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Page added on June 19, 2015
California Has Never Experienced A Water Crisis Of This Magnitude – And The Worst Is Yet To Come
Things have never been this dry for this long in the recorded history of the state of California, and this has created an unprecedented water crisis. At this point, 1,900 wells have already gone completely dry in California, and some communities are not receiving any more water at all. As you read this article, 100 percent of the state is in some stage of drought, and there has been so little precipitation this year that some young children have never actually seen rain.
This is already the worst multi-year drought in the history of the state of California, but this may only be just the beginning. Scientists tell us that the amount of rain that California received during the 20th century was highly unusual. In fact, they tell us that it was the wettest century for the state in at least 1000 years.
Now that things are returning to “normal”, the state is completely and total unprepared for it. California has never experienced a water crisis of this magnitude, and other states in the western half of the nation are starting to really suffer as well. In the end, we could very well be headed for the worst water crisis this country has ever seen.
When I said that some communities in California are not receiving any more water, I was not exaggerating. Just consider the following excerpt from one recent news report…
The community of Mountain House is days away from having no water at all after the state cut off its only water source.
Anthony Gordon saves drinking water just in case, even though he never thought it would come to this.
“My wife thinks I’m nuts. I have like 500 gallons of drinking water stored in my home,” he said.
The upscale community of Mountain House, west of Tracy, is days away from having no water. It’s not just about lawns—there may not be a drop for the 15,000 residents to drink.
So what are those people going to do?
And what is this going to do to the property values in that area?
Who in the world is going to want to buy a home that does not have running water coming to it?
Other communities throughout the state are pumping groundwater like crazy in a desperate attempt to continue with business as usual. In fact, it is being projected that groundwater will account for almost all water used in the entire state by the end of this year…
Underground aquifers supply 35 percent of the water used by humans worldwide. Demand is even greater in times of drought. Rain-starved California is currently tapping aquifers for 60 percent of its water use as its rivers and above-ground reservoirs dry up, a steep increase from the usual 40 percent. Some expect water from aquifers will account for virtually every drop of the state’s fresh water supply by year end.
But of course this creates a huge problem. When the groundwater is gone, it is gone for good. Those aquifers took centuries to fill up, and now they are being drained at a staggering rate. In some parts of the state, aquifers are being drained so fast that it is causing thousands of square miles of land to sink…
Californians have been draining water so rapidly from underground aquifers that tens of thousands of square miles of land reportedly are sinking — so drastically that the shifting surface is starting to destroy bridges and crack highways across the state, according to a recent report by the Center for Investigative Reporting.
So what is the solution?
Some of my readers have suggested that desalination is the answer. But the truth is that desalination is very expensive and it is really bad for the environment. The following comes from a recent Natural News article…
For those who are saying, “There’s no water problem in California! It has the entire Pacific Ocean right next door!”, you need to look into the catastrophic environmental destruction tied to ocean water desalination.
Not only does desalination use fossil fuels which emit the very same carbon emissions that the California government insists caused the drought in the first place, the desalination process itself pollutes the ocean with high concentration salt brine that kills marine ecosystems and destroys ocean life along the California coastline.
And that’s on top of all the Fukushima radiation that’s already causing a marine ecosystem collapse in many areas of the coast. Add more salt brine to the mix and you get a state where rich, self-entitled Hollywood celebrities demand their lush, green lawns at the expense of ocean life, climate change and the global ecosystem. If that happens, California will lose all credibility as a “green” state, and its wealthiest residents will be living an ecological lie.
Others have suggested that California can solve their water problems using “toilet to tap” technology…
Potable water reuse – or converting sewage effluent to heavily-treated, purified drinking water – is receiving renewed attention in California in the midst of the state’s four-year drought.
According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, “California water managers and environmentalists” are pushing the idea of recycled sewage water. Yet past efforts in the state to employ similar systems have stalled, as opponents have dubbed the concept “toilet to tap.”
How would you feel about that?
Would you be willing to have your family drink water that came from the toilets of your neighbors?
I don’t think that I could do that.
But something has to be done. It is not just the state of California that is experiencing a major water crisis. All over the world, underground aquifers are being drained rapidly. In fact, according to the Washington Post, 21 out of the 37 largest aquifers in the world “have passed their sustainability tipping points”…
The world’s largest underground aquifers – a source of fresh water for hundreds of millions of people — are being depleted at alarming rates, according to new NASA satellite data that provides the most detailed picture yet of vital water reserves hidden under the Earth’s surface.
Twenty-one of the world’s 37 largest aquifers — in locations from India and China to the United States and France — have passed their sustainability tipping points, meaning more water was removed than replaced during the decade-long study period, researchers announced Tuesday. Thirteen aquifers declined at rates that put them into the most troubled category. The researchers said this indicated a long-term problem that’s likely to worsen as reliance on aquifers grows.
Sadly, this is just the beginning. There is a reason why experts refer to fresh water as “the new oil”. Without fresh water, none of us can survive. But we are very quickly getting to the point where there simply won’t be enough of it for everyone on the planet.
As for the state of California, it was once a desert and now it is turning back into a desert. As I mentioned earlier, the 20th century was the wettest century that part of North America had seen in at least 1000 years. During that time, we built enormous cities all over the Southwest that currently support millions upon millions of people. But now we are learning that those cities are not sustainable.
83 Comments on "California Has Never Experienced A Water Crisis Of This Magnitude – And The Worst Is Yet To Come"
penury on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 11:44 am
Lets all sing the same verse and hope someone is listening “There are too many people in the world.” It is sixty years too late to correct the predicament.
Nony on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 11:49 am
blablabla.
Just let the price system handle it. Yeah, the rice farmers will lose out to municipal use but so what. Rice farming in the dry Cali climate is crazy.
P.s. I heard all of this before in 1990. People love blathering about droughts. That and bragging about how warm it is in the winter. It’s all talk.
Lawfish1964 on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 12:19 pm
I have a friend who lives in Cali. He was home recently for a funeral of a friend and I asked him what his plan was in light of the water shortage. He said he doesn’t own property out there, so when things start to hit the fan, he’ll just move back to DC where he owns a condo. If I owned property in Cali, I’d sell it to the first Chinese oligarch I could find and I’d be out of there like shit through a goose.
Davy on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 12:43 pm
Article said “According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, “California water managers and environmentalists” are pushing the idea of recycled sewage water…..How would you feel about that?
Don’t drink the tap water if you don’t like it. Use the recycled water for all water needs besides potable water uses. For potable water needs use bottled or equivalent. Your pets won’t mind. I have seen dogs drink some nasty water and love it. Recycled water is still expensive and energy intensive but it is a source that is available now and it will promote conservation. What is not said is this still will require time, money, and energy. Immediate relief is only an act of God away.
Continue to reduce agriculture and other non-essential water intensive activities like golf. All pool should be salt water. The list is a mile long but the motivation is lacking. Changes can be done over time but California’s population growth will have to end and likely even shrink significantly. This will mean economic shrinkage and will be a serious head wind on US growth indicators. Not looking good for the corns. What says you Marm i NOo about that bold statement?
Nony on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 12:50 pm
San Diego did it decades ago. They just use it for irrigation and such, though. It’s not that big a deal. If you’re on a river, where do you think the upstream cities processed sewer water went? Yeah…part of that is on the intake. It’s just cleanup and dilution. The current practice is dumping it in the ocean (after cleaning), but then you lose fresh water.
Nony on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 12:52 pm
Davy: all that needs to happen is price increases. Right now the rice farmers and other huge users get a discounted price. Make them pay even equal to what municipal users pay and the water will get re-allocated no problem. But instead we have nanny people who want to tell you how to flush your toilet or wash your car. How can you say you’re free to smoke dope and then limit what a man does with water that he paid for??
Apneaman on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 1:03 pm
Hey nony-marm how’s that record breaking Red Tide” working for ya? Or the record number of dead sea creatures washing up on Pacific shores? How will the price system handle defunct fisheries? Whats your anecdotal comparison? That’s right you don’t have one cause we are in uncharted territory. Watch out for the crabs.
Hot Pacific Ocean Runs Bloody — Blob Now Features Record Red Tide
https://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/hot-pacific-ocean-runs-bloody-blob-now-features-record-red-tide/
Davy on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 1:05 pm
NOo, I will let you Californians sort it out. You guys are goofy as a three legged dog.
We just had 4 inches of rain here last night. We are just fine in our poor hoosier Geezus lovin hardscrabble hills you Californians are too sophisticated to even visit.
Nony on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 1:12 pm
I been hearing about the record red tide since at least the 80s. Seriously whole thing is a snooze. Go snorkel in La Jolla Cove. It looks great. Big ocean, man…
https://www.google.com/search?q=la+jolla+cove&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=HVuEVe37JIXn-AHlj52wCw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=599#tbm=isch&q=la+jolla+cove+underwater
Ted Wilson on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 1:13 pm
Hello Californians.
I am sure the Oil refining should be consuming lot of water. Its time, you dump the gas guzzling SUVs & PUs and start buying the shiny EVs.
Similarly with higher solar insolation, you can start installing more and more Solar PV panels.
Nony on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 1:13 pm
Davy, the Californians will call you at Xmas and brag about how warm it is. That and the Floridians. It is a minor pleasure. Maybe I should move back to one of those states. FL has no state income tax.
ghung on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 1:14 pm
“Would you be willing to have your family drink water that came from the toilets of your neighbors?”
Millions of people already do. Where do folks think water from sewage treatment plants goes? Back into rivers and lakes which people downstream treat and consume. I’m certainly not saying that’s an answer to California’s water woes, but there are many places in this country where at least some of the potable water supply has been through someone else’s gut at some point.
I visited a friends home in the Colorado mountains where virtually all of the home’s water is recycled back into the cisterns via filtration (all solar powered ($$$!). Nice system; requires an annual delivery of a couple of thousand gallons of water.
We have the technology, but not enough resources to implement at scale, and California’s problems are immense.
BobInget on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 1:33 pm
The article is informative … except about solutions. Solar powered desalination along with
repurposing brine waste cuts expense for high quality drinking water.
Obviously, pipelines rather the ditches now being used to transport water would save on evaporation, leakage and controlled (metered)
dispersement.
The following is a blatant plug for a particular US corporation. Read no further if you are offended.
There are of course other foreign and domestic
public corporations that will aid California’s more or less permanent water shortages. I’ve done quite a bit of DD on GE and am convinced they are not ‘green-washed’
I’ve invested in GE as a ‘play’ on climate changes.
GE has been researching and building
commercial , high quality water filters, water management techniques for more then a decade.
GE is a major shareholder in First Solar..
(over one million shares)
FirstSolar, ( my second biggest investment) can make water filtration affordable and long term non polluting.
GE just purchased a premier high quality pump manufacturing company.
GE manufactures high mileage CNG and diesel RR locomotives and of course turbines, jet engines and highly profitable medical devices.
GE has paid the same dividend for two years, again IMO, is due for a raise.
GE stock is oversold at this time. If Greece defaults, GE will go lower. That’s the time to look at buying.
Apneaman on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 1:37 pm
nony who have you been hearing about “it” from? According to the people who devote their life to studying such matters and documenting every little change “it” has not happened like this before.
Toxic algae bloom might be largest ever
“The fact that we’re seeing multiple toxins at the same time, we’re seeing high levels of domoic acid, and we’re seeing a coastwide bloom — those are indications that this is unprecedented,” Trainer said.
Domoic-acid outbreaks aren’t unusual in the fall, particularly in razor clams, Ayres said. But the toxin has never hit so hard in the spring, or required such widespread closures for crabs.
“This is new territory for us,” Ayres said. “We’ve never had to close essentially half our coast.”
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/toxic-algae-bloom-might-be-largest-ever/
penury on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 1:40 pm
To be clear. The desalinization would be too expensive. CA and the U.S. are both essentially bankrupt. There will be no pipeline from the Columbia, there will be no pipelines from the Great Lakes. There is no money. What is the population of CA? Remember, it does not matter where you live the refugees will be there. Think about the cities,states, and individuals who are bankrupt. In Baltimore 16 thousand people were cut off the water system for non payment. Look at Detroit, UN says water is a human right. Then look at the Pentagon budget which just passed Congress and tell me how much assistance will be furnished CA/
Davy on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 1:46 pm
You nailed it Pen. No money no time. BAUtopians green and brown can’t get that simple fact through their head.
Davy on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 1:48 pm
NOo, if you call me just after Christmas into January I am in the Bahamas so sorry I won’t answer.
GregT on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 2:25 pm
Nasa Climate Study Warns of Unprecedented North American Drought
The 21st-century projections make the [previous] mega-droughts seem like quaint walks through the garden of Eden
The mega-droughts are projected to hit the main agricultural regions in the United States – both California and the Midwest “breadbasket.” The chronic water shortages that are anticipated in these regions under the business-as-usual scenario would make farming, as well as ranching in the American southwest, nearly impossible.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2015/feb/16/nasa-climate-study-warns-unprecedented-north-american-drought
Xombie Rainbow on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 2:33 pm
While Jerry Brown fiddles with high speed rail, California burns.
Pump seawater from the pacific ocean to the nearest deserts. Use the sun to desalinate the water. Problem solved. Surely it would only cost $68 billion or so. A dried up state does not need high speed rail. Look up seawater greenhouse or saltwater greenhouse. You get food, energy and clean water.
Our eventual goal should be to replace all California’s agricultural water with seawater. Those who think this cannot be done have not done their homework on saltwater greenhouses and seawater greenhouses.
We also need to be aggressively managing ground water and making sure that not one drop of runoff water of any kind reaches the ocean at anytime. Recycle it all.
“Innovative Ways to Deal with California’s Drought”
BobInget on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 2:37 pm
Well Penury, let’s just give up then.
Hand me the gas pipe, doomer. Wait… before I take the long dirt nap lets smoke last years weed before it goes past expiration date.
California’s population similar to Canada.
California’s $1.8 trillion GDP makes it the 8th largest economy in the world. (Wikipedia)
Dismissing desalination out of hand ignoring everything I wrote because it doesn’t fit with
this board’s dystopian meme, is discouraging. Worse, it doesn’t offer any hope whatsoever.
Wallow around in despair if you must Penury, we
aren’t not giving up.
As a farmer in drought prone Southern Oregon I’ve been dealing with water shortages for 30 years. How do Israelis grow (food) in the desert? I asked. (drip irrigation, recycling, desalination)
How did ranchers and farmers manage in during the Great Depression with no money and no
water? Answer, they dug ditches, miles of ditches, themselves. Damed ‘lakes’ to store
water for summer growing season.
IN early 20th century farmers electrified a small town by using irrigation pipe as a penstock, turning first one turbine, then others to operate saw mills and lighting. All done without any gov
aid.
Hubbert on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 2:44 pm
If this drought last 50 years, California is about done. It will be interesting how they will survive the coming years. I’m expecting a slow migration out of California.
But this problem isn’t just California. I suspect Texas will have as much problem in the coming years.
Apneaman on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 2:56 pm
Carbon is forever
Carbon dioxide emissions and their associated warming could linger for millennia, according to some climate scientists. Mason Inman looks at why the fallout from burning fossil fuels could last far longer than expected.
“After our fossil fuel blow-out, how long will the CO2 hangover last? And what about the global fever that comes along with it? These sound like simple questions, but the answers are complex — and not well understood or appreciated outside a small group of climate scientists. Popular books on climate change — even those written by scientists — if they mention the lifetime of CO2 at all, typically say it lasts “a century or more”1 or “more than a hundred years”.
“That’s complete nonsense,” says Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, California. It doesn’t help that the summaries in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports have confused the issue, allege Caldeira and colleagues in an upcoming paper in Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences2. Now he and a few other climate scientists are trying to spread the word that human-generated CO2, and the warming it brings, will linger far into the future — unless we take heroic measures to pull the gas out of the air.”
http://www.nature.com/climate/2008/0812/full/climate.2008.122.html
Davy on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 3:00 pm
You tell em Bob how good it can be if and when they follow your BAUtopian ideas. All will have a happy ending if we just apply maximum technology to the rescue. I’m ready to convert Bob cause you sounded so positive and optimistic. Yea Ha.
Steve Challis on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 3:55 pm
Apneaman,
Your link about how long the CO2 we produce from fossil fuels will stay in the atmosphere is interesting, but by its very nature has to contain some guesswork.
It is my guess that even that article is seriously underestimating how long the effects will last.
Scientists (like most people)tend to be conservative in their predictions.
Apneaman on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 3:56 pm
Bob, the horse has left the barn and your solutions, although they maybe helpful to some, are a delaying action at best. False solutions are just giving false hope and are a much crueler cut than telling the truth. Feel good hopey changy and positivism are the bane of 21st century civilization and TPTB, corporate & government, have used it as a means to shut down debate for decades. If the subject is negative or upsetting then it is wrong by default. It should be no surprise then that this type of magical thinking was bound to happen when the apes could no longer realistically look to their sky gods for hope. Positivism and techno utopianisim are the true faith of 21st century apes.
Where is it written that hope is mandatory? In our brains of course – the optimism bias hijacked for maximum profit and control and run amok.
Bright-sided
How Positive Thinking is Undermining America
A sharp-witted knockdown of America’s love affair with positive thinking and an urgent call for a new commitment to realism
http://barbaraehrenreich.com/website/brightsided.htm
Apneaman on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 4:11 pm
I agree steve, especially since it is difficult to model in the positive feed back loops. The most common phrase coming from scientists in the last 5 years has been “faster then expected” or “faster then previously thought” or “underestimated” or some variation on that theme. Conservative indeed.
Hugh Culliton on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 4:28 pm
I recently read Frank Hebert’s classic: “Dune”. Lot’s of good ideas! Maybe Californians of the future will, like the Fremin, call their governor Mau’dib, walk around in stillsuits, riding giant sand-worms to and from the office. It’d cut down on the commute time at least.
Rodster on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 4:30 pm
“The most common phrase coming from scientists in the last 5 years has been “faster then expected” or “faster then previously thought” or “underestimated” or some variation on that theme. Conservative indeed.”
All hell will break loose within the next 10-15 years. Meanwhile TPTB agreed to get off fossil fuels by 2100.
Parts of Miami Beach and St. Augustine, FL are already feeling the effects of SLR. Now they are experiencing street flooding just from high tides and strong onshore winds. Seawater bubbles up from manhole covers. It was predicted sometime into the future but it’s here already for parts of the low lying Florida Coasts.
Just wait till the frozen permafrost begings melting at an accelerated pace.
Face-Plant on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 5:41 pm
“let the price sytem handle it” LOL what a fucking troll nony is. How about I let the price system handle your face after i boot fuck your mouth you fucking loser.
welch on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 5:41 pm
“And that’s on top of all the Fukushima radiation that’s already causing a marine ecosystem collapse in many areas of the coast.”
Bullshit.
penury on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 6:04 pm
Welch I suppose you would agree that there is a collapse of the sea life along the Pacific Coast. Cause to be determined. Then there is the persistent “BLOB” which is off shore. If you know what the casual agents are feel free to share. I just heard a radio advisory from Seattle advising people to prepare for three months of Aug and to pray for rain as WA is also in a drought, So take your bullshit and replace it with facts. You know things which can actually be proven.
shortonoil on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 6:07 pm
“You nailed it Pen. No money no time. BAUtopians green and brown can’t get that simple fact through their head.”
It is the old proverbial “they will think of something response”. It comes without the realization that the “they” that is being referred to is the complex social institution in which they live. When it is gone so is the “they”. The elite are the most likely to fall prey to such notions. They have been somewhat insulated from the trials that the common man must endure day by day. They believe that their positions, and money will continue to shield them without the understanding that when the “they” is gone so also will be their privileged status.
Richard Heinberg in his “The End of Growth” stated that there is no law that economic disruptions must appear one at a time. California is likely to be the example of that statement in Western society. Without water, and with the oil age coming to an abrupt end forty million people are likely to be trapped in a wasteland. A wasteland without food, without water, and without a way out. A few million may leave everything behind, and escape. Most will wait for the “they” to rescue them. A “they” that for them which will no longer exist.
Apneaman on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 6:27 pm
Looks like it’s tuna crab cakes and giant sea slug salad tonight in Cali.
Mysterious Slugs Resembling Human Organs Wash Ashore in Northern California
http://www.accuweather.com/en/features/trend/sea_slugs_wash_up_east_bay_northern_california_beach/48926676
Thousands of tiny red tuna crabs wash up on California beaches – video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/jun/19/red-tuna-crabs-dana-point-california-beaches-video
GregT on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 6:42 pm
Watching that last video really shows how completely out of touch with reality most people are.
Guy says that the ocean water is nice because it’s so much warmer than normal.
“It’s nice for me, but I really feel sorry for those lobster crabs.”
Stupid people don’t understand that we are part of the biosphere, not separate from it.
Apneaman on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 7:22 pm
‘Sixth mass extinction’: Earth’s species disappearing at frightening rate, new study says
“We are entering a mass extinction equivalent to what happened to the dinosaurs” unless conservation efforts are intensified, said UC Berkeley paleontologist Anthony D. Barnosky and an author of the report, which was published Friday.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_28345327/sixth-mass-extinction-earths-species-disappearing-at-frightening
Dennis on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 7:26 pm
What is the order of die-offs going to be?
GregT on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 8:00 pm
We have cut the total population of all wild animals on Earth in half since 1970. It is expected that around one half of all species will become extinct by 2050 if we continue on our current trajectory. If we trigger a runaway greenhouse event, we could cause global mass extinction in less than two decades. That would include us.
Apneaman on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 8:09 pm
Whatever species lose their habitat first and are unable to adapt for any reason are the first to go. Clever adaptable apes may have an advantage, but not 7 plus billion of them – not even close. Sawing through the tree branch we are sitting on.
Apneaman on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 8:16 pm
Dennis, here is a perfect example of a couple of creatures trying to adapt to a warming world.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
Polar bear caught eating dolphins and freezing the leftovers
“Jon Aars of the Norwegian Polar Institute and his colleagues have made the first ever observations of polar bears eating white-beaked dolphins that had ventured too far north – in fact, they saw this happen several times last year.
The first incident was in late April 2014. Collecting data in Svalbard, Norway, Aars’s team stumbled across a bear with two dead white-beaked dolphins, a species no one had ever seen the bears preying upon before.”
“”We were surprised as dolphins have not been reported in that area before,” says Aars. The explanation could be that the Svalbard waters were unusually warm at the time, and that a pod of dolphins had become trapped there when strong northerly winds had pushed them out of open water and in among the ice.”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27697-polar-bear-caught-eating-dolphins-and-freezing-the-leftovers.html#.VYS9hVIV1NE
Stephanie Loudermilk on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 8:34 pm
As I am reading this it has been raining for days in Indiana. I wish we could ship some of our rainwater out west!
WindyNeighbor on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 8:45 pm
Using good potable water to flush the toilet is absurd. We use a composting toilet, no water, no smell, works great. It is only a drop in the bucket compared to how much water conservation is required, but every bit helps.
Makati1 on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 9:15 pm
Climate change writ large. And with the prevailing winds in the US from the West Coast to the East Coast, how is that dryness going to affect the Midwest? Dust Bowl redo? And will that make the East a land of random drought/flood growing seasons? Any of those mean large food price increases in the US and more food imports. Interesting.
welch on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 10:12 pm
Pun-
” I suppose you would agree that there is a collapse of the sea life along the Pacific Coast. Cause to be determined. ”
I would certainly agree a number of populations of species on the west coast are experiencing various rates of loss, yes. How many of those populations would be considered to be collapsing i am not certain of.
As for the causes, from what I have read they vary and for most events have yet to be nailed down definitivelky but when they are I have little doubt that human impacts will be contributing factors at the least, and more likely the primary cause. I am well aware of the impacts we are having–warming, acidification, pollutants, etc etc–you’re preaching to the choir my friend. What I have not seen any evidence for is the implied claim that these events have been caused by Fukushima. There is a great deal of misinformation about, and misunderstanding of, radiation, its nature, and its effects. So if you don’t mind, when I see this further propagated I’ll call people of.
“So take your bullshit and replace it with facts.”
I’m not sure what you are referring to, but you will doubtless recognize the irony of your statement. Peace.
welch on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 10:14 pm
Sry…call people out.
welch on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 10:43 pm
“What is the order of die-offs going to be?”
Not sure, but humans and roaches will be among the last standing.
GregT on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 10:52 pm
If we stall the Gulf Stream, more like Cyanobacteria and anaerobic microbes. Large mammals like us will be among the first to go.
Apneaman on Fri, 19th Jun 2015 11:28 pm
Not just the oceans, all marine life is or soon will be in hot water – literally. Salmon are the keystone species for the Pacific rain forest.
Warm river temperatures in Oregon trigger die-off of threatened salmon
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/19/us-usa-oregon-salmon-idUSKBN0OZ2L420150619
Salmon is keystone species for region
http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/salmon-is-keystone-species-for-region/
Boat on Sat, 20th Jun 2015 2:53 am
At the end of the day desalination will add $5-7 to a $71 bill in San Diego. Seems cheap to me.
GregT on Sat, 20th Jun 2015 3:11 am
At the end of the day Boat, money will not matter. The economy is reliant on the natural environment, not the other way around.
Bill on Sat, 20th Jun 2015 3:42 am
Floods, droughts and ever increasing population growths all over the world are screaming that massive water control and transfer projects must be built to sustain human life on earth regardless of what the causes of warming or drought might be; people and food production require water.
North America’s water shortages are so serious that huge portions of everything west of the 100th meridian from the North Pole to the Equator from Dodge City, Kansas west to the Pacific Ocean can not survive without massive volumes of water transfers if drought conditions persist.
For the last 50 years costs and concerns for potential environmental impacts have prevented the construction of new projects that water managers knew in 1962 would need to be in place by 2012 to avoid a self inflicted Armageddon caused by the lack of water.
If we are going to have water where people live and farm today environmental objections will need to be set aside that have blocked construction of needed water transfer systems for over 50 years.
Canadian Prime Minister Harper, US President Obama and Mexican President Pena Nieto must find a way to put permits into the hands of entrepreneurs or governments who will raise the money to, build and operate water transfer projects around North American like the NAWAPA , GRAND and all of the other, or yet to be conceived, water and infrastructure projects that can no longer be kicked down the road and ignored. Projects around North American that might cost $500billion to as much as $1trillion.
Engineers have shown us what is needed and with this drought nature is showing us what will happen if we do not use the problem solving skills available to us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Water_and_Power_Alliance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recycling_and_Northern_Development_Canal
http://archive.larouchepac.com/nawapa-overview
http://archive.larouchepac.com/nawapaxxi/overview
http://archive.larouchepac.com/nawapa1964
http://digital.films.com/play/DLYT6H
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recycling_and_Northern_Development_Canal