4 ms·

Countdown to the next drought, since we are woefully short of water storage facilities (dams are letting out excess water in many dams in Northern California, a

Countdown to the next drought, since we are woefully short of water storage facilities (dams are letting out excess water in many dams in Northern California, and the snowpack melt hasn't started yet).

ilaksh 10y ago
Are the aquifers/groundwater sources filled up/filling? Seems like they have been kind of overtapped for awhile in many areas. If they ever get back up to high levels then maybe we should celebrate.
- stouset 10y ago
  Groundwater takes decades to replenish, and that's a huge source of water we've been tapping.
  - theandrewbailey 10y ago
    Add in the fact that the ground sinks when enough water goes out of it, I'm not sure that it will ever come back until civilization leaves.
- hkmurakami 10y ago
  I heard reports that they are filling. Doubtful that they are filled up though.
- icantdrive55 10y ago
  They have something called underground water banks. This billionaire named Resnick owns a large percentage of Kern water bank. He also owns a huge almond farm. Almond take something like a gallon of water to grow 1 almond. He uses huge amounts of water. Other entities pay him for water. The federal government pays him for water--I don't know why. It's all rather confusing, but private individuals shouldn't be hording/profiting off underground aquifers? The laws around these water banks are confusing. This billionaire has taken so much water for his Fiji Bottled Water; the islanders are supposedly having to buy water? It just doesn't seem right. He ran the wells dry by serving us fancy overpriced water? There always been a big push-pull between farmers, and Northern California. The movie Chinatown, with Nickolsan, and Dunnaway made a fictional movie about the corruption in water rights. This Resnick is not doing anything illegil. I just don't know how a private citizen can have so much power over a natural resource. As to the fill rate of the aquifers; I don't have a clue. They seem to want to keep it quiet. It's seems like it would be easy to measure? I all for water conservation. I'm not for rich guys doing what they want with all of our water. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/dec/19/local/me-kern19 http://articles.latimes.com/2003/dec/19/local/me-kern19
duncan_bayne 10y ago
It's a similar situation here in Australia. People keep complaining about water shortages and climate change, but actually what we have is an infrastructure-investment shortage.
- Gustomaximus 10y ago
  People love to complain about the Sydney desalinisation plant investment as it's usage has been limited. Given the importance of water and the number of times Sydney has been in drought seems a short sighted view.
Animats 10y ago
The California Water Project has enough storage capacity for a three-year drought. Four years with some cutbacks. That was enough from the 1960s to 2015. This drought was five years long, the longest since weather records have been kept.
- 1_2__3 10y ago
  Citation on five years being the longest drought in California since records were kept?
whyenot 10y ago
California stores plenty of water. Many times more than non-ag users would ever need. The issue is the incredible demand that agriculture, now just 2% of the state economy, places on water resources. If farmers want more water storage so they can waste water planting hugely inefficient crops like almonds and pistachios they are more that welcome to build and pay for a dam themselves. California taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill. Oh, and I wish them luck with finding an undamed river without salmon or steelhead runs with a location unused and unloved enough that you can plop a reservoir on it.

ilaksh 10y ago

Are the aquifers/groundwater sources filled up/filling? Seems like they have been kind of overtapped for awhile in many areas. If they ever get back up to high levels then maybe we should celebrate.

stouset 10y ago
Groundwater takes decades to replenish, and that's a huge source of water we've been tapping.
- theandrewbailey 10y ago
  Add in the fact that the ground sinks when enough water goes out of it, I'm not sure that it will ever come back until civilization leaves.
hkmurakami 10y ago
I heard reports that they are filling. Doubtful that they are filled up though.
icantdrive55 10y ago
They have something called underground water banks. This billionaire named Resnick owns a large percentage of Kern water bank. He also owns a huge almond farm. Almond take something like a gallon of water to grow 1 almond. He uses huge amounts of water. Other entities pay him for water. The federal government pays him for water--I don't know why. It's all rather confusing, but private individuals shouldn't be hording/profiting off underground aquifers? The laws around these water banks are confusing. This billionaire has taken so much water for his Fiji Bottled Water; the islanders are supposedly having to buy water? It just doesn't seem right. He ran the wells dry by serving us fancy overpriced water? There always been a big push-pull between farmers, and Northern California. The movie Chinatown, with Nickolsan, and Dunnaway made a fictional movie about the corruption in water rights. This Resnick is not doing anything illegil. I just don't know how a private citizen can have so much power over a natural resource. As to the fill rate of the aquifers; I don't have a clue. They seem to want to keep it quiet. It's seems like it would be easy to measure? I all for water conservation. I'm not for rich guys doing what they want with all of our water. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/dec/19/local/me-kern19 http://articles.latimes.com/2003/dec/19/local/me-kern19

duncan_bayne 10y ago

It's a similar situation here in Australia. People keep complaining about water shortages and climate change, but actually what we have is an infrastructure-investment shortage.

Gustomaximus 10y ago
People love to complain about the Sydney desalinisation plant investment as it's usage has been limited. Given the importance of water and the number of times Sydney has been in drought seems a short sighted view.

Animats 10y ago

The California Water Project has enough storage capacity for a three-year drought. Four years with some cutbacks. That was enough from the 1960s to 2015. This drought was five years long, the longest since weather records have been kept.

1_2__3 10y ago
Citation on five years being the longest drought in California since records were kept?

whyenot 10y ago

California stores plenty of water. Many times more than non-ag users would ever need. The issue is the incredible demand that agriculture, now just 2% of the state economy, places on water resources. If farmers want more water storage so they can waste water planting hugely inefficient crops like almonds and pistachios they are more that welcome to build and pay for a dam themselves. California taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill. Oh, and I wish them luck with finding an undamed river without salmon or steelhead runs with a location unused and unloved enough that you can plop a reservoir on it.