NASA says california has less than a year of water left

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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/califo ... 2015-03-14

ok, what to do about it?

Stop listening to NASA scaremongering...

am no engineer here, but the majority of those plants will not be up to speed by spring of next year. also those plants require a fair amount of juice to run, and that part of it may end up costing major moolah as well as cause pollution problems from having to fire up more power plants. it's gonna be a bumpy ride. IOW it is not as simple as "build the desalination plants and the water will come"

I guess we shouldn't have sold that natural resource into private ownership.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-new-wa ... er/5383274

Recent research also examines the large and growing gap between water use in California and the available water supply. The state suffers from a water deficit in excess of 6 million acre-feet. That amount is unsustainably drawn from the state’s two primary water resources – groundwater and surface waters – each year. On average, the state diverts approximately 5 million acre-feet per year more from the Sacramento-San Joaquin watershed than can be sustained by the estuary, and it overdrafts groundwater by at least 1 to 2 million acre-feet annually. The water deficit is even higher during a drought. Excessive water diversions from the state’s drying rivers and chronic groundwater overdraft have in turn led to shortages for some users, degraded ecosystems, and compromised water quality.
Key findings and solutions from the new study include:
•Agriculture uses about 80 percent of California’s developed water supply. Agricultural water users can develop more sustainable water use by expanding adoption of key modern irrigation technologies and practices, such as drip irrigation and precise irrigation scheduling. Some farmers are already employing these practices, which, extended, can reduce agricultural water use by 17 to 22 percent – or 5.6 to 6.6 million acre-feet of water annually. These savings are the equivalent to the surface water that Central Valley farms are lacking this year due to the drought.
•Urban areas use about 20 percent of the state’s developed water supply, much of which is delivered from reservoirs hundreds of miles away at great ecological and energy cost. Improved efficiency, storm water capture, and greater water reuse can together save a total of 5.2 to 7.1 million acre-feet of water per year, enough water to supply all of urban Southern California and have water remaining to help restore ecosystems and recharge aquifers. These approaches also cut energy use, boost local water reliability, and improve water quality in coastal regions.
•In total, these 21st century water supply solutions can offer up to 14 million acre-feet in new supplies and demand reductions per year, more water than is used in all of California’s cities in a year. These savings would provide enough water to serve 20 cities the size of Los Angeles, every year.

a hopeful note above, but there is a chasm between "there" and "here." the solutions ain't gonna happen within the time frame that NASA indicates. bye bye lawns and golf courses. bye bye clean motor vehicles and city streets. bye bye [relatively] cheap food. it seems that water is the new oil, at least for the time being.

Not to worry. Cali-funny is FULL of geniuses. They'll figure out some solar powered desalination thing you can mount in your own backyard, and VIOLA, all the water you need.

Of course, the Pacific might recede a bit, but that's a bonus with wider beaches, isn't it?

I wonder how this water shortage stuff is gonna jibe with all the restrictions various municipalities have placed on homeowners conserving runoff from downspouts and such.

You'd do well and put a barrel under every rainspout. Then stash it away so the "Water Police" don't arrest you ...

Hmmmm, camouflaged rain barrels do present a bit of a challenge.
But I'm sure you can pull it off, Aunt Blabby...

luckily [for now] I live in a place known for having an abundance of water most of the time. but even Washington state is gonna have droughty areas this summer. I have long conserved water as best I can.

Maybe just maybe wasting water is part of the problem not sure about California but even here in Colorado when they have water restrictions like limits on how much you can water your lawn or hose down your car with there will be sprinklers lining government buildings keeping their lawns green and half of them need maintenance and appear to be watering the sidewalk rather than the grass, not that they need green lawns. Its like watching tax money just trickle down the drain.

That aside maybe its time to start figuring ways of cleaning water, and de-salting it...I mean the world cannot run out of water it just gets cycled back via the rain cycle, trouble is pollution in the water making a lot undrinkable, of course it might cost money for the government to invest in that, besides obviously its more important to water the sidewalks...even in the rain.

Of course then sometimes there are screwed up policies like it being illegal to collect rain water....when in reality its possible to filter it thus making it drinkable, but I guess if it where legal people wouldn't have to depend on the government for water at all. I see what they did there. Anyways hopefully my dad will fare ok, since he's out there waiting on some money some company he worked for owes him or something and basically trying to get back on his feet.

See, this is one reason why I am kind of reconsidering my Los Angeles move. I illustrated this in one of my recent posts about it.

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