California's Water Crisis. Why?

As most California residents know, our government has declared a state of drought and every agency I am aware of is talking about the water crisis and legislation regarding water conservation, water rights, and the future of agriculture, ecosystems, and urban usage.

California is characterized by it's medditerainean climate which means mild wet winters and hot dry summers. Over 40% of California's available water comes in the form of snow pack in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Most of this water drains through the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River systems (I am omitting the Klamath for a reason), or at least would have except for the man dams and diversion systems put in place for flood control, urban use, and agriculture irrigation. That which does make it into the Delta is further diverted for human uses which creates major disruptions in local and distant ecosystems.

So what is my point you may be asking. My point is why do we cause so much harm to these ecosystems and why is there so much fighting between farmers/ranchers (Farm Bureau, CA. Cattlemans nice person.) and environmental groups (NRDC, Sierra Club, CA. Dept. Fish & Game) to resolve these issues when much of the problem stems from mismanagement and overuse of water by citizens for personal uses or poor city planning?

Why are we not looking into legislation that makes lawns illegal? What about tiered structures for water useage at the household level and making it pricey enough that people stop wasting water? Same can be done for city usage as well. Far too often I see roadside landscaping that is inappropriate for the local climate and the sprinklers run every day and leak/overspray a large amount of water onto the roadside and gutter. That is pure waste and for what benefit?

If we are at a point where we have to choose between our crops and ecosystem health then we have a major problem and we need to address urban uses and IMO place restrictions on use for non-critical activities. We should not have to choose between food and ecosystem health just because Joe Schmo wants to pretend he lives in Scotland, instead of LA, and have green grass all year round or because city planners think Redwoods look good in a desert community.

A new bill proposal might do just that but I need to read up on it more: Assembly Bill 2175

Info from NRDC: Legislative Leaders Endorse Landmark Water Conservation Bill and Strategic Water Investments in California

Sorry for the rant but this stuff burns me up. Reading my environmental news and AgAlert publications just gets me thinking about stuff that really matters.

 

On a side note, I left out the study on emissions and their effect on precipitation rates in the Sierra Nevada or the possibly effects of climate change as both of these studies, while VERY important, are still being studied. Planning Depts. and both governmental and Non-Govermental agencies take these factors into consideration and are very concerned about the future of California's water supplies in light of these effects.

 

Richard, if nuclear power did not require the use of a rare earth resources (that play havok with national security), cost so damned much to build and maintain, and they produced zero waste then it could be an alternative. Infortunately there are too many pitfalls with nuclear to even consider it as a method of allowing unlimited use of energy and water.

Cody, you are kidding right? Some other counties/cities work similarly as the rate for water is so low it might as well be free. Same goes for agricultural uses where users are allocated a particular amount of acre/feet per year and if they don't use all of the water they simply dump it for if they don't they will not be allocated the same amount of water the next year (not all transactions are managed this way).

 

Godiva,

Know that I am not picking on SoCalers this time. I'm picking on everyone equally, myself included. I do not feel that residential units should be put far down the list because they play a huge role in total water usage and should be held accountable. "every drop" counts as far as I'm concerned and if people in all sectors are held accountable then progress can be made. As long as people treat water with a "Hotel Mentality" (where extra use of energy or water doesn't cost them anything) then we will continue losing this battle.

Of course there will be legislative hurdles like you suggest but this is not simpl a case of "it would be nice if", this is a case of "we have to do something" and it is imperitive that we do something soon. In the words of California Farm Bureau Federation President Doug Mosebar; "When people hear the term 'water crisis', they think of something that's far away," "But for family farmers, ranchers and their employees, the crisis is here and now." This applies directly to environmental conservation concerns as well.

If you are interested in hearing from the agricultural side of things check out the CFBF publication "AgAlert"

If you care about the environmental side of the issue see the NRDC link in the first thread or I can supply you with other information from the CA Dept. of Fish & Game and UC Davis Extension.

 

Because it is the right thing to do, period. If more people were being charged for the water they use AND they were aware of the amount of "cheaper" water wasted by industry or agriculture then policies and regulations would change because people would be pissed and would vote differently. Unfortunately no one wants to take the time to learn about the issues until it hits their wallet. lol

We are on the same page here. That is my point in this thread. Bring awareness of the bills being pushed forward so they get voted on correctly. If no one is aware of the issues they will cimply refuse to vote on a change that costs them extra money. With proper awareness many people would vote in favor of policies that benefit us in the long term.

My only exception is with respects to agiculture. The cannot be billed on the same rates because of the amounts used and what it is used for, creating food. They should however be charged in such a manner so as to make irrigation retrofits a priority and with grants, tax incentives and conservation easements they would be able to afford these upgrades.

 

#1 California is not "a desert". True it contains 2 major desert environments (Colorado and Mojave) totalling over 1/5th of the state. but to categorize the entire state as a desert is a bit misleading. If you are making the arguement that the state sends too much nothern-based water to desert environments then I have no rebuttal. It's true.

#2 I'm curious what you mean by water reserves. Do you mean reservoirs? There are a number of projects invloving the resoration of high elevation wetlands to capture and store water by natural means. These projects have been shown to increase water flows in the fall when water sources are generally at their lowest. Butte County has an excellent study on the subject but the name eludes me at the moment. There is a big push for the retention of open space and riparian restoration which aids in flood control and water retention. This is opposed to the typical histrorical response to flood control which involved building levees and concrete "schutes" that would swiftly channel water into larger waterways and out into the ocean. We are now starting to view this as a bad practice. Maybe we'll stop building houses in flood zones as well.

#3 Don't get us lost in percentages as those can be misleading. Misuse of "residential" water does play a large part in the water issues regardless of total percentage. I do agree that argiculture plays a larger part in the water usuage total and something must be done to push and enable farmers to make the neccessary upgrades. In some cases conservation easements allow the funding for such projects as well as state funded grants. I do not feel putting all the pressure on agriculture and none on residential and city municipalities is the answer. That's no different than saying "My neighbor won't change so why should I?" That is a terrible mentality when trying to create change. We (the total community) are being overly wasteful so suck it up and make changes. I'm pointing my finger at myself here too. I need to do better.