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This article is from 2014 - but definitely still relevant. It contains some interesting facts and commentary: > Although many Californians think that populati
by criticaltinker 5y ago
This article is from 2014 - but definitely still relevant. It contains some interesting facts and commentary:
> Although many Californians think that population growth is the main driver of water demand statewide, it actually is agriculture. In an average year, farmers use 80 percent of the water consumed by people and businesses — 34 million of 43 million acre-feet diverted from rivers, lakes and groundwater, according to the state Department of Water Resources
> Bill Patzert, a research scientist and oceanographer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, says that the West is in a 20-year drought that began in 2000. He cites the fact that a phenomenon known as a “negative Pacific decadal oscillation” is underway — and that historically has been linked to extreme high-pressure ridges that block storms.
> Such events, which cause pools of warm water in the North Pacific Ocean and cool water along the California coast, are not the result of global warming, Patzert said.
- colechristensen 5y agoThis is one good thing to point out, there are very many periodic cycles which affect weather patterns. It is important to not yell “global warming” each time a change is noticed but to actually try to understand what is happening and the inputs to those results.
- yalogin 5y agoIs growth also increasing farm sizes and their water consumption? That will be interesting to understand.
- colechristensen 5y agoMuch of the ag production is for export from the state, local population growth is probably not strongly correlated.
- tablespoon 5y ago>> Although many Californians think that population growth is the main driver of water demand statewide, it actually is agriculture. In an average year, farmers use 80 percent of the water consumed by people and businesses — 34 million of 43 million acre-feet diverted from rivers, lakes and groundwater, according to the state Department of Water Resources I feel that whenever people bring up that fact, there's an implicit point that water problems should be solved by reducing agriculture, but doesn't California's agriculture industry produce a huge fraction of the high-value fruit and vegetables that people eat?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ashtonkem 5y agoYes, it does. But the issue is also related to changes in what people eat. My understanding is that the increased demand for almonds has been particularly problematic for the region due to how water intensive it is, for example. What’s not clear to me is whether or not we have to grow our fruits and vegetables in California. Certainly one of the issues is that for huge swaths of our farmland elsewhere we tend to grow mono crops which are often inedible to humans (such as most of our corn). Perhaps we could grow more fruit and edible vegetables there?
- bamboozled 5y agoIs there really a huge demand for almonds ?
- travgary 5y agoDairy farms use far more water the focus on almonds is a result of dairy industry propaganda.
- dmckeon 5y agohttps://text.npr.org/1028452988 https://text.npr.org/1028452988 > California’s $6 billion almond industry, which produces roughly 80% of the world's almonds. > California almond production grew from 370 million pounds (nearly 168 million kilograms) in 1995 to a record 3.1 billion pounds (1.4 billion kilograms) in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During that period, land planted with almond trees grew from 756 square miles (1,958 square kilometers) to 2,500 square miles (6,475 square kilometers).
- bamboozled 5y agoOk, thanks ;)
- rasz 5y ago