4 ms·

Ban lawns, or at least watering them. Increase the use of aquifers and natural water reserves on site.

bsder 6y ago
Almost all the water problems are due to agribusiness usage. If you reduced all consumer usage of water to zero, it would barely make a dent. California can solve its consumer water problems with a couple of desalinization plants. Farming in the Central Valley, however, would basically need to be shut down to stop draining the aquifers.
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  > Almost all the water problems are due to agribusiness usage. That is largely true, but there is some low-hanging fruit: 1) Typically in each city, there's one or two houses with a broken water line that uses as much water as an entire subdivision. Finding and fixing those quickly is worthwhile. 2) Continuing to research and codify efficient toilets and showerheads is a win in the long run. Back in the day, electrical utilities used to offer exchanges on old hot water heaters, etc. for more efficient ones. Even today that's a great idea.
- yeq 6y ago
  Totally agree. I'm sick of hearing about how consumers need to cut back while businesses can continue to consume and waste. Would consumers cutting down usage help? Sure. But it's impact is so tiny that it couldn't possibly help the underlying problem. At best it kicks the can down the road.
- seehafer 6y ago
  Exactly. This is equivalent to the "we have to convert to electric cars because of climate change!" which will also barely make a dent in carbon emissions (unlike, say, converting the world to nuclear power plants).
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - AstralStorm 6y ago
    It would make more of a dent than consumer restrictions on water, estimated 8% with current power generation, more with cleaner, up to 20%. That said, replacing long distance haul with electrified rail transport would be yet better.
  - bsder 6y ago
    > This is equivalent to the "we have to convert to electric cars because of climate change!" which will also barely make a dent in carbon emissions Even if electric cars were carbon-equivalent, moving a million point sources of pollution (internal combustion engines) to a single point source of pollution (a power plant) is way better for us all.
- martinpw 6y ago
  > California can solve its consumer water problems with a couple of desalinization plants From the article: California has 11 desalination plants, and another 10 are being planned
- jelliclesfarm 6y ago
  Most of CA water goes to crops we export. During CA mega drought, we were sending alfafa to China in the shipping containers that would otherwise go empty. In this bizarro world, it was cheaper to ship to China than it was to truck it to dairy farms within CA. It was legit Bizarro World.
marmshallow 6y ago
If we're fantasizing: ban cows, or at least eating them. Increase the health of ourselves and our children.
- Arnt 6y ago
  If we're fantasizing and digressing: Teach people about the difference between "improve" and "increase". A difference which almost goes back to the topic of the NG article.

Almost all the water problems are due to agribusiness usage. If you reduced all consumer usage of water to zero, it would barely make a dent. California can solve its consumer water problems with a couple of desalinization plants. Farming in the Central Valley, however, would basically need to be shut down to stop draining the aquifers.

redis_mlc 6y ago
> Almost all the water problems are due to agribusiness usage. That is largely true, but there is some low-hanging fruit: 1) Typically in each city, there's one or two houses with a broken water line that uses as much water as an entire subdivision. Finding and fixing those quickly is worthwhile. 2) Continuing to research and codify efficient toilets and showerheads is a win in the long run. Back in the day, electrical utilities used to offer exchanges on old hot water heaters, etc. for more efficient ones. Even today that's a great idea.
yeq 6y ago
Totally agree. I'm sick of hearing about how consumers need to cut back while businesses can continue to consume and waste. Would consumers cutting down usage help? Sure. But it's impact is so tiny that it couldn't possibly help the underlying problem. At best it kicks the can down the road.
seehafer 6y ago
Exactly. This is equivalent to the "we have to convert to electric cars because of climate change!" which will also barely make a dent in carbon emissions (unlike, say, converting the world to nuclear power plants).
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- AstralStorm 6y ago
  It would make more of a dent than consumer restrictions on water, estimated 8% with current power generation, more with cleaner, up to 20%. That said, replacing long distance haul with electrified rail transport would be yet better.
- bsder 6y ago
  > This is equivalent to the "we have to convert to electric cars because of climate change!" which will also barely make a dent in carbon emissions Even if electric cars were carbon-equivalent, moving a million point sources of pollution (internal combustion engines) to a single point source of pollution (a power plant) is way better for us all.
martinpw 6y ago
> California can solve its consumer water problems with a couple of desalinization plants From the article: California has 11 desalination plants, and another 10 are being planned
jelliclesfarm 6y ago
Most of CA water goes to crops we export. During CA mega drought, we were sending alfafa to China in the shipping containers that would otherwise go empty. In this bizarro world, it was cheaper to ship to China than it was to truck it to dairy farms within CA. It was legit Bizarro World.

marmshallow 6y ago

If we're fantasizing: ban cows, or at least eating them. Increase the health of ourselves and our children.

Arnt 6y ago
If we're fantasizing and digressing: Teach people about the difference between "improve" and "increase". A difference which almost goes back to the topic of the NG article.