Does California Have A Dire Water Problem?

JonDouglas

JonDouglas

Senior Member
Location
New England
Someone sent me this. Looks awful but don't know how accurate it is. Perhaps some of the CA folks can chime in here with boots on the ground info.

california-reservoirs-conditions-august-5-2021-dwr.jpg
 

Some of the major reservoirs in the SW are very low, due to decreased snowfall in the Rockies....which feeds the Colorado river. Lake Powell is little more than a wide river, and if Lake Mead drops much further, the Hoover Dam may no longer be able to produce electricity. Wells that supply water for many residents and towns are drying up. Between the fires and the severe drought, much of the Western part of the US is nearing some serious problems.
 
JonDouglas said:
Someone sent me this. Looks awful but don't know how accurate it is. Perhaps some of the CA folks can chime in here with boots on the ground info.

california-reservoirs-conditions-august-5-2021-dwr.jpg
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It is accurate.

On YouTube you can find several videos showing aerial views of Calif's most important lakes. Some levels are down by well over 50%.
California's lakes and rivers depend heavily on melting snow from the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges. With the exception of just a couple or three years, we've had record-low snowfall for (I think) over a decade.
 
officerripley said:
Curious: why would you think that the Dept. of Water Resources might not have accurate info.?
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I don't automatically assume the validity of an image just because it has some official-looking logo (that I am unfamiliar with) and don't know the source where the sender got it. Also, photoshop is alive and well and can be found in the hands of people with agendas. Finally, the condition certainly seemed like something to be concerned with if really that dire.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I live in Northeast PA, which has lots of rain, what do our members in the affected areas have to say about the heat, and drought?
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Well, a lot of the stuff I've read say that the heat and drought are here to stay in the west. The west has always been a dry area; in fact, a lot of the Natives here in the west tried telling the Europeans that came here way back in the day just that--"The rain we've gotten here in the last few years is unusual; it's going to go back to the usual dry conditions, you just wait"--but weren't listened to. "The rain follows the plow" and other myths.
 
Well,we no longer live in California-and the #1 reason is that our well dried up. And we are not alone(all though I really think we were the first!)Homeowner after homeowner are now talking on Facebook,Nextdoor etc. about their wells going dry. Drillers are booked a year out-but why spend the money looking for water you likely won`t find? Our town was on the shores of the largest natural lake in California-that lake is currently at the lowest level ever recorded. Just four or so years ago,houses along the shoreline were flooding due to too much rain. It`s an ongoing cycle in California,but this drought is a particularly bad one.
 
We have a niece who lives in Las Vegas, and she says that they are facing increased water restrictions.....no more lawns, and washing cars and keeping swimming pools filled are discouraged. More efficient turbines were installed in Hoover dam a couple of years ago, and they can still operate if the lake drops another 100 ft. But, a lot of people in LV are installing solar panels, and generator sales are increasing as many residents are preparing for power shortages/brownouts if present weather trends continue.

Sometime in the next month, water from Lake Mead may no longer be available for agriculture, and farming in the SW may almost cease.
 
Remy said:
This member wants to move back east but will never be able to.

I'm literally ill inside from the drought and fires. Depressed about it. I don't think people are trying to conserve water enough.
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As you know, for years Calif has had all these rules about when and how much you can water your yard...about the equivalent of your family peeing on it once in a while. So a whole lot of people's yards died. Except the governor's. And wealthy people's. Their massive, lush yards are gorgeous. But anyway, with miles and miles of dead grasses and shrubs and trees all around normal people's houses, the whole freakin city a tinder-box. Mainly the residential area's. Except the governor and pals. You know they're be fine.
 
Don M. said:
We have a niece who lives in Las Vegas, and she says that they are facing increased water restrictions.....no more lawns, and washing cars and keeping swimming pools filled are discouraged. More efficient turbines were installed in Hoover dam a couple of years ago, and they can still operate if the lake drops another 100 ft. But, a lot of people in LV are installing solar panels, and generator sales are increasing as many residents are preparing for power shortages/brownouts if present weather trends continue.

Sometime in the next month, water from Lake Mead may no longer be available for agriculture, and farming in the SW may almost cease.
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Since dead yards are fodder for flames, I wish that, while Calif and the fed gov't is doling out Nat'l Emergency $$, they would fund or incentivize people getting their yards landscaped with drought-friendly vegetation. They didn't used to hesitate to fine people hundreds or even thousands of bucks for NOT watering their lawns and/or not mowing them (here in Calif, anyway).
 
If present weather trends continue....and they Probably will....major areas in the nation may become almost uninhabitable, in another few decades. The "Dixie" fire officially became California's largest forest fire today, and it is continuing to grow. The combination of dry grasses and huge forests of evergreen trees quickly become a disaster in weather conditions like now. When fires hit, evergreen trees are like cans of gasoline. Then, as the oceans continue to rise, East and Gulf coast low lying population centers will begin to be inundated.

If I had any "financial" advise to give to our Grandkids, and beyond, it would be to invest in land and real estate in the Midwest. The land we bought for a fairly minor sum 20 years ago may be worth a fortune someday as millions of people are forced to migrate inland.
 
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No, but they need to make some changes, water in California is used very inefficiently.

California and Israel have somewhat similar climates. California uses about 300,000 gallons of water per person per year; Israel about 35,000 gallons of water per year per person, total usage domestic, commercial and agricultural. (https://www.ppic.org/publication/water-use-in-california/ and https://www.statista.com/statistics/263156/water-consumption-in-selected-countries/).

There are differences of course, and the comparison is not perfect. However it is clear the Israelis get along using a whole lot less water per capita water than Californians. California can get by just fine on the water resources they have, just need a bit more rational practice.
 
Alligatorob said:
No, but they need to make some changes, water in California is used very inefficiently.

California and Israel have somewhat similar climates. California uses about 300,000 gallons of water per person per year; Israel about 35,000 gallons of water per year per person, total usage domestic, commercial and agricultural. (https://www.ppic.org/publication/water-use-in-california/ and https://www.statista.com/statistics/263156/water-consumption-in-selected-countries/).

There are differences of course, and the comparison is not perfect. However it is clear the Israelis get along using a whole lot less water per capita water than Californians. California can get by just fine on the water resources they have, just need a bit more rational practice.
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California is huge, 163,695 square miles compared to Isreal's 8,630 sq. miles. I wonder how much of that is farmland?
 
Murrmurr said:
California is huge, 163,695 square miles compared to Isreal's 8,630 sq. miles. I wonder how much of that is farmland?
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About 25% of the land in California is farm or ranch land, it's about 19% in Israel. Many different ways to look at the statistics, but no matter how you do it Californians use a lot more water to live under similar conditions compared to the Israelis. If you do a Google search there are articles on the subject, see https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.o...-california-can-learn-from-israel-about-water for example.

Point is we in the US, including California, are quite wasteful in our water usage. For example California grows about 550,000 acres of rice a year. Rice is a very high water user and alone accounts for 6% of California's water consumption (https://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2015/05/amid_drought_california_fields.html). There is no rice shortage in the US, and it grows just fine in places like Louisiana that have a lot more water to work with than California. Just using water conservation measures already developed and refined elsewhere California could reduce its water consumption and get by with the water it has quite well.
 
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Alligatorob said:
About 25% of the land in California is farm or ranch land, it's about 19% in Israel. Many different ways to look at the statistics, but no matter how you do it Californians use a lot more water to live under similar conditions compared to the Israelis. If you do a Google search there are articles on the subject, see https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.o...-california-can-learn-from-israel-about-water for example.

Point is we in the US, including California, are quite wasteful in our water usage. For example California grows about 550,000 acres of rice a year. Rice is a very high water user and alone accounts for 6% of California's water consumption (https://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2015/05/amid_drought_california_fields.html). There is no rice shortage in the US, and it grows just fine in places like Louisiana that have a lot more water to work with than California. Just using water conservation measures already developed and refined elsewhere California could reduce its water consumption and get by with the water it has quite well.
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To say nothing of the Bellagio fountain usage in Las Vegas...they never seem to have any shortages, even when the hotel rooms have "please conserve water" notices.
 
Don M. said:
If present weather trends continue....and they Probably will....major areas in the nation may become almost uninhabitable, in another few decades. The "Dixie" fire officially became California's largest forest fire today, and it is continuing to grow. The combination of dry grasses and huge forests of evergreen trees quickly become a disaster in weather conditions like now. When fires hit, evergreen trees are like cans of gasoline. Then, as the oceans continue to rise, East and Gulf coast low lying population centers will begin to be inundated.

If I had any "financial" advise to give to our Grandkids, and beyond, it would be to invest in land and real estate in the Midwest. The land we bought for a fairly minor sum 20 years ago may be worth a fortune someday as millions of people are forced to migrate inland.
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Hey, Cleveland, Ohio is a cheap place to live now as so many have moved out...might be a good idea if they can stomach the long brutal grey winters...lol.
 
Liberty said:
To say nothing of the Bellagio fountain usage in Las Vegas...they never seem to have any shortages, even when the hotel rooms have "please conserve water" notices.
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Yeah....LV is a prime example of "wastefulness". If the lake level in Lake Mead drops much more, that city may have to turn off the millions of bright lights, or the city will be drowned out by the noise of thousands of generators running.
 

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