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California AT folks, you okay? Governor issues historic drought restrictions:

Page 7 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
JulesMaximus said:
Lack of rain is what's causing it.

It's pretty serious. They are saying that California only has about 1 year of water left. There is a desalinization plant coming online here in Carlsbad this year but that will only supply about 7% of the needs of the greater San Diego area.
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Santa Barbara has a desal plant they built around 20 years ago and put into mothballs. They are reactivating it now for IIRC first-time usage.

Desal may be a big thing in CA's future. It's expensive, requires a lot of electricity, you have the issue of what to do with all the salt. Israel's doing it, however. You do what you have to do. What that will be, we'll see by and by. The population of CA has more than doubled since 1960, 38 billion now? The arid west has never been the place for this level of civilization, let alone before the advent of low rain/snow fall conditions that we have seen of late. For all we know it won't improve, there's no guarantee.
 
gorcorps said:
What do you mean IF they start moving? I know Colorado has seen a lot of Californians move in for a decade or so, and I'm sure they're moving to other states too.
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The California retirees started moving into Santa Fe New Mexico and driving the prices up in the 1980s. Now a lot of people whose families lived in SF for generations commute from Albuquerque and Rio Rancho to their jobs in SF. But the population of California has kept going up despite the people moving out.
 
It seems that much of the buzz about drought in California has shifted from the super low snowpack to the sinking water level in wells as groundwater in many areas is being pumped faster than it is being replenished. For insightful background on California groundwater, here are some articles from public-funded media:

http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/07/31/californias-biggest-water-source-shrouded-in-secrecy/

http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/08/29/landmark-groundwater-reform-headed-to-governors-desk/

http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/09/17/what-to-know-about-californias-new-groundwater-law/

Also, I was able to find some useful GIS data dealing with California groundwater and so I produced a map. The map is displayed by Gmap4 which is an enhanced Google map viewer I developed.

http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gma...p/public_land_map/state/CA/CA_groundwater.txt

When this map opens each dot is a well. If you zoom way in then a label will appear by each well showing the change in water level for the period 2011-2014. To see the map legend and learn how to turn other GIS data layers on/off, click “About this map” in the upper left corner of the map.

You might give this a try:
1. Turn off all layers
2. Turn on “2013_2014_ColorRamp”
3. Turn on “2013_2014_Contours”
4. Zoom in on a red area until labels appear on the contour lines.
This data shows how much the groundwater level has changed in this one year period.

Gee, how long do you think that rate of depletion can be sustained?

If you turn on one of the “Groundwater_change” layers and click on a well, then you will see the attribute data the GIS server has for that well. This data includes a link you can follow to see more data for that well. After the state web page fully loads, click the tab “Recent Groundwater Level Data” and you will see a graph of the water level in that well over time.

The map also has layers showing subsidence data.

One can only hope that California will be successful in its attempt to begin regulating groundwater and achieve that goal sooner rather than later.

Joseph, the Gmap4 guy
 
I just figured since anandtech is a technically oriented forum (where I have got tech help in the past) some actual groundwater data would aid this discussion. And if there is a better way to visualize that kind of data other than on a map - I don't know what it is.
 
Muse said:
I've been good with water for years (Berkeley, CA). I use on average probably around 55-60 gallons/day. I don't waste water. In fact I don't waste much of anything, "waste not, want not."
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You realize 30k kids die every single day due to lack of water/food right?

Here you are, using 60 gallons A DAY and thinking "you don't waste much"

Typical American....so spoiled and completely dis attached from reality.
 
Ns1 said:
i hate people.
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Are you sure this shouldn't piss you off more?

irrigation2_big.jpg
 
Ns1 said:
Not mutually exclusive
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No but time/effort are. People are spending so much time and effort on the wrong fucking problem.

The farmers aren't using irrigation methods developed 50 years ago, ya know basic sprinklers like this:

sprinklers.jpg


Much less more modern methods of water recovery (tile drainage) like this.

10-091f2.jpg


Their reasoning? Water is so cheap it costs less to flood irrigate than put in a system.

W
T
F
 
Phoenix86 said:
Their reasoning? Water is so cheap it costs less to flood irrigate than put in a system.

W
T
F
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Anyone that wants to raise water prices (or do anything else involving costs in food production) obviously hates farmers, the average homeowner, the American way, and/or everyone that buys food from anywhere. Such meddling in the free market is also definitely socialist and communist behavior.

That's pretty standard thinking everywhere across the nation where crops are grown. The only answer that's ever correct is more subsidies.
 
Phoenix86 said:
No but time/effort are. People are spending so much time and effort on the wrong fucking problem.

The farmers aren't using irrigation methods developed 50 years ago, ya know basic sprinklers like this:

sprinklers.jpg


Much less more modern methods of water recovery (tile drainage) like this.

10-091f2.jpg


Their reasoning? Water is so cheap it costs less to flood irrigate than put in a system.


W
T
F
Click to expand...


well fuck I think I read an article that some of the farmers are only paying $4 acre/foot for water. The proposed MWD penalty for urban water districts exceeding allocations is something like $2500 acre/foot.
 
Ns1 said:
well fuck I think I read an article that some of the farmers are only paying $4 acre/foot for water. The proposed MWD penalty for urban water districts exceeding allocations is something like $2500 acre/foot.
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If urban water districts want cheaper water, they should take up farming.
 
Ruptga said:
Anyone that wants to raise water prices (or do anything else involving costs in food production) obviously hates farmers, the average homeowner, the American way, and/or everyone that buys food from anywhere. Such meddling in the free market is also definitely socialist and communist behavior.

That's pretty standard thinking everywhere across the nation where crops are grown. The only answer that's ever correct is more subsidies.
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Subsidize modern methods; keep water prices the same.

mindblown.gif

It's certainly not the direction I'd go, but you could sell it politically.
 
I think people who live in California secretly like taking it in the ass. Mess with the food though, and well, people in less insane states will get angry.
 
jpiniero said:
I think people who live in California secretly like taking it in the ass. Mess with the food though, and well, people in less insane states will get angry.
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if taking it in the ass means not being able to water your lawn and wash your car in exchange for great weather 345 days in the year, that sounds like a reasonable exchange to me.

besides, what's wrong with taking it in the ass?

😕
 
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