One way to fix the water shortages out west

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shoprat

New Member
I am not sure about this as I have not been to the west coast since the mid 70's. But if they are still running fountains at government buildings or anywhere in Vegas I think they should probably turn them off, forever as far as I am concerned. My public service rant is over !!
 

It's closing in on 20 years, since I lived in San Diego. It was an issue then and clearly not much has been done about the situation.
 
shoprat said:
I am not sure about this as I have not been to the west coast since the mid 70's. But if they are still running fountains at government buildings or anywhere in Vegas I think they should probably turn them off, forever as far as I am concerned. My public service rant is over !!
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For some time the big casino resorts have been heavily recycling that type of water display. I belief they have also been utilizing gray water for roadside irrigation.
 

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shoprat said:
I am not sure about this as I have not been to the west coast since the mid 70's. But if they are still running fountains at government buildings or anywhere in Vegas I think they should probably turn them off, forever as far as I am concerned. My public service rant is over !!
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Nathan's right, fountains cycle the same water over and over again. Also, there are fewer fountains in Vegas now, and some sections of the really big ones are turned off. A lot of Calif water parks are closed, and so are "water features" in our amusement parks and even car-wash businesses.

Everyone is on a yard-watering schedule, too. Like, if your house address is an odd number, you can water your yard for 10 minutes every Sat and Wed, and even numbers get Tue and Sun, or whatever. Watering systems at apartment complexes, public parks and landscaped commercial buildings have to be on a timer; 3 days a week for 10 minutes or something.

The biggest hurt has been on our huge Calif produce farms and their cunsumers. For example, this year's summer fruit wasn't as plump and sweet as usual, and they spoiled quicker. And wineries are seeing pitiful crops, which makes crappy wine. Some of them will have to shut down production.
 
Agricultural choices may have to be looked at.

From motherjones.com (basically same info can be found on any google search)

nuts use a whole lot of water: it takes about a gallon of water to grow one almond, and nearly five gallons to produce a walnut. Residents across the state are being told to take shorter showers and stop watering their lawns, but the acreage devoted to the state’s almond orchards have doubled in the past decade. The amount of water that California uses annually to produce almond exports would provide water for all Los Angeles homes and businesses for almost three years.
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The utility companies and big ag use more than 92% of the water in California, and are not held accountable.
Meanwhile, cities charge a flat rate that varies very little between frugal and extremely wasteful households.

My water use is less than 1/30th of the average, but the city charges me 90%+ of an average household. Those using 100 times as much pay only a little bit more. All sewer, meter and waste pickup charges should be in proportion to household water usage, but that isn't done. Just like big ag and PG&E, those in charge want everyone else to pay for their wasteful excesses.

Grampa Don said:
Not true in my city. The rate goes up significantly if usage passes a set amount. And, sewer and waste pickup fees are proportional to water usage.
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@Grampa Don: The City of Orange, CA has a flat rate "service capacity charge" for water plus an insignificant tier increase for excessive usage (about 3%), a flat rate for recycling, and flat rates for trash, recycling and organics (green waste).
 
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shoprat said:
I am not sure about this as I have not been to the west coast since the mid 70's. But if they are still running fountains at government buildings or anywhere in Vegas I think they should probably turn them off, forever as far as I am concerned. My public service rant is over !!
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What about all those swimming pools in Arizona and California?
 
Packerjohn said:
What about all those swimming pools in Arizona and California?
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"all those swimming pools" are not in my neighborhood. I imagine Beverly Hills and similar upscale communities have some.
IMO swimming pools are but a drop-in-the-bucket in the water shortage scenario, it's the thousands and thousands of acres of non-native grass planted as lawns that suck up the lion's share of the water. I don't know where the idea even came from to grow grass here(yes I do!) but I believe the idea migrated from the eastern locales where grass grows natively, because the rainfall in say Kentucky is at least 40 times greater than the average(pre-drought) rainfall in Southern California.
 
Humans are idiots. Natural river flood zones are dammed and they put houses there. Too many people move to places where life is barely sustainable because of short supply of natural resources. Towns are built in the middle of historical wildfire zones. New Orleans should be moved inland.
 
John cycling said:
The utility companies and big ag use more than 92% of the water in California, and are not held accountable.
Meanwhile, cities charge a flat rate that varies very little between frugal and extremely wasteful households.

My water use is less than 1/30th of the average, but the city charges me 90%+ of an average household. Those using 100 times as much pay only a little bit more. All sewer, meter and waste pickup charges should be in proportion to household water usage, but that isn't done. Just like big ag and PG&E, those in charge want everyone else to pay for their wasteful excesses.
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Not true in my city. The rate goes up significantly if usage passes a set amount. And, sewer and waste pickup fees are proportional to water usage.
 
Here in Orange county there are man made ponds to collect what rain there is and allow it to soak into the aquifer. The river beds are graded for the same purpose. Also, sewage is filtered through reverse osmosis and pumped into the aquifer too.
 
There may come a time when we simply have to ban new construction and growth in some areas of the country.

I was sad to see that one of the latest government programs intends to pay farmers in drought stricken areas not to plant crops.

IMO the government should be rewarding farmers who come up with innovative ways to reduce consumption and conserve water.

“A nation that cannot feed itself is not free”
 
Aunt Bea said:
I was sad to see that one of the latest government programs intends to pay farmers in drought stricken areas not to plant crops.

IMO the government should be rewarding farmers who come up with innovative ways to reduce consumption and conserve water.
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I agree, now the government substantially subsidizes water supplies to farmers, including the California rice farmers. And not long ago in Louisiana where there is an excess of water that same government was paying farmers not to grow rice. We need a more logical approach to this, badly!
 
Alligatorob said:
I agree, now the government substantially subsidizes water supplies to farmers, including the California rice farmers. And not long ago in Louisiana where there is an excess of water that same government was paying farmers not to grow rice. We need a more logical approach to this, badly!
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We grow a great deal of rice in Arkansas too, and have the natural water supply for it.
 
oldaunt said:
We grow a great deal of rice in Arkansas too, and have the natural water supply for it.
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Yes, I think you grow the most or close to it, followed closely by California and Louisiana. Who's first kind of depends on how you measure it. California is the only dry place where rice is grown in any quantity. Makes no sense.

Where Rice Grows in the USA​

 
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