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A couple of ideas that California could use to reclaim water: - Desalinization! Desalinization! Desalinization! start building a ton of these plants all along

A couple of ideas that California could use to reclaim water: - Desalinization! Desalinization! Desalinization! start building a ton of these plants all along the coast. - Reduce crops that are heavy water users(almonds etc). - Push to phase out grass yards, give residents tax breaks to convert to natural landscapes. - Better reclamation of gutter water(from rain) in cities, as of now it just all flows right to the ocean/bay. Even with all these steps I think California will still need to cut back, its natural state is one that is very dry, like multi-decade droughts kind of dry, the 20th century was abnormally rainy and people think that is how its always been. See here for more info about what California's climate has been like the past 2000 years: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/science/californias-history-of-drought-repeats.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/science/californias-histo...

wobbly_bush 4y ago
> Reduce crops that are heavy water users(almonds etc). Would you extend that to include cattle? If not, why not?
joe-collins 4y ago
Desal, like wind, keeps hitting opposition from locals. This was a factor in the Coastal Commission's vote against a Huntington Beach plant, earlier this year. No comment on crops. Such a tax break was just signed into law, AB 2142, which will be in effect through 2027. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/09/28/california-is-making-it-cheaper-to-replace-your-lawn-to-save-water-and-save-money/ https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/09/28/california-is-making-it-ch... https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20212022/AB2142/ https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20212022/AB2142/ Reclamation projects are ongoing! Orange County has been recycling water since the 90s, and down here in San Diego, we've got a new system coming online in a few years. https://www.ocwd.com/gwrs/ https://www.ocwd.com/gwrs/ https://eastcountyawp.com/ https://eastcountyawp.com/
gamblor956 4y ago
Reducing water-hogging crops is the most impactful option (agriculture uses more than 80% of CA's non-environmental water use and agricultural water waste is more than 99% of CA's water waste), but would require state (or very likely, federal) legislation. With the current political climate, and the likely outcome of the 2022 election, this option is the least likely to happen. Desalinization is not a magic bullet. Plants are expensive to build and to operate, even taking into account the use of passive renewables to provide most or all of the energy. There are currently 11 desalinization plants in CA (mostly in SoCal), the largest of which (in Carslbad, the largest such plant in the U.S.) can only provide enough water for 300,000 people a year. That is 30% of San Diego's water needs. CA's population is approximately 39 million. To scale up to the the entire state, we would need more than 120 additional plants just to address residential water use, for a cost of at least $120 billion (not taking into account inflation since the Carlsbad plant was completed). Reducing grass yards has been part of the playbook for several decades now. At this point, reducing grass yards amongst everyone except the superrich would have minimal impact because the rest of us have already heavily cut back. Gutter water flows to reclamation plants in most areas, but during storms flows directly to the ocean because the plants don't have the ability to handle the surge in flows. In SoCal, many water districts have begun using permeable asphalt to (re)pave streets so that rain water can absorb into the ground and recharge underground aquifers. A number of spreading pools and spreading grounds have also been built along storm channels, to provide areas where excess rainwater can collect and slowly absorb into the ground.

wobbly_bush 4y ago

> Reduce crops that are heavy water users(almonds etc). Would you extend that to include cattle? If not, why not?

joe-collins 4y ago

Desal, like wind, keeps hitting opposition from locals. This was a factor in the Coastal Commission's vote against a Huntington Beach plant, earlier this year. No comment on crops. Such a tax break was just signed into law, AB 2142, which will be in effect through 2027. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/09/28/california-is-making-it-cheaper-to-replace-your-lawn-to-save-water-and-save-money/ https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/09/28/california-is-making-it-ch... https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20212022/AB2142/ https://openstates.org/ca/bills/20212022/AB2142/ Reclamation projects are ongoing! Orange County has been recycling water since the 90s, and down here in San Diego, we've got a new system coming online in a few years. https://www.ocwd.com/gwrs/ https://www.ocwd.com/gwrs/ https://eastcountyawp.com/ https://eastcountyawp.com/

gamblor956 4y ago

Reducing water-hogging crops is the most impactful option (agriculture uses more than 80% of CA's non-environmental water use and agricultural water waste is more than 99% of CA's water waste), but would require state (or very likely, federal) legislation. With the current political climate, and the likely outcome of the 2022 election, this option is the least likely to happen. Desalinization is not a magic bullet. Plants are expensive to build and to operate, even taking into account the use of passive renewables to provide most or all of the energy. There are currently 11 desalinization plants in CA (mostly in SoCal), the largest of which (in Carslbad, the largest such plant in the U.S.) can only provide enough water for 300,000 people a year. That is 30% of San Diego's water needs. CA's population is approximately 39 million. To scale up to the the entire state, we would need more than 120 additional plants just to address residential water use, for a cost of at least $120 billion (not taking into account inflation since the Carlsbad plant was completed). Reducing grass yards has been part of the playbook for several decades now. At this point, reducing grass yards amongst everyone except the superrich would have minimal impact because the rest of us have already heavily cut back. Gutter water flows to reclamation plants in most areas, but during storms flows directly to the ocean because the plants don't have the ability to handle the surge in flows. In SoCal, many water districts have begun using permeable asphalt to (re)pave streets so that rain water can absorb into the ground and recharge underground aquifers. A number of spreading pools and spreading grounds have also been built along storm channels, to provide areas where excess rainwater can collect and slowly absorb into the ground.