California farmers fear wells will soon go dry

Status
Not open for further replies.
Well, I sympathize with them. We had some mighty dry years in this province back in the 1980s. Plenty of wells had to be deepened or dug in different spots, and places that were all water for years were dry and turned into crops. Of course, we now have water in places I haven't seen it since the 1970s.
 
It's no surprise that California, along with much of the west/southwest, is in big trouble with regard to water. The area is overpopulated by people, many of which think they need to try to turn a desert into a lush oasis. To top it off they've done little in the way of water control and containment over the last thirty years or so, during which time the population has exploded.

It is one of those things, like "the big earthquake" that many people knew was eventually going to happen.

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Can you copy/paste the content of the news article? Thank you sir.

The link is clickable-real simple.
 
Zero sympathy. They over populated a region that is returning to it's drier norm. As I write this they're still building more sub divisions.
 
People love the weather out in Cali and Arizona and Nevada, etc

And we use a lot of water. Water will cause many crises over the next century as it continues to be in short supply in many areas.

That is one reason I live in the south. We get good rainfall most every year.
 
It's what is called a "correction".

"Correction fluid"...and now "correction tape" takes mistakes, masks them from view, and lets you write over...

Anyone remember what "white out" looked like when a "correction" gets overstruck by a typewriter key.

Australia was colonised relatively recently, and was obviously colonised where people could grow food, through availability of water and nutrient rich soils.

We've now covered the entire Sydney basin (arguably our best growing areas) in concrete and houses...we have condemned the waterways to overgrowth of water plants through fertiliser run-off from our lawns...and have a 200ML/day desalination plant to feed the process.

And have pushed food production to marginal "more cost effective" areas...

All of which makes the whole system more expensive.
 
Originally Posted By: toneydoc
People love the weather out in Cali and Arizona and Nevada, etc

And we use a lot of water. Water will cause many crises over the next century as it continues to be in short supply in many areas.

That is one reason I live in the south. We get good rainfall most every year.


Don't forget the legal battles between Ga,Fl,Ala over the Chattahoochee River.
 
New Zealand has water for 200 million people. Latest stink I saw last night was companies bottling water they get for free and sending it over to China in container loads.
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
It's what is called a "correction".

"Correction fluid"...and now "correction tape" takes mistakes, masks them from view, and lets you write over...

Anyone remember what "white out" looked like when a "correction" gets overstruck by a typewriter key.

Australia was colonised relatively recently, and was obviously colonised where people could grow food, through availability of water and nutrient rich soils.

We've now covered the entire Sydney basin (arguably our best growing areas) in concrete and houses...we have condemned the waterways to overgrowth of water plants through fertiliser run-off from our lawns...and have a 200ML/day desalination plant to feed the process.

And have pushed food production to marginal "more cost effective" areas...

All of which makes the whole system more expensive.

We've done the same thing in Ontario to our best farm land, its the free market at work. Of course we have 20% of the worlds fresh water pouring over a cliff, but most crops are not irrigated here anyways. Most areas flat enough for that were former wetlands and are drained by ditches to remove the water as fast as possible.
 
What's causing the drought and the bad winter weather in the Northeast is the high pressure area sitting over California over the winter months. It cause the jet stream to bypass California go thru Canada and causing the Arctic condition we've been having in the NE.

To add to a previous post. Canada shares the 20% of the world's fresh water of the Great Lakes with the US.
 
Many reports are saying they are pulling too much water out of the ground, the ground is getting compacted and the underground aquifer will never hold the same quantity of water again. A farmer has a 400' well. Farmer next door drills a 600' well and the 400' well begins to go dry. The farmer with the 400' well drills a 800' well, and so it goes.

Almond trees are mentioned as being a huge consumer of water. One gallon per almond. And you cannot leave an almond grove fallow when there is no water like you could with other crops.

Either recycle the gray water and/or desalinization.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Either recycle the gray water and/or desalinization.


$50 says that's where they are headed, with an enormous energy overhead and capital costs.
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Of course we have 20% of the worlds fresh water pouring over a cliff, but most crops are not irrigated here anyways.

We're lucky in this province that way, too. Virtually nothing is irrigated.
 
Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: Donald
Either recycle the gray water and/or desalinization.


$50 says that's where they are headed, with an enormous energy overhead and capital costs.
It'll be "green energy" though.
 
California at least protected a tiny fish called the delta smelt and stopped farmers and other humans from getting the water that belonged to this fish.

Officials are also draining water from lakes and reservoirs along the American and Stanislaus rivers to encourage a salmon to swim back to the ocean faster than normal. These water releases directly into the ocean are so powerful that safety alerts are issued and people are warned to stay away from these rivers.

It appears that someone forgot to tell these experts that there was a bit of a drought in California and these experiments are destroying thousands and thousands of acres of farm land. There's been no proof that this experiment was needed and no proof that a stunt like this has ever works and it appears that it's no working now. The solution? More water is scheduled to be released.

It's comforting to know that our government is taking care of us.

Draining water into the ocean.

Delta smelt.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top