4 ms·

All of this reminds me of a trip I took about 10 years ago to Palm Desert. Even then I was stunned by opulence of their water use and the utter disregard for su

by pyrocat 12y ago

All of this reminds me of a trip I took about 10 years ago to Palm Desert. Even then I was stunned by opulence of their water use and the utter disregard for sustainability. It's a city built in the desert that regularly reaches 100+ degrees, and yet every house had a bright green grass with sprinklers running constantly. One of the main attractions was their huge amounts of golf courses, that were of course always kept green and watered. I guess it makes sense, a third of the population is 65+, they won't be around when the consequences of their unconscionable actions really hit.

blhack 12y ago
Sounds like a lot of Phoenix.
eyeareque 12y ago
you'd hope that the water they used was at least from waste water treatment plants.. however that water was fresh at one time, and used by a big city in the middle of the desert.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  All water is fresh at one time...also, water tends to evaporate and come back as rain or snow, but it might go into the ocean where salinity is high and makes it uneconomical to extract back into something drinkable. And that is the problem: with the glaciers melting off, more fresh water winds up in the ocean, and we have to run energy-intensive desalination processes to get it back.
anigbrowl 12y ago
That's infuriating. Agriculture is the main consumer of water in CA by a mile, but the sort of self-indulgence you describe sets a disproportionately bad example and avoidably confuses the issue.
- maratd 12y ago
  It's easily resolved by properly pricing water. Tie the water price to rainfall and you've solved the entire problem. Let the market take care of it.
  - deepsun 12y ago
    Unfortunately, not so easy. Then, here will come other unsustainable but cheaper markets (other states, Mexico, Asia etc).
integraton 12y ago
Palm Desert and portions of Southern California get their water from a local aquifer and the Colorado River, unlike the Central Valley and most of the state, and therefore are not directly affected by the drought in the same way as the rest of the state. Visible urban water usage like lawn watering is a small fraction of the water usage in California, and even if every lawn stopped getting watered it wouldn't come close to solving the issue.
- pyrocat 12y ago
  But it would help the issue. The idea is to reduce non-essential water use, regardless of source.
  - Crito 12y ago
    > "regardless of source." Why? Misery loves company?
    - pyrocat 12y ago
      No, because California already imports water from all over the place. Water shortage isn't a problem unique to California. It's only a matter of time before the rest of the country starts to feel the same pressure that Californians are feeling. Reducing water use now will give us time.
      - Crito 12y ago
        My water supply is provided seasonally from melting snow and rainfall. I highly doubt much of that water is trucked the thousand or so miles to California. Using this seasonally supplied water today won't mean that we have less in the future. Not unless we are hoarding it all, but our reservoirs are only so big anyway, if they were filled to the brim, and that water weren't being used, it'd just be dumped down the overflow and would find its way to the ocean... which is coincidentally where it ends up anyway when I divert it for a nice long shower. I'm not going to cut back on my excessively long showers just because Californians won't cut back on the damn tree nuts. I'll gladly do my part and cut down on Californian nuts though.
analog31 12y ago
I guess it makes sense, a third of the population is 65+, they won't be around when the consequences of their unconscionable actions really hit. Oddly enough, I live in a university town in the Midwest, in a neighborhood with quite a few elderly residents. I've noticed quite a few elderly people driving hybrid cars.
- Terr_ 12y ago
  There might be a little overlap there with elderly drivers looking for cars that have more assistive features. (In other words, newer and more computerized.)
- ptaipale 12y ago
  This is probably due to that elderly people tend to be more wealthy, so they can afford a more expensive car. And hybrids are often nice.

by pyrocat 12y ago

blhack 12y ago

Sounds like a lot of Phoenix.

eyeareque 12y ago

you'd hope that the water they used was at least from waste water treatment plants.. however that water was fresh at one time, and used by a big city in the middle of the desert.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago
All water is fresh at one time...also, water tends to evaporate and come back as rain or snow, but it might go into the ocean where salinity is high and makes it uneconomical to extract back into something drinkable. And that is the problem: with the glaciers melting off, more fresh water winds up in the ocean, and we have to run energy-intensive desalination processes to get it back.

anigbrowl 12y ago

That's infuriating. Agriculture is the main consumer of water in CA by a mile, but the sort of self-indulgence you describe sets a disproportionately bad example and avoidably confuses the issue.

maratd 12y ago
It's easily resolved by properly pricing water. Tie the water price to rainfall and you've solved the entire problem. Let the market take care of it.
- deepsun 12y ago
  Unfortunately, not so easy. Then, here will come other unsustainable but cheaper markets (other states, Mexico, Asia etc).

integraton 12y ago

Palm Desert and portions of Southern California get their water from a local aquifer and the Colorado River, unlike the Central Valley and most of the state, and therefore are not directly affected by the drought in the same way as the rest of the state. Visible urban water usage like lawn watering is a small fraction of the water usage in California, and even if every lawn stopped getting watered it wouldn't come close to solving the issue.

pyrocat 12y ago
But it would help the issue. The idea is to reduce non-essential water use, regardless of source.
- Crito 12y ago
  > "regardless of source." Why? Misery loves company?
  - pyrocat 12y ago
    No, because California already imports water from all over the place. Water shortage isn't a problem unique to California. It's only a matter of time before the rest of the country starts to feel the same pressure that Californians are feeling. Reducing water use now will give us time.
    - Crito 12y ago
      My water supply is provided seasonally from melting snow and rainfall. I highly doubt much of that water is trucked the thousand or so miles to California. Using this seasonally supplied water today won't mean that we have less in the future. Not unless we are hoarding it all, but our reservoirs are only so big anyway, if they were filled to the brim, and that water weren't being used, it'd just be dumped down the overflow and would find its way to the ocean... which is coincidentally where it ends up anyway when I divert it for a nice long shower. I'm not going to cut back on my excessively long showers just because Californians won't cut back on the damn tree nuts. I'll gladly do my part and cut down on Californian nuts though.

analog31 12y ago

I guess it makes sense, a third of the population is 65+, they won't be around when the consequences of their unconscionable actions really hit. Oddly enough, I live in a university town in the Midwest, in a neighborhood with quite a few elderly residents. I've noticed quite a few elderly people driving hybrid cars.

Terr_ 12y ago
There might be a little overlap there with elderly drivers looking for cars that have more assistive features. (In other words, newer and more computerized.)
ptaipale 12y ago
This is probably due to that elderly people tend to be more wealthy, so they can afford a more expensive car. And hybrids are often nice.