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California Has Never Experienced A Water Crisis Of This Magnitude – And The Worst Is Yet To Come
Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
Things have never been this dry for this long in the recorded history of the state of California, and this has created an unprecedented water crisis. At this point, 1,900 wells have already gone completely dry in California, and some communities are not receiving any more water at all. As you read this article, 100 percent of the state is in some stage of drought, and there has been so little precipitation this year that some young children have never actually seen rain.
This is already the worst multi-year drought in the history of the state of California, but this may only be just the beginning. Scientists tell us that the amount of rain that California received during the 20th century was highly unusual. In fact, they tell us that it was the wettest century for the state in at least 1000 years.
Now that things are returning to “normal”, the state is completely and total unprepared for it. California has never experienced a water crisis of this magnitude, and other states in the western half of the nation are starting to really suffer as well. In the end, we could very well be headed for the worst water crisis this country has ever seen.
When I said that some communities in California are not receiving any more water, I was not exaggerating. Just consider the following excerpt from one recent news report…
The community of Mountain House is days away from having no water at all after the state cut off its only water source.
Anthony Gordon saves drinking water just in case, even though he never thought it would come to this.
“My wife thinks I’m nuts. I have like 500 gallons of drinking water stored in my home,” he said.
The upscale community of Mountain House, west of Tracy, is days away from having no water. It’s not just about lawns—there may not be a drop for the 15,000 residents to drink.
So what are those people going to do?
And what is this going to do to the property values in that area?
Who in the world is going to want to buy a home that does not have running water coming to it?
Other communities throughout the state are pumping groundwater like crazy in a desperate attempt to continue with business as usual. In fact, it is being projected that groundwater will account for almost all water used in the entire state by the end of this year…
Underground aquifers supply 35 percent of the water used by humans worldwide. Demand is even greater in times of drought. Rain-starved California is currently tapping aquifers for 60 percent of its water use as its rivers and above-ground reservoirs dry up, a steep increase from the usual 40 percent. Some expect water from aquifers will account for virtually every drop of the state’s fresh water supply by year end.
But of course this creates a huge problem. When the groundwater is gone, it is gone for good. Those aquifers took centuries to fill up, and now they are being drained at a staggering rate. In some parts of the state, aquifers are being drained so fast that it is causing thousands of square miles of land to sink…
Californians have been draining water so rapidly from underground aquifers that tens of thousands of square miles of land reportedly are sinking — so drastically that the shifting surface is starting to destroy bridges and crack highways across the state, according to a recent report by the Center for Investigative Reporting.
So what is the solution?
Some of my readers have suggested that desalination is the answer. But the truth is that desalination is very expensive and it is really bad for the environment. The following comes from a recent Natural News article…
For those who are saying, “There’s no water problem in California! It has the entire Pacific Ocean right next door!”, you need to look into the catastrophic environmental destruction tied to ocean water desalination.
Not only does desalination use fossil fuels which emit the very same carbon emissions that the California government insists caused the drought in the first place, the desalination process itself pollutes the ocean with high concentration salt brine that kills marine ecosystems and destroys ocean life along the California coastline.
And that’s on top of all the Fukushima radiation that’s already causing a marine ecosystem collapse in many areas of the coast. Add more salt brine to the mix and you get a state where rich, self-entitled Hollywood celebrities demand their lush, green lawns at the expense of ocean life, climate change and the global ecosystem. If that happens, California will lose all credibility as a “green” state, and its wealthiest residents will be living an ecological lie.
Others have suggested that California can solve their water problems using “toilet to tap” technology…
Potable water reuse – or converting sewage effluent to heavily-treated, purified drinking water – is receiving renewed attention in California in the midst of the state’s four-year drought.
According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, “California water managers and environmentalists” are pushing the idea of recycled sewage water. Yet past efforts in the state to employ similar systems have stalled, as opponents have dubbed the concept “toilet to tap.”
How would you feel about that?
Would you be willing to have your family drink water that came from the toilets of your neighbors?
I don’t think that I could do that.
But something has to be done. It is not just the state of California that is experiencing a major water crisis. All over the world, underground aquifers are being drained rapidly. In fact, according to the Washington Post, 21 out of the 37 largest aquifers in the world “have passed their sustainability tipping points”…
The world’s largest underground aquifers – a source of fresh water for hundreds of millions of people — are being depleted at alarming rates, according to new NASA satellite data that provides the most detailed picture yet of vital water reserves hidden under the Earth’s surface.
Twenty-one of the world’s 37 largest aquifers — in locations from India and China to the United States and France — have passed their sustainability tipping points, meaning more water was removed than replaced during the decade-long study period, researchers announced Tuesday. Thirteen aquifers declined at rates that put them into the most troubled category. The researchers said this indicated a long-term problem that’s likely to worsen as reliance on aquifers grows.
Sadly, this is just the beginning. There is a reason why experts refer to fresh water as “the new oil”. Without fresh water, none of us can survive. But we are very quickly getting to the point where there simply won’t be enough of it for everyone on the planet.
As for the state of California, it was once a desert and now it is turning back into a desert. As I mentioned earlier, the 20th century was the wettest century that part of North America had seen in at least 1000 years. During that time, we built enormous cities all over the Southwest that currently support millions upon millions of people. But now we are learning that those cities are not sustainable.
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Contrary to what people believe, California is a right wing warmongering lunatics
Oh they're left wing...by American standards. Do they want to live in poverty like Euro-peons? No, and they'll gladly support war on whoever, wherever, to ensure their cushy life style continues. Anti-war right up until someone tells them they might have to give up their SUV and move into a house 1/4 the size on a lot 1/10th the size. Like most pretend Leftists.
Poverty like Europeans? ROFLMAO. I tripled my income the day I left the USA in 1989. Lived all over Europe. I don't know of anyone here losing their home or living off CC's.
You are thick all right., Ignorant beyond belief
"The community of Mountain House is days away from having no water at all after the state cut off its only water source."
So let me get this right: thet cut off the ONLY water supply of an entire community of folks who live in a bleeding DESERT?
And the wife of one of those folks thinks he's nuts for storing water? What does she think she will find water, in her frigging swimming pool or something?
"So what are those people going to do?"
Good question.
"And what is this going to do to the property values in that area?"
Good question.
"Who in the world is going to want to buy a home that does not have running water coming to it?"
No one.
"Californians have been draining water so rapidly from underground aquifers that tens of thousands of square miles of land reportedly are sinking — so drastically that the shifting surface is starting to destroy bridges and crack highways across the state."
Welcome to the land of short-term thinking.
"Would you be willing to have your family drink water that came from the toilets of your neighbors?"
Recycled water is what they have in the space stations. http://www.universetoday.com/101775/an-inside-look-at-the-waterurine-rec...
It's an entirely psychological repugnance. The water is totally purified, it's only 100% water. That is, if you trust the private sector for things like that, which I wouldn't in any shape, form or manner. For profit, these hyenas will do anything, even sell polluted water. This kind of endeavor can only be non-profit, with a strong monitoring by appropriate State agents and citizens associations testing the water on a regular basis.
thet cut off the ONLY water supply of an entire community of folks who live in a bleeding DESERT?...
Mountain House is nowhere near a desert. In fact the closest thing to Mountain House is the starting point of the 2 aqueducts that transport fresh water from the Delta south along the eastern flank of the coastal range in the central valley. (One of these canals is even named after our current executive in chief's father - Edmond G. Brown) Another point of reference would be the Altamont, you know, where the movie Gimme Shelter immortalized the Rolling Stones concert in December of '69. Only then, Mountain House was nothing but grazing land.
I find it pretty ironic that that's the first community being listed to "run out", it’s kinda like having 10KV power towers running through your property, but you have to buy a diesel generator if you want electricity.
Maybe Jerry Brown could pay to keep the community stocked with beer until the next "measurable rainfall" occurs.
California's water issues are POLITICAL!
Any state which has the will and determination to build a bullet-train to Fresno can probably construct an aqueduct to the Columbia River.
Then again,maybe not.
Maybe a bullet train to British Columbia could haul water back to California
Noooooo! Save the Smelt!
I wish I could do anything other than laugh.
What we really need are droids that understand the binary language of moisture vaporators -- but of course, we first need to invent the GX-8 moisture vaporator
Divert the Mississippi to El Paso .... the "Wetbacks" are walking across the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande !
http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/albert_hammond/it_never_rains_in_south...
Delta Smelt .... that's a good name .... for a female furry fertile triangle ?
So, each Delta Smelt .... needs a million gallons of fresh water per year .... and the liberal solution .... recycle your toilet bowl smelt ?
Tennessee Snail Darter .... threatens extinction .... of the rare Tennessee fresh water snail ?
It couldn't happen to a bigger bunch of A@#holes.
In the 1930's during the last depression, the dustbowl was in the center of the U.S.
Now during this current depression (which the FED or government won't admit), the dustbowl is in California.
Yeah! This'll teach those hippy punks! FUCK em up!
I sold my condo in Denver last month..now it will probably double or triple in price as all the Californians run for water....
There's an el Nin on the way in a few weeks - this area will be swimming in water shortly
You must be an economist.
Richard points at his head and says to Ducky "Your fucked in the head, right?"Are these the same people complaining that the polar ice caps are melting? Can't they see we're just trying to get them some water....
Hey Citizens of the Republic of California. You live in a desert. Move Now or your home will be worth nothing in the not so distant future. Oregon and Washington already have seen an influx of relocaters and this trend is only starting. Rain for 6 months is welcomed occurrence.The sylicon forest awaits.
NAWAPA, bitchez! We've known about this problem for 60 years. The answer is moving fresh water from A to B to C. In this case, Alaska through British Columbia to California. Plenty of fresh water gets dumped into the Arctic Ocean. WTF?! Turn it all southward. The added benefit is that saltier water in the Arctic will cool it down, and prevent the mass release of methane that will otherwise turn much of planet Earth into Death Valley or the Congo.
The doomsday scenarios, as usual on Zero Hedge, are a bit over done. Even if California turns into desert, the state will continue on with the main effect being a greatly diminished agricultural sector. There is plenty of water for the population on the coast, and yes, that includes desalinization. California is a train wreck of leftist, crony-fascist mis-management. Land values in the interior will suffer most from the drought, but be sure, all of California is being devalued and bleed dry via gross across the board mismanagement, whacko ideologies, ignorance, and corruption. Worse, as the saying goes, "as goes California, so goes America." California can still be a nice place to visit, but you would have to be an idiot to want to live there.
One last note, last time I was there, all the businesses wanted to do business in cash. Some refused credit cards altogether, some asked you pay in cash rather than plastic, and others even offerred discounts for cash payments. I assume all this was for tax avoidance eventhough, I bet, the people who own and run theses businesses vote consiteny for the leftists crony-capitalist they are try to protect themselves against. Odd world. I also note that a cash economy is a third world economy.
Karma can be a bitch.
Now waiting for Karma on the east coast.
We have Chris "Krispy Kream" Christie, Andrew "Mousilini" Cuomo, and Bill "Lenin" DeBlasio. That's Karma
Any argument about the drought in CA without discussing SRM and the weather manipulation programs being run on a daily basis by YOUR GOVERNMENT is disingenous at best. Zero (H) edge is the new main stream media; obfuscation and misdirection, water carriers for the party line.
Why is it that Zero Hedge puts itself out there as a change agent when they never address perhaps the most important issue (other than the unconstitutional private banksters who fund it) of our time?
http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/pacific-northwest-off-coast-spraying/
http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/geoengineered-drought-crushes-califor...
Inflection Point
"I'd grow lemon trees in the desert. Days fly past, words fall slow. I'd have me Mojave winters. I'd never grow lonesome, I'd never grow cold."-Brenda Kahn
http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/climate-engineering-heavy-metal-conta...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=34&v=g_xl5-yN5Ts
Flushless toilets and another 10,000,000 FSA illegals to vote Dem, that will fix things!
Next problem for me to solve?
Vote for me, for President....I be smart!
DK
Yes California is out of water but yet the store shelves are full of it, and fracking is alive and well, so those who are entitled to it still get it first.
Yes California is out of water but yet the store shelves are full of it, and fracking is alive and well, so those who are entitled to it still get it first.
Bottled water is fine for drinking, but you can't bathe in it. Drinking water isn't enough, not when you are talking about millions of people. You need sanitation, and THAT requires a lot of water.
Ok, so you're living in a state that's running out of water, and that also a HUGE agricultural industry...you have to ask yourself one question.
In a water crisis, who will get first dibs on that water?
If the answer is not, "Folks like me, of course..", then you should be planning on leaving as soon as you can.
Just a thought on this whole water crisis thing...If you want to save water, stop buying those stupid lo-flow toilets!
Yeah, they use less water per flush, but how many times do you have to flush them to get anything of substance to go down?
Instead, find out what they are using in those Disney resorts, and go out and buy them. Now THOSE are toilets with serious one-flush power. You can feel the air around you being sucked in...hell, you could flush your empty beer cans down those toilets! And it happens so fast, it can't use all that much water.
But that's it, one flush. None of this weak circling of the water, and a half-assed burp as it tries to go down, only to have half if it come bobbling back up...3 flushes later, and it's finally gone.
I want a Disney World toilet!