Does California Have A Dire Water Problem?

[Don M.]

If long term weather predictions prove true, much of the Western 1/3rd of the nation is going to be under increasing drought conditions. Forest fires will deplete much of the forest areas, and the hillsides will be increasingly barren. Water is going to become the "new gold" in these areas. Meanwhile, the Eastern and Southern states will continue to have excessive rainfall. I can see the need for major projects to pipeline water from East to West, in the not too distant future.

 

[Brookswood]

Most water in California is used by agriculture and industry. Individuals can conserve all they want, but they can't save enough to make up for waste in the two big consumers. I remember having to put a brick in my toilet and flush once a day, well maybe twice. Then driving up through the Fresno area and seeing farmers water their crops using leaky pipes and rainbirds that shot water up into the hot air where it easily evaporated.

OTOH, Californians can no longer buy goose paté. No doubt that makes them happy their elected leaders are dealing with such serious issues and not trivial things like water and power shortages.

 

[Don M.]

OTOH, Californians can no longer buy goose paté. No doubt that makes them happy their elected leaders are dealing with such serious issues and not trivial things like water and power shortages.

Based upon the frequent news reports about the California power grid, it seems that PG&E needs some major upgrades. However, it looks like CA is about to send out another "stimulus" payment. Strange priorities, IMO.

 

[Patch]

And the depletion of groundwater is happening all over the U.S., unfortunately:

National Climate Assessment: Great Plains’ Ogallala Aquifer drying out
The Ogallala Aquifer underlies parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. From wheat and cows to corn and cotton, the regional economy depends almost exclusively on agriculture irrigated by Ogallala groundwater. But according to the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), producers are extracting water faster than it is being replenished, which means that parts of the Ogallala Aquifer should be considered a nonrenewable resource.
Major aquifer for Central Plains farms being depleted

The Ogallala aquifer has dropped significantly in the past few years. Crop irrigation is the biggest culprit. The large pivot irrigation systems "spray" the water in the air as it covers the fields. Much of the water is lost in evaporation before it even get to the ground.
We are a huge wheat producing state. Nitrogen, used as fertilizer, has migrated down into the aquifer. The quantify of nitrogen along with the decreasing quantity of water has raised nitrate levels in drinking water. We've seen numerous nitrate removal facilities constructed in recent years, just to provide safe drinking water.
I still contend our great grandchildren will fight wars over water just as we have seen wars fought over oil.

 

[Patch]

Compared to the average water use in my town of 15 hundred cubic feet per month per household, my average water use is 6 hundred cubic feet per year. Yet, although the average household uses 30 times as much water as I do, my water bill of $110 a month is close to 90 percent of the average.

The problem is not the people of California, who use less than 10 percent of the total, but the city and state policies that punish those of us who conserve and use very little water, and which reward the (usually richer) people and families which use exorbitant amounts.

Likewise, the farmers and electric utility companies get their water either for greatly reduced rates or else FREE, which is totally ridiculous.

What the cities should be doing is to charge people based on their actual water use, and stop with the meter fees, sewer, garbage, and green waste fees, because all of those are directly related to the water use of each household. What they are actually doing is charging for infrastructure (i.e. illegal taxes), which has nothing to do with the usage of water. Also, these fees are required!

Based on actual water use my bill would be less than $5 a month, and people who use excessive amounts of water would also pay their fair share, instead of getting a discount. Likewise the farmers and electrical companies, especially PG&E. should be paying their fair share of the costs and provide better service for lower rates, instead of confiscating and giving the excess fees to themselves.

Those are the people who are creating all the problems, not the people in their households.

A couple points. First, politics does play a significant part in what you pay for water. We have a large State university in our community. About 4 years ago, we found the university was being charged less for water than the cost to produce it. We residents were paying twice the cost of production to pay for the break the university was being given. The issue got really heated. The university threatened to shut off purchasing water from the City and drill their own wells, construction their own water treatment plant, and thumb their nose if their rate went up. The City finally told them to go pound sand. They would pay a similar rate as any commercial business. (We had them in a bind since the City has all water rights for quite a few square miles.) Once the university began paying higher rates, we residents did get a slight decrease in our MCF (million cubic feet) rate.
As far as the added costs of sewer, etc. how else should this part of our infrastructure be paid for? Working for 40 years in water/wastewater engineering, I know of no municipality in our area that does not charge sewer rates based on water use. If you can't flush... you have a really smelly problem!! I don't want to pay a flat rate for my sewer use, the same as the university dorms, etc. I only want to pay based on my water use since most of my water does go down the sewer.
How do we fix it? As long as there are politicians controlling your utility rates, you can't fix it. They will give breaks to large commercial customers because those corporate folks control campaign donations. Your celebrities are no more than campaign donors when the politicians analyze whether or not to raise their rates. If they upset you, you might not donate your $50.00. If they upset a celebrity, he/she may not donate their $500,000.00!
Also, politicians want to spend money on something they can hang a brass plaque on with their name etched in it. At the next election cycle, "See the beautiful park I built for you", "See the new library I built for you", "See the water sports park I build for you". They don't want to be strapped with saying "See the sewer line that runs through your back yard I renovated for you?", "See the larger water line I voted to have installed to better serve your needs? The only time water and sewer get attention is when you turn on the tap and water doesn't run out or when you can't flush your toilet. As those issues pop up, it is so often an emergency and costs four times the dollars to rectify than if it was preplanned and accomplished with some sort of financial forethought.

Sorry! Didn't mean to get on a soap box. The U.S. citizenry

 

[Brookswood]

I've lived in drought areas and I've lived in areas with a reasonably abundant water supply. I'll take the latter, thank you.