Thread: Calif. Running Out of Water, Not Just Money

CALIF. RUNNING OUT OF WATER, NOT JUST MONEY

Thursday, October 30, 2008 6:00 PM



SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California said Thursday that it plans to cut water deliveries to their second-lowest level ever next year, raising the prospect of rationing for cities and less planting by farmers.

The Department of Water Resources projects that it will deliver just 15 percent of the amount that local water agencies throughout California request every year.

Since the first State Water Project deliveries were made in 1962, the only time less water was promised was in 1993, but heavy precipitation that year ultimately allowed agencies to receive their full requests.

The state's reservoirs are low after two years of dry weather and court-ordered restrictions on water pumping out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This year, water agencies received just 35 percent of the water they requested.

Farmers in the Central Valley say they'll be forced to fallow fields, while cities from the San Francisco Bay area to San Diego might have to require residents to ration water.

Mike Young, a fourth-generation farmer in Kern County, called the projections disastrous.

"For the amount of acres we've got, we're not going to have enough water to farm," he said.

Young said he will be forced to fallow a fifth of his 5,000 acres. Water will go to his permanent crops — pistachio, almond and cherry trees — but most of his tomatoes and alfalfa will not get planted.

"We've got to start spending money on next year's crop now," Young said.

In Southern California, the Metropolitan Water District — the agency that supplies water to about half the state's population — has depleted more than a third of its water reserves. The agency's general manager, Jeff Kightlinger, said Californians must immediately reduce their water use to stretch what little water is available.

"We are preparing for the very real possibility of water shortages and rationing throughout the region in 2009," Kightlinger said in a conference call with reporters.

The State Water Project delivers water to more than 25 million residents and 750,000 acres of farmland.

In 2006, water agencies received their full allotment, in part because of heavy rains and a thick Sierra snow pack that year. But last year, a federal court limited water pumping out of the delta to protect the threatened delta smelt.

Even with Thursday's dire projection, a wet winter could mean that cities and farms ultimately get more water, said Ted Thomas, a spokesman for the state water department. But that wouldn't affect the court order.

"We are anticipating drastically reduced water supplies, regardless of weather conditions," Laura King Moon, assistant general manager of the State Water Contractors, said in a statement.

Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow said the bleak outlook underscores the governor's call to retool California's massive water storage and delivery system.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger favors building more dams and designing a new way to funnel water through or around the environmentally fragile delta. The proposals have failed to gain traction in the Legislature.

"The governor has sounded the wake-up call, and the clock is ticking," Snow said in a statement.

http://www.newsmax.com/us/california_wa ... 46013.html

We need to pray for rain!
This water situation is ridiculous! They have seen this coming for the last 30-40 years and nothing was done about it. Total lack of foresight and we get to share it with IA's!

I pray for you all! What I see on the news is wildfires due to the drought, and I call my cousins to see if they are safe, or had to leave their homes.
With record droughts, no part of the Southwest needs increased pressure from illegals and their anchor babies on the water supply.
Forget the fuel crisis, as with no water, there will be no food and then we would be in serious trouble.

Oopsie Guess they will just have to tell Mexico to pony it up for their illegal aliens, now won't they?

Not surprising. my illegal alien neighbors wash 5, 6 and 7 cars a day in their driveways.....every day.

What is it with illegal alien Mexicans and washing their cars every day?

Put another million undocumented immigrants in California and there may not be water.

It's God's punishment for all the immoral people we have in CA. Sort of the opposite of the great flood.

Maybe someone can explain this, but it seems to me that the farmers in Cali could stop relying on the government for a most basic necessity WATER, and get it themselves from, oh I don't know, the OCEAN??

Is there a particular reason why the ocean water cannot be irrigated through to the farms, or why farmers cannot obtain water without the gov?

s there a particular reason why the ocean water cannot be irrigated through to the farms, or why farmers cannot obtain water without the gov?

Ocean water is salt water, so it would need to be de-salinated. Technology exists today to do it in large quantities, but it is expensive. Two methods I have heard of are reverse osmosis and distillation (if you have taken High School chemistry you probably did a distillation experiment). Reverse osmosis plants are very expensive to build, and are expensive to maintain. Distillation requires large amounts of fuel to turn the water to steam. However, since we need to look seriously at alternative energy sources, why not use this as an opportunity to develop Solar Technology for large scale distillation functions? A solar plant would certainly not be cheap to build (probably 2 to 3 times or more than a reverse osmosis plant), but it should be cheaper to maintain over time. Moreover, the lessons learned and the technology improvements that would probably occur (especially with regard to solar cell efficiency) could off set the plant development cost by lowering future cost of solar energy applications. 7/8 of the earth is covered by water, mostly salt water. If we don't figure out how to use it to satisfy our fresh water needs, we are too stupid to survive as a species.

Desalinization is an expensive and time-consuming alternative. The NGOs fight every attempt to do anything useful in California--from solar power to wind farms and even desalinization plants. I believe they approved one in Carlsbad in San Diego County a couple of months ago, but that was after years of fighting over impacts to wildlife, air pollution, yada yada. They'll still probably try an injunction and oppose any additional permits needed, so the fight is not over yet. You can't even do sensible things in California...

The MET limited water to SoCal last year because of the Delta smelt up in the Bay Area.