4 ms·

If it makes you feel any better, California is also failing to provide safe tap drinking water for everyone. In a few places, the wells are dry. In others the w

If it makes you feel any better, California is also failing to provide safe tap drinking water for everyone. In a few places, the wells are dry. In others the water is contaminated.

jedberg 7y ago
That's not anywhere close to the same thing. In California, the cause of that is climate change, not corruption. The sources for the rural communities are drying up. Secondly, the state is sending bottled water to the people who don't have clean drinking water. And third, the Governor just last week signed an appropriations bill that will provide millions for clean water projects out of the funds that were allocated for "green enhancement programs" because they recognize that this is the fault of climate change.
- solotronics 7y ago
  Climate Change is a funny way to say farmers are using all the water to irrigate what is naturally an arid desert.
- HillaryBriss 7y ago
  It's more than just global warming and I didn't say the cause was corruption (though I cannot rule that possibility out). I just said California did not provide clean tap water for everyone. Nevertheless, governmental failure of one kind or another is a huge and important reason for California's tap water problems. The fact that there is government provided bottled water in some places should not be looked upon as good management or a success story. It's a bandaid on a broken system and a statewide failure to manage and provide safe water resources and infrastructure. The the appropriations bill you mention does not make up for the years of failure to provide clean, contaminant free tap water on an equal basis to all communities statewide. And even if it succeeds across the state in every community, it will take years to actually fix all of the tap water problems. Five days ago, The NY Times reported As many as 1,000 community water systems in California may be at high risk of failing to deliver potable water — one out of every three — according to a previously undisclosed estimate by senior officials at the California State Water Resources Control Board: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/us/the-crisis-lurking-in-californians-taps-how-1000-water-systems-may-be-at-risk.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/us/the-crisis-lurking-in-... The Guardian reports that some Central Valley communities have water contaminated by arsenic, It’s cruel to be living in a state that’s so powerful, so rich, but we can’t count on clean water...: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/18/california-central-valley-sinking-arsenic-water-farming-agriculture https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/18/californ... Maywood, a poor city in Los Angeles County, has had a multi-year contaminated tap water problem: https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/project/assessing-groundwater-contamination-in-maywood-california/ https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/project/assessing-groundwater-cont...
- HillaryBriss 7y ago
  California has been slow to address the problem. Consider that the "... Central Valley has been sinking ... since the 1920s and is estimated to have sunk up to 28 feet. During drought years, the valley is prone to accelerated subsidence": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Valley_land_subsidence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Valley_land_subsidence As far back as 1988 there was scientific consensus that the earth was on a trajectory toward a doubling of CO2 levels and by 2001 the IPCC said "it was much more likely than not that our civilization faced severe global warming": https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/discovery-of-global-warming/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/discovery-of-glob... California's government has officially acknowledged global warming since at least 2006: https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/cc/ab32/ab32.htm https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/cc/ab32/ab32.htm Also in 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists noted that global warming would impact future water supply by reducing the Sierra Nevada snowpack: https://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/impacts/ca-global-warming-impacts.html https://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/im... About 30 million Californians rely at least partially upon groundwater sources for their water, but the state didn't get around to regulating well drilling until 2014 with a relatively weak law that "does not go as far as other Western states by granting state agencies the power to authorize or prohibit groundwater withdrawals": https://www.kqed.org/science/21706/what-to-know-about-californias-new-groundwater-law https://www.kqed.org/science/21706/what-to-know-about-califo... I predict that we'll keep seeing well failures in California and that government's actions will not be enough to reliably provide safe tap water to all of California's communities.
- HillaryBriss 7y ago
  Interestingly, that appropriation will take up to 130 million dollars a year for the next decade from a fund that was originally designed for something different: helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The drinking water plan has alarmed some environmental groups, who worry it sets a precedent of the state using the cap and trade money for other purposes as the state struggles to meets its emission reduction goals. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/article233066507.html https://www.newsobserver.com/news/article233066507.html So, it sure looks like, in order to address certain water supply problems, which are admittedly exacerbated by global warming, California will diminish its own efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions!
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

If it makes you feel any better, California is also failing to provide safe tap drinking water for everyone. In a few places, the wells are dry. In others the water is contaminated.

jedberg 7y ago

That's not anywhere close to the same thing. In California, the cause of that is climate change, not corruption. The sources for the rural communities are drying up. Secondly, the state is sending bottled water to the people who don't have clean drinking water. And third, the Governor just last week signed an appropriations bill that will provide millions for clean water projects out of the funds that were allocated for "green enhancement programs" because they recognize that this is the fault of climate change.

solotronics 7y ago
Climate Change is a funny way to say farmers are using all the water to irrigate what is naturally an arid desert.
HillaryBriss 7y ago
It's more than just global warming and I didn't say the cause was corruption (though I cannot rule that possibility out). I just said California did not provide clean tap water for everyone. Nevertheless, governmental failure of one kind or another is a huge and important reason for California's tap water problems. The fact that there is government provided bottled water in some places should not be looked upon as good management or a success story. It's a bandaid on a broken system and a statewide failure to manage and provide safe water resources and infrastructure. The the appropriations bill you mention does not make up for the years of failure to provide clean, contaminant free tap water on an equal basis to all communities statewide. And even if it succeeds across the state in every community, it will take years to actually fix all of the tap water problems. Five days ago, The NY Times reported As many as 1,000 community water systems in California may be at high risk of failing to deliver potable water — one out of every three — according to a previously undisclosed estimate by senior officials at the California State Water Resources Control Board: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/us/the-crisis-lurking-in-californians-taps-how-1000-water-systems-may-be-at-risk.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/us/the-crisis-lurking-in-... The Guardian reports that some Central Valley communities have water contaminated by arsenic, It’s cruel to be living in a state that’s so powerful, so rich, but we can’t count on clean water...: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/18/california-central-valley-sinking-arsenic-water-farming-agriculture https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/18/californ... Maywood, a poor city in Los Angeles County, has had a multi-year contaminated tap water problem: https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/project/assessing-groundwater-contamination-in-maywood-california/ https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/project/assessing-groundwater-cont...
HillaryBriss 7y ago
California has been slow to address the problem. Consider that the "... Central Valley has been sinking ... since the 1920s and is estimated to have sunk up to 28 feet. During drought years, the valley is prone to accelerated subsidence": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Valley_land_subsidence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Valley_land_subsidence As far back as 1988 there was scientific consensus that the earth was on a trajectory toward a doubling of CO2 levels and by 2001 the IPCC said "it was much more likely than not that our civilization faced severe global warming": https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/discovery-of-global-warming/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/discovery-of-glob... California's government has officially acknowledged global warming since at least 2006: https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/cc/ab32/ab32.htm https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/cc/ab32/ab32.htm Also in 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists noted that global warming would impact future water supply by reducing the Sierra Nevada snowpack: https://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/impacts/ca-global-warming-impacts.html https://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/im... About 30 million Californians rely at least partially upon groundwater sources for their water, but the state didn't get around to regulating well drilling until 2014 with a relatively weak law that "does not go as far as other Western states by granting state agencies the power to authorize or prohibit groundwater withdrawals": https://www.kqed.org/science/21706/what-to-know-about-californias-new-groundwater-law https://www.kqed.org/science/21706/what-to-know-about-califo... I predict that we'll keep seeing well failures in California and that government's actions will not be enough to reliably provide safe tap water to all of California's communities.
HillaryBriss 7y ago
Interestingly, that appropriation will take up to 130 million dollars a year for the next decade from a fund that was originally designed for something different: helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The drinking water plan has alarmed some environmental groups, who worry it sets a precedent of the state using the cap and trade money for other purposes as the state struggles to meets its emission reduction goals. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/article233066507.html https://www.newsobserver.com/news/article233066507.html So, it sure looks like, in order to address certain water supply problems, which are admittedly exacerbated by global warming, California will diminish its own efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions!

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]