A subtraction problem
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Water cutbacks are necessary, Touton explained, to stabilize Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the two largest reservoirs on the Colorado River. Over the past year, both reservoirs have hit record-low levels and have continued to drop. If they drop further, the West faces extreme risks in the production of hydroelectric power
It is mathematically impossible for the cuts to fall on the cities alone. The cities combined do not consume enough of the water. The agricultural sector uses nearly 80 percent of the water that flows through the Colorado River.
“You can evacuate Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Los Angeles and still not have counted up enough water to get to what the [U.S. Bureau of Reclamation] is saying needs to be done,” Entsminger said.
The Imperial Irrigation District, located in Southern California, controls 3.1 million acre-feet of Colorado River water, and as The Los Angeles Times’ Sammy Roth pointed out last week, it is difficult to see how the needed cuts could be made without the district on board.
Hamby said the district is open to negotiating. He mentioned an expansion of its efficiency program to incentivize conservation and “temporary, emergency fallowing” that would eventually be phased out (Hamby describes fallowing as the F-word).
"The idea is to grow the same amount of crop, just with less water," he said.
But Hamby stresses that the district would want to keep its priority rights, and there must be “equitable severity all around” — in other words, cities and states with “junior rights” must take painful cuts too.
https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/a-subtraction-problem-a-shrinki...
So people are supposed to suffer so that Hamby can grow an export crop that contributes less than 1% to CA GDP.
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Grow it in Oregon. They have
Grow it in Oregon. They have fewer toilets.
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I read the linked article,
I read the linked article, others on Google, and a lot of the Imperial Irrigation District's site. It seems like they should be pursuing solar power and possible wind farms, too, with better quality turbines than they've used in the past so they can save water and use it for agriculture, and use other sources of electrical generation. I'm a dreamer.
Grow what, Knotesau? If only we had extended growing seasons without cold winters and rainy seasons in Oregon it might be possible to take some of the burden off California. Of course with climate change all of that is probably changing.
I don't think fewer toilets will solve the problems in the OP.
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Of course, John Oliver nails
Of course, John Oliver nails the issues on water. Grab a beverage. 23 minutes. Wait til you see the Utah part 16 minutes in. It's what we deal with here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtxew5XUVbQ
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conservatives love golf.
conservatives love golf.
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> people are supposed to
> people are supposed to suffer so that Hamby can grow an export crop that contributes less than 1% to CA GDP
What crop is that? I didn't see a specific reference in the article.
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If you can find exact figures
If you can find exact figures I would love to see them, but for some reason it is hard to find how much exact water goes to international export crops.
Alfalfa is the number one crop for the Imperial Valley and almost all of that goes to dairy which is one of the top export crops in CA.
California agricultural exports totaled $20.8 billion in 2020, a decrease of 2.8 percent from 2019. Top commodities for export included almonds, dairy and dairy products, pistachios, walnuts and wine. California's agricultural export statistics are produced by the University of California, Davis.
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/#:~:text=California%20agricultural%20....
As for the 1% it is a guess.
California’s $2.66 trillion gross domestic product (GDP)
To put this in perspective, the $47.1 billion generated by California agriculture, which is 2 percent of the state’s economy,
https://norcalwater.org/2017/08/04/california-agriculture-a-state-of-abu....
All the sites that track this stuff are very pro Ag.
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golf courses make for
golf courses make for excellent conversion into low income housing
likely to use a fraction of the resources i betcha
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TOP GOLF® is all artificial.
TOP GOLF® is all artificial.
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https://doglegnews.com/the
https://doglegnews.com/the-old-course-now-its-one-massive-dog-park/
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Still needs to be watered.
Still needs to be watered.
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I'm thinking Larry Ellison
I'm thinking Larry Ellison (of Oracle hence Oligarchy fame) owns a lot of property (Indian Wells) in Riverside County, in the Coachella Valley and could generate a lot of energy and reclaim water from somewhere. I don't know about the water reclaiming, but if he can do what he does already, why not?
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Not all grass has to be
Not all grass has to be watered.
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Alternative water is another
Alternative water is another way.
The Best Golfers in the World Are Playing on a Poop-Watered Course
The 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay may be the most environmentally friendly golf championship ever.
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/06/best-golfers-world-are-p...
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It looks like they're doing a
It looks like they're doing a good thing there. Thanks for the link, Knotesau.
Sorry there are people who are fussy about what color the "green" is, the methods and choice of grass seem like the course designers, etc, are thinking on more than one level.