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Perhaps we should be shouldn't be growing food in a desert? Farmers in California are literally pumping the aquifers dry. There are already people who have ha

Perhaps we should be shouldn't be growing food in a desert? Farmers in California are literally pumping the aquifers dry. There are already people who have had to abandon their homes because you can't just dig the wells deeper to hit water anymore. >A frenzy of well drilling by California farmers leaves taps running dry https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-farms-water-wells-drought/ https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-farms-water-well...

atyppo 4y ago
The notion of growing "food" (i.e. almonds for export to China) in a desert is ludicrous, but how would you accomplish a ban on agriculture? At best, you might be able to create a program for farmers to give up their water rights in exchange for compensation. Even this is dubious, however. Water rights east of the Mississippi work differently than water rights to the west. In the west, they are based on seniority.
- GeekyBear 4y ago
  >how would you accomplish a ban on agriculture? Ground water is a limited public resource. Farmers do not have the right to pump the aquifers dry and render the area uninhabitable. I would imagine that you could require a license to pump ground water in areas where the ground water level has already dropped dangerously low. >Water rights east of the Mississippi work differently than water rights to the west. In the west, they are based on seniority. That applies to water on top of the ground (lakes, rivers, streams), not the water under the ground.
rrss 4y ago
The Central Valley is not a desert, I do not like this meme. Farmers in California were running out of water 100 years ago too, and people responded with massive engineering projects to regulate water throughout the year and move it from places that were at the time water-rich to places where more water would allow using the extremely fertile land with favorable weather for agriculture. It’s not insane to consider doing the same again.
- GeekyBear 4y ago
  It's definitely insane to think that changing the direction of water as it flows downhill is anything like pumping water up over the mountains.
  - rrss 4y ago
    what is the relevance of needing to have a lot of pumps? Do you think the engineering involved is beyond the capability of the US, and your argument now is that it cannot be done? The idea that californias water projects only direct water downhill is invalid anyway - the California aqueduct flows uphill quite a lot, and over mountains. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonston_Pumping_Plant https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonston_Pumping_Plant is one of at least 5 pumping plants along the aqueduct.
  - treis 4y ago
    Kind of interesting though in that you kill two birds with one stone. Water for the desert and a massive pump storage battery.

atyppo 4y ago

The notion of growing "food" (i.e. almonds for export to China) in a desert is ludicrous, but how would you accomplish a ban on agriculture? At best, you might be able to create a program for farmers to give up their water rights in exchange for compensation. Even this is dubious, however. Water rights east of the Mississippi work differently than water rights to the west. In the west, they are based on seniority.

GeekyBear 4y ago
>how would you accomplish a ban on agriculture? Ground water is a limited public resource. Farmers do not have the right to pump the aquifers dry and render the area uninhabitable. I would imagine that you could require a license to pump ground water in areas where the ground water level has already dropped dangerously low. >Water rights east of the Mississippi work differently than water rights to the west. In the west, they are based on seniority. That applies to water on top of the ground (lakes, rivers, streams), not the water under the ground.

rrss 4y ago

The Central Valley is not a desert, I do not like this meme. Farmers in California were running out of water 100 years ago too, and people responded with massive engineering projects to regulate water throughout the year and move it from places that were at the time water-rich to places where more water would allow using the extremely fertile land with favorable weather for agriculture. It’s not insane to consider doing the same again.

GeekyBear 4y ago
It's definitely insane to think that changing the direction of water as it flows downhill is anything like pumping water up over the mountains.
- rrss 4y ago
  what is the relevance of needing to have a lot of pumps? Do you think the engineering involved is beyond the capability of the US, and your argument now is that it cannot be done? The idea that californias water projects only direct water downhill is invalid anyway - the California aqueduct flows uphill quite a lot, and over mountains. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonston_Pumping_Plant https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonston_Pumping_Plant is one of at least 5 pumping plants along the aqueduct.
- treis 4y ago
  Kind of interesting though in that you kill two birds with one stone. Water for the desert and a massive pump storage battery.