OT Just how bad is the drought? Just curious OT

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Splater

climber

Grey Matter

Apr 16, 2015 - 04:58pm PT

"Does anyone have a chart that shows water consumption per calorie of food generated, for different types of foods? I'd like to see how bad almonds really are vs. alternatives, including grass rangeland for dairy cows to get cow milk (vs. almond milk). "

that was already posted on April 5

dave729

Trad climber

Western America

Apr 16, 2015 - 10:08pm PT

Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago
About a Kingdom on a mountain
And a valley folk down below..

http://www.metrolyrics.com/one-tin-soldier-lyrics-joan-baez.html?ModPagespeed=noscript

Things get done differently now but its still all about the treasure.

Ken M

Mountain climber

Los Angeles, Ca

Apr 17, 2015 - 08:02pm PT

The farmers keep coming up.

I had not really read anything that correctly addressed what sacrifice they had made, but finally did. They took a 40% mandatory cut in State and Federal water project water this last year. We civilians are being asked to make a 25% cut, and for the most part it is voluntary.

This is important, because of the sense of justice and equity that is involved. Why should the little people be asked to save water, when the big boys are ignored?

They weren't. They already took the hit.

However, this has not been sold very well.

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Apr 17, 2015 - 08:25pm PT

And remind me again why the politicos waited until now to sort of do something. Oh, right,
wouldn't want to make the little people, who vote Democratic, stop watering their lawns.

zBrown

Ice climber

Brujò de la Playa

Apr 18, 2015 - 06:50pm PT

Can't, for the life of me, figure out why poor people aren't drinking their own urine. Hell, 'The' did it onboard ship. Maybe all these poor folks should move to the midwest and start voting Republican.

Lefty he can't sing the blues
All night long like he used to
The dust that Pancho bit down south
Ended up in Lefty's mouth
The day they laid poor Pancho low
Lefty split for Ohio
Where he got the bread to go
There ain't nobody knows

Although the 1930s drought is often referred to as if it were one episode, there were at least 4 distinct drought events: 1930–31, 1934, 1936, and 1939–40 (Riebsame et al., 1991). These events occurred in such rapid succession that affected regions were not able to recover adequately before another drought began.

Riebsame, W.E.; S.A. Changnon, Jr.; and T.R. Carl. 1991. Drought and Natural Resources Management in the United States: Impacts and Implications of the 1987–89 Drought. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.

http://drought.unl.edu/Planning/Monitoring/HistoricalPDSIMaps.aspx

Bob Harrington

climber

Bishop, California

Apr 19, 2015 - 08:45am PT

Ken M., regarding cutback to agriculture, there's more to the story. Statewide, about 0.5 million acres were fallowed last year out of 9.5 million acres, or about 5%. How can the farmers sustain a 40% cutback in water and still maintain 95% of the irrigated acreage? Part of the answer is probably that the fallowed crops were the higher water users, but the primary reason is that the deficit is being made up with groundwater. It's misleading to compare the cutbacks in state and federal water deliveries to ag contractors to the mandated cutbacks for urban water suppliers, because the ag contractors can and do pump groundwater to supplement their surface water contracts. The mandate for urban water suppliers includes both surface water and groundwater.

Nonetheless, I agree that the urban areas and environmental groups that are complaining that Brown's executive order gives ag a free pass are not recognizing that ag already took a hit on their contracts (for several years now). Lotta BS finger pointing going on, from all parties.

Here are some facts re the effect of the drought on ag:

http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10978

Banquo

climber

Amerricka

Apr 19, 2015 - 08:11pm PT

San Joaquin River flow:

The average flow for April 19 over the past 4 (drought ridden) years was 188, flow today is 44 (23%). In September 2011 (late summer) the flow was ~75.

Measurements from USGS station 11224000 near Devils Postpile, units ft^3/sec.

mouse from merced

Trad climber

The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.

Apr 19, 2015 - 10:06pm PT

I took a trip with Gene Malone to Fresno today. Coming home on Santa Fe Drive, there are several new almond and pistachio orchards out there that were not there two years ago.

And this was posted on Rod McKenzie's FaceBook page.

Downer. Big downer.

Snow survey, 2015.
http://sustainableplay.com/winter-of-his-disbelief/

climber

California dreamin' on the farside of the world..

Apr 20, 2015 - 06:24am PT

I just read this from a newsletter I receive...and found it totally insane:

According to NASA's new report, California only has enough water to get it through the next year. People are under strict water-saving measures; farmers are struggling to keep their crops alive.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/03/california-only-has-one-years-worth-of-water-left-nasa-scientist-warns/

Yet, Nestlé is bottling water from at least ten natural springs throughout California, including from some of the most drought-stricken areas of the state, and selling it for profit. In places like Sacramento, it's paying less than $0.14 per gallon. This is bananas.

We can stop this. Nestlé's already feeling pressure in Canada -- last month, we hit front page news for our campaign to stop the giant corporation from withdrawing Canadians' groundwater at dirt cheap rates, and political parties in Canada are debating the policy. If we're to stop Nestlé from sucking California dry, we have to keep up the pressure.

Tell Nestlé to stop depleting California's precious water resources.

As California's water supplies dry up, Nestlé continues to make millions selling bottled water. Nestlé's Sacramento water plant is sucking water at a rate of 50 million gallons of water each year from the city's water reserves, and that's just one of the billion dollar company's five bottling plants in California. And Nestlé isn't even following the rules -- a new investigation shows that Nestlé Water's permit to transport water across the San Bernardino National Forest for bottling expired 27 years ago.

The biggest victims of this unprecedented drought are California's food crops and the minimum-wage workers who grow them. More than 80% of the world's almonds and nearly half of the USA's fruits and vegetables come from California. As crops sit withering on the vine and tens of thousands of farm workers lose their livelihoods, it's a travesty that precious water is being bottled and sold for profit instead of feeding our crops.

SumOfUs members have stood up to Nestlé exploiting our natural resources for profits, and the company has heard us loud and clear. After hundreds of thousands of us called on Nestlé to stop exploiting Pakistan's water supply, we took the message straight to the company's annual meeting. And now we are making front pages in Canada. We can stop Nestlé's water-guzzling ways in California, but we need to speak out before the state completely runs out of water.

Sign the petition below to Nestlé: stop taking water from drought-stricken areas.

http://action.sumofus.org/a/nestle-california-drought/?akid=10284.7651672.kyTVQt&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=2

Dave

Mountain climber

the ANTI-fresno

Apr 20, 2015 - 06:42am PT

Look, Nestle @ 50 million gallons per year is small potatoes. I read a whiney article about fracking in California consuming 70 million gallons per year.

It takes 1.1 gallons to grow ONE almond. 1.07 TRILLION gallons in California last year.

It takes 4.5 gallons to grow one walnut.

And most of those nuts are exported - California is exporting its water in different form...

Inefficient agricultural water use like that NEEDS TO STOP.

Price water for agriculture at the same rate residents and consumers pay, and a few things might change...

k-man

Gym climber

SCruz

Apr 20, 2015 - 08:29am PT

Walnuts are native to California, btw.

Even the English Walnut? Interesting.

10b4me

Social climber

Apr 20, 2015 - 08:36am PT

Laura, I will sign the petition.
However, that story about one year left of California's' water supply is not true.

Chaz

Trad climber

greater Boss Angeles area

Apr 20, 2015 - 09:32am PT

A gallon of water for an almond? That's not bad, when compared with what we're getting from some of the other water in California.

How many gallons of water does take to produce one Delta Smelt?

Easy formula: Total up the number of gallons of water flowing into the San Francisco Bay, and divide by 1.

"State officials found one delta smelt during a survey earlier this month of 40 sites in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta...state Department of Fish and Wildlife typically turns up dozens of smelt, and found 143 three years ago."

http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/California-Delta-smelt-survey-turns-up-1-fish-6209856.php

We know how many gallons of water it takes to produce one Steelhead Trout; 814,627,500 gallons. ( 15,000 acre-feet divided by 6 )

"Bureau of Reclamation wants to flush as much as 15,000 acre feet of water down the Stanislaus River in order to “save” six fish."

http://www.mantecabulletin.com/section/1/article/122681/

Kind of makes almonds and walnuts look like wise water use.

Unlike almonds and walnuts, nobody's going to eat these Steelhead or Delta Smelt, and they're not going to produce any wealth for anybody. And even if they swim all the way to China, they won't help our trade imbalance.

k-man

Gym climber

SCruz

Apr 20, 2015 - 09:39am PT

We got rained off at the base or El Cap yesterday. But it was a warm rain & thunderstorm. My car thermometer read 86 degrees in the lower Merced canyon. At 6 pm. This is mid-April, mind you.

Black walnuts are good. They graft English walnut trees on their stumps, because apparently their root systems are stronger. I have an English walnut tree in my backyard. The walnuts are great, but the squirrels get them before we every can. Those friggers dig up our potted plants to squirrel away their precious nuts...

Chaz

Trad climber

greater Boss Angeles area

Apr 20, 2015 - 10:11am PT

You're forgetting, Mr Milktoast, I hold a piss & sh#t exemption - thank you San Francisco for snagging that for us - so I can do whatever I want with my driveway.

And thanks to Governor Brown, I have an agriculture exemption, which means I don't have to cut back my water use any.

Besides, I don't have a hose long enough to wash the driveway - it's a long f*#king driveway.

rincon

climber

Coarsegold

Apr 25, 2015 - 01:37pm PT

https://vimeo.com/user21479113/skiing-the-california-drought-no-snow-no-water

WBraun

climber

Apr 25, 2015 - 01:43pm PT

The skier in the video is really good ....

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Apr 25, 2015 - 06:32pm PT

So why are y'all still living there?

Hoping everyone else will leave so that you will have enough water for you?

Hoping the whole drought thing will just go away, and next year everything will be fine?

Hoping the government will stop "them" from doing whatever it is they are doing?

Southern California has enough water to support a few thousand -- maybe a few hundred thousand -- people. And there are twenty million of you. Arguing about whether the problem is almonds or lawns is a demonstration of cognitive dissonance gone mad.