Climate Change: Water shortages out west

[UNCjigga]

Feds have declared a shortage on the Colorado River for the first time, forcing mandatory cuts downstream to Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico due to start January 2022.

First-ever water cuts declared for Colorado River in historic drought | CNN

Additional cuts — each tier with worsening impact on agriculture and municipal water — are expected if Lake Mead continues to fall.

www.cnn.com

So...how soon until we have morons like the Bundys starting water wars against the federal government???

 

[vi edit]

Bundy's are already at it.

Farmers buy land, make camp by shut Oregon irrigation canal

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) — Two farmers with ties to anti-government activist Ammon Bundy have purchased land by a shut-off irrigation canal in Oregon that would normally deliver water to a massive federal irrigation project along the California-Oregon border and have set up a protest encampment ther

apnews.com

 

[njdevilsfan87]

Since I live a few miles from the ocean, I think DIY desalination will become a hobby of mine. I have no idea how feasible it is, but I'd rather be prepared for down the line if/when this becomes a problem in CA.

 

[pcgeek11]

We have had the tech for desalination for decades. Why haven't we done anything with it?

 

[imported_tajmahal]

We have had the tech for desalination for decades. Why haven't we done anything with it?

It's energy intensive.

 

[itsmydamnation]

We have had the tech for desalination for decades. Why haven't we done anything with it?

It's expensive especially if not running 24/7 and generally speaking an ecological disaster for the area you send all your salt/ other minerals to.

 

[Moonbeam]

We have had the tech for desalination for decades. Why haven't we done anything with it?

The average IQ is 100. But desalination is energy intensive and thus expensive. There is ,however a lot of research presently going into it for obvious reasons. It also has the downside of producing toxic waste in the form of highly salted water that must not mix with the intake seawater. You can buy a water maker for your yacht if you sail. May be the answer to rising sea levels.

 

[pcgeek11]

Necessity is the mother of invention.

I think it's time...

 

[alien42]

Vice ran a piece on the Colorado River a couple of days ago -

 

[sandorski]

It's expensive especially if not running 24/7 and generally speaking an ecological disaster for the area you send all your salt/ other minerals to.

Dump it in the Desert. Use Solar Heating as the main Energy source. Use pipelines to distribute Salt/Fresh Water to specific locations.

 

[1prophet]

You can build highways that span the continent

Interstate Highway System - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

pipelines across the USA for your climate change fuel

Various Pipeline Maps

Various Pipeline Maps These maps were all either composited by Bill Huston from various sources, or are republished unchanged. Blame o...

williamahuston.blogspot.com

even rail roads from east to west

USA Rail Map - Major Railroads and Routes

www.mapsofworld.com

but somehow no one can figure out how to transport water from the the places that have excess to those that don't have enough, oh wait someone has but as usual we have to be dying of thirst before we move on it.

The National Aqueduct

The National Aqueduct is designed to generate and store energy by transporting billions of gallons of fresh, desalinated water across our nation.

nextgiantleap.org

 

[IronWing]

We could build desalinization plants and aqueducts on an ever more massive scale but it would be a whole lot cheaper and a whole lot more environmentally sound to stop wasting ~60% of western water on irrigated pasturelands and irrigated feed crops for cattle. We could also stop growing iceberg lettuce and asparagus in El Centro, California.

 

[sandorski]

We could build desalinization plants and aqueducts on an ever more massive scale but it would be a whole lot cheaper and a whole lot more environmentally sound to stop wasting ~60% of western water on irrigated pasturelands and irrigated feed crops for cattle. We could also stop growing iceberg lettuce and asparagus in El Centro, California.

View attachment 48878

It seems like making a Desert into the National Salad Bowl is a poor decision. There are likely unique advantages to its' existence, certainly Water Supply isn't one. I suspect we will be forced to grow such crops indoors in the not too distant future. It's far more Water efficient, uses few if any pesticides, and is less vulnerable to environmental issues.

 

[dank69]

You can build highways that span the continent

Interstate Highway System - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

pipelines across the USA for your climate change fuel

Various Pipeline Maps

Various Pipeline Maps These maps were all either composited by Bill Huston from various sources, or are republished unchanged. Blame o...

williamahuston.blogspot.com

even rail roads from east to west

USA Rail Map - Major Railroads and Routes

www.mapsofworld.com

but somehow no one can figure out how to transport water from the the places that have excess to those that don't have enough, oh wait someone has but as usual we have to be dying of thirst before we move on it.

The National Aqueduct

The National Aqueduct is designed to generate and store energy by transporting billions of gallons of fresh, desalinated water across our nation.

nextgiantleap.org

Ehrm, no thanks. California and the desert states can pry our water from our cold, dead hands. Want our water? Move here and contribute to our local economy.

 

[vi edit]

We could build desalinization plants and aqueducts on an ever more massive scale but it would be a whole lot cheaper and a whole lot more environmentally sound to stop wasting ~60% of western water on irrigated pasturelands and irrigated feed crops for cattle. We could also stop growing iceberg lettuce and asparagus in El Centro, California.

View attachment 48878

Huh.

Conservation. Now there's a word I've not heard in a while.

Actual rational decisions and policy? Get the fuck outta here with that.

 

[UNCjigga]

You’d think a country like Canada would be all over a national/international aqueduct project. Would give the Keystone XL contractors something to do. All those melting glaciers are just going to contribute to rising sea levels anyway—might as well channel some of that meltwater into the Great Basin.

 

[MtnMan]

Water issues out west are going to be a real shit show.

We already have the Bundy ilk setting up to commandeer water when restrictions are imposed. Will the NG need to be utilized "stop the steal" of water? However, the NG answers to governors, and how is that going to work with some republican governors?

 

[UNCjigga]

Water issues out west are going to be a real shit show.

We already have the Bundy ilk setting up to commandeer water when restrictions are imposed. Will the NG need to be utilized "stop the steal" of water? However, the NG answers to governors, and how is that going to work with some republican governors?

It gets real when someone fucks up a dam.

 

[hal2kilo]

Seems this has been a long time coming. Slow down growth in Vegas, hah, never. Wonder how long its been since that lake was close to being full. I would gander decades. Never saw it coming.

 

[Stokely]

"Water water everywhere nor any drop to drink" indeed. Coasts will be drowning in salt water, inland areas will be roasting, rotting deserts. Colder places like Alaska have already seen too much warmth, this is why the beetles are able to survive through the winters and destroy the forests. The idea that cold places become temperate paradise is not quite what is going to happen

Unless Desalinization has had new tech and is far more efficient than I had read--and it's been ages--that isn't much of a solution. And maybe it has. Using too much (bad) power in the first place is why we are probably screwed.

 

[woolfe9998]

It seems like making a Desert into the National Salad Bowl is a poor decision. There are likely unique advantages to its' existence, certainly Water Supply isn't one. I suspect we will be forced to grow such crops indoors in the not too distant future. It's far more Water efficient, uses few if any pesticides, and is less vulnerable to environmental issues.

You mean like vertical farms? Main problem there is the power cost of indoor lighting. Yes we can use renewable sources but since we are resource limited, the opportunity cost is not having that clean power available to replace fossil fuels on the grid.

Too bad fusion power is probably another 50 years out or we could do desalination and vertical farms on a mass scale right now.

 

[Paratus]

You mean like vertical farms? Main problem there is the power cost of indoor lighting. Yes we can use renewable sources but since we are resource limited, the opportunity cost is not having that clean power available to replace fossil fuels on the grid.

Too bad fusion power is probably another 50 years out or we could do desalination and vertical farms on a mass scale right now.

You’re being to pessimistic about fusion being 50 years out. Thanks to recent advances it’s now always 10 years out.

 

[woolfe9998]

You’re being to pessimistic about fusion being 50 years out. Thanks to recent advances it’s now always 10 years out.

I assume you're being sarcastic with "always?"

 

[herm0016]

You can build highways that span the continent

Interstate Highway System - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

pipelines across the USA for your climate change fuel

Various Pipeline Maps

Various Pipeline Maps These maps were all either composited by Bill Huston from various sources, or are republished unchanged. Blame o...

williamahuston.blogspot.com

even rail roads from east to west

USA Rail Map - Major Railroads and Routes

www.mapsofworld.com

but somehow no one can figure out how to transport water from the the places that have excess to those that don't have enough, oh wait someone has but as usual we have to be dying of thirst before we move on it.

The National Aqueduct

The National Aqueduct is designed to generate and store energy by transporting billions of gallons of fresh, desalinated water across our nation.

nextgiantleap.org

oh hell no.

there are already too many restrictions on my water, that comes out of my well, and falls on my roof and runs down the ditch on my property.

areas of great influence will end up telling us further what we are allowed to grow/do. It's already a grey area weather we are allowed to grow any of our own food on our own property when you really get down in the water rights hole., how wells are classified, etc.

 

[IronWing]

oh hell no.

there are already too many restrictions on my water, that comes out of my well, and falls on my roof and runs down the ditch on my property.

areas of great influence will end up telling us further what we are allowed to grow/do. It's already a grey area weather we are allowed to grow any of our own food on our own property when you really get down in the water rights hole., how wells are classified, etc.

Prior appropriation is the law, a really bad law, but the folks with water rights ain't going to give them up without a big bag of money coming to them.