is *just* a bit tougher...
Then enjoy counting your millions in the desert wasteland.
It's relative though. You don't need to make $350,000 in other areas to maintain if not upgrade your quality of life. Cost of living in CA is among the highest in the country. Taxes are among the highest in the country.
350k$ + living in a waterless desert. sounds like a winner to me. lol
Is it true that the state legislature passed a bill that disallowed fines by HOAs for brown grass? I knew it was in the works but not sure if it was passed and signed into law. If so, that would help the ppl in RSF who want to cut back on landscape water.
You make me laugh. You are taking some bias and a very large leap about where the desert is and isn't, and sounding like a jerk.
RSF is located between 2 and 8 miles from the ocean. The natural vegetation is more like a mediterranean scrub or shrub area. It is not a desert by any stretch, and while San Diego claims about 8 inches per year in rain, RSF probably averages around an inch a month in rainfall.
In case you wonder, the desert doesn't start until you are about 60 miles inland.
Doesn't matter if it's classified as a desert or not. It could be a GD rain forest but if the residents are using 4X per capita more water, then it needs to be capped.
the entire post is moot.
If there's a shrewd investor on Z/H who reads this comment :-
1) Source from the nearest State where large containers of Water can be shipped.
2) By Direct Mail leaflet approach every Wealthy Household, equipped and ready to install , depending on the size and water requirements , a WATER STORAGE TANK with Accessories ( automatic sprinkler system etc etc
3) Operate this SERVICE at the Press of a Button, activating Truck Deliveries, Engineers, Plumbers, Metal Workers, Marketers, others
You'll be providing a valuable service to folks who can afford to PAY and should, creating REAL JOBS in the process
If you can put me down for 10% of the business and i'm happy enough to share with start up costs which are basically a PRINTER & A COMPUTER.
Just drag one of these into the desert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC3VTgIPoGU
I admit, I didn't read the fkn article. I'm old, and tired, and I don't need the drama.
That said- how many of y'all remember that the last time Cali had an epic drought, Jerry Moonbeam Brown was governor.
I'm fully aware that that correlation is not causation. Still, it's quite the co-inky-dink. Eh?
Y'all may find this over-dramatic, but here's a little info-tainment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJlN9jdQFSc
As I watched I was wondering
Where the hell is Johnny?
But I see'd em.
Twas good.