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Page added on February 8, 2014
California’s Nightmare Comes True … There’s No More Water
It’s finally happening. The world is running out of fresh water…or at least in the state of California. The Golden State has been experiencing one of its worst droughts ever. It’s so severe that state officials issued a press release announcing that residents and farmers will be receiving less water in an attempt to conserve the water the state still has in reserve.
Following Governor Jerry Brown’s State of Emergency, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) began enforcing this conservation. Mark Cowin, director of DWR, stated, “The harsh weather leaves us little choice. If we are to have any hope of coping with continued dry weather and balancing multiple needs, we must act now to preserve what water remains in our reservoirs.”
California residents have been urged to significantly reduce their water usage and adhere to mandatory restrictions which include no fishing in designated areas due to low water levels, and avoiding outdoor fires because of the dry conditions and the elevated risk of wildfires.
Conditions are dropping with each passing day and Governor Brown has requested that residents voluntarily reduce their water usage by 20 percent. “I’ve declared this emergency, and I’m calling all Californians to conserve water in every way possible,” he said.
2013 proved to be the driest year on record for California, followed by very little precipitation in January as well. The reservoir is so low that over 15 communities are at high risk of running out of water within the next few months.
Cowin commented on the situation,
As Governor Brown has directed, we will work closely with our state, federal and local partners to meet health and safety needs and deliver what water is available to critically dry areas. Even though it’s dry everywhere, California agencies have traditionally been willing to transfer any water they can spare to more needy areas. Today is a stark reminder that we all have to save every drop we can in our homes and places of work. Conservation is always important, but today it’s an absolute necessity.
It’s hard to predict how much longer this drought will last or how much worse it is going to get, and although California is not completely bone dry, residents should be practicing extreme conservation measures to prevent the worst from happening.
31 Comments on "California’s Nightmare Comes True … There’s No More Water"
paulo1 on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 2:05 pm
Let those golf course dry up…everywhere and throughout the state regardless of irrigation sources. Or, is it only the regular folk and farmers who pay the price? Throw car washers in jail instead of pot smokers. Shut down commercial car washing businesses. Put actual water restriction devices/meters on property access lines. Each household only gets______ amount of water. Can’t fill your pool? leave.
If the authorities allow more wetlands to be further sacrificed for golf courses and for front lawns then people need to take to the streets starting with San Joaquin farmers.
If the drought is serious, then it should be a little bit beyond ‘urging people’ to cut back. It should be enforced equally. At this point it might do the world some good if major cities ran out and the results hit tv. It might wake people up.
regards….Paulo
Mark Ziegler on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 2:33 pm
Some may want to consider more water
Desalination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination
Feemer on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 3:02 pm
Most of California is a desert. There are WAY to many people in that state than there should be, and they have to use aquifers and steal water from other states and countries (Mexico). No matter where you live, this is going to become a problem, so stock up on water, get water efficient appliances, and maybe a rainwater collection system.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 3:10 pm
Amen Paulo
The West without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us about Tomorrow Hardcover
What is facing the West in the US is unprecedented. The drought is a multifaceted predicament. There are no solutions there is only adaptation and mitigation.
If there is anything optimistic about this it is the Western US will be forced to bring the regions carrying capacity closer to a sustainable level sooner than if there is a general collapse. The large cities will be forced by Nature to adapt to a water constrained multi-generational situation. It may happen from climate instability that things get better but I doubt it. Most indication are for an historic drought of unprecedented levels.
There are multiple regions in the same boat, Egypt is a notable example.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 3:21 pm
Mark, great idea but then we have an energy constrained world also. The cost will be prohibitive except for small amount of drinking and cooking water. My parents have a system in the Bahamas.
mike on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 3:45 pm
Meanwhile, here in the UK, we have suffered the wettest January since records began back in the 18th century. Flood emergencies in counties up and down England (Scotland surprisingly drier), villages evacuated, vital rail links washed away by coastal storms etc etc etc. Last winter, and the previous one, and the one before that, were unususally harsh, wet, and snowy. This winter very mild – at least in England. No snow, but wet. But I have not heard this time anyone denying the reality of global warming, interestingly. There seems more general acceptance based on understanding that a warmer atmosphere absorbs more water vapour that is then precipitated in relentless endless downpours from leaden skies. And here is the paradox: my solar panels have generated more power this January than previous ones, because between the torrential downpours the skies have been clear and sunny. Weird but true.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 3:53 pm
Mike, here in Missouri we have had the worst drought in living memory followed by some wet periods worst in many years. It is a mess trying to farm these extremes
dsula on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 4:10 pm
Send about 20M mexicans home.
ghung on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 4:22 pm
Mike – “…my solar panels have generated more power this January than previous ones, because between the torrential downpours the skies have been clear and sunny. Weird but true.”
Here in western North Carolina we live in a temperate rain forest; over 65 inches (almost 2 meters) a year, and January/February are some of our wetter months. Jan/Feb/Mar are also the months we’ve historically had record daily PV production as well as near record monthly production. Go figure. It rains/snows, then gets crystal clear and cold (low temps=higher production).
December is generally a bitch; shorter days, and usually socked in.
Northwest Resident on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 4:28 pm
When I was a Navy Hospital Corpsman flying with the Marine SAR helicopter team out of El Toro Marine Jet base in SoCal, we used to log our flight hours just buzzing around over Orange and LA counties. From up above, it is amazing how many swimming pools there are. And everybody has a green lawn. All that takes massive volumes of water. Point is, probably 90% of the water being pumped into SoCal goes toward recreational or optional uses. Cut back on all that usage, and there won’t be a problem anymore. But how to get Californians to stop filling their pools and watering their lawns is a whole different story — and they’re not going to stop using their air conditioners without a fight either.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 4:37 pm
N/R, don’t forget AG here and there in SOCO. But last I heard it is hard to enjoy playing if your belly is growling
rollin on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 5:06 pm
Climate change is a royal pain. Just add more energy into a large mixed system and things get more chaotic. The weird thing is how the weather seems to lock into a fixed state in a region or into repetitive patterns.
All summer here it was exceptionally cool, fairly dry. Next it shifts into this freeze thaw cycle with a repetition rate of about one week or so. First a warm wet cycle followed by arctic blasts. Repeat.
I think the cycle is breaking, it’s starting to lengthen a bit. Hope it doesn’t get stuck somewhere.
rockman on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 5:19 pm
Not that I’m unsympathetic but this isn’t a new story. The water applies in S. CA wasn’t capable of local meeting demand decades ago. Appropriate to discuss this topic on a site focused on peaking resources. Just as US domestic oil resources peaked long ago so did the water resources for S. CA. So the inevitable: no more cheap oil or water. From 1998…16 years ago:
Nowhere in the West is there a region as obsessed with the possibility of a future water shortage as Southern California. Water is so important to the southland that, as one writer once quipped, “the history of Southern California is the record of its eternal quest for water, and more water, and still more water.”
Not that we aren’t preoccupied with the issue of future water supplies for a good reason. In the LA Basin alone, we have approximately 6% of California’s habitable land but only .06% of the State’s stream flow — yet we hold over 45% of the State’s population. And if the population projections are to be believed, the entire southland is “scheduled” to grow from our current 16 million to over 24 million people. When policy questions are asked about whether Southern California can support this level of growth, the issue of greatest concern is not traffic or air quality or even quality of life, it is water. And the predominant question asked is “where will this water come from?”
Our water fears are not new. Since the pueblo days of Los Angeles, the lack of local water resources has been seen as the primary problem for the southland’s economic future. All plans for the development of the region have hinged around schemes to secure new water supplies — a fact recognized by Carey McWilliams, the pre-eminent historian of the southland, who wrote in 1946 that “God never intended Southern California to be anything but desert…Man has made it what it is.”
Northwest Resident on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 6:00 pm
This history of water and Los Angeles is also written in blood and brutal political maneuvering. Jack Nicholson starred in a movie called “China Town” where his investigation uncovers the sordid corruption and politics involved in bringing water to L.A. Wikipedia also has a nice write-up on the dirty deeds that brought water to L.A.:
“The California Water Wars were a series of conflicts between Los Angeles, farmers and ranchers in the Owens Valley of Eastern California. As Los Angeles grew in the late 1800s, it started to outgrow its water supply. Fred Eaton, mayor of Los Angeles, realized that water could flow from Owens Valley to Los Angeles via an aqueduct. The aqueduct construction was overseen by William Mulholland and was finished in 1913. The water rights were acquired through political fighting and, as described by one author, “chicanery, subterfuge … and a strategy of lies”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Water_Wars
bobinget on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 7:43 pm
Solar Powered Desalination along with conservation could bring almost immediate relief to cities.
Irrigation,
for the West’s veggie and fruits baskets is another
kettle of radioactive fish.
One solution of course is recycling sewage water for agriculture. Not sure how that will fly at Safeway. Ironically, the same folks who will fight
drought, insect, resistant (GMO) plants might accept recycled human waste. Go figure.
Figure we need both no spray GMO to get the same
turnaround by environmentalists as did CO/2 free nuclear power power, pre Fukushima.
Because of Fukushima, Japan the world’s third largest
economy, is setting fossil fuel import (and
deficit) records monthly, winter and summer.
Nuclear is out for dozens of fair reasons. Imported coal
generated power is forbidden by CA law.
Natural gas supplies because of pipeline problems
is currently not expandable.
If California makes it through this summer there is
still time to desalinate with solar power.
http://www.firstsolar.com/Home/Products/System-Solutions/AC-Power-Block
https://www.google.com/search?q=solar+powered+desalination+plants&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=w4T2UraJE8iFogS7vYHoDg&ved=0CCkQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=738
One thing made clear. We in the West have had water disputes since day two. AGW seems to be making dry regions drier wet wetter. Unless naturally arid regions
take remedial action things will get nasty.
andya on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 8:03 pm
This is a great story. My schadenfreude levels have gone extreme. Sadly though the poor are always hit first, same as it ever was. Though for California ‘poor’ is a relative term. The next few years will be very interesting. Is adaptation possible, or will we see migration? Either way will see the economy hit hard.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 9:46 pm
The regional peak water is in the western US is a mirror imagine of the peak energy issues. It is a long term predicament with no solutions. If the climate changed in a beneficial way in that region for some reason due to climate instability water would still be an issue. Yet, most all studies I have seen indicate no relief. So, as with peak energy issues, there will need to be multiple local, regional, and national changes. These changes will have to involve lifestyle changes of which Americans are not very good at. The economics will need to change. How much irrigated agriculture is too much? Should dairy be so big in California for example? The large industrial complex in and around L.A. can no longer support water intensive industries. Golf courses in the desert are strange sites to see almost a fairytale. I personally feel Phoenix and Las Vegas are at a greater risk because of the structure of the current water agreements. Lake Mead and Powel are dangerously low. The peak anything issues all point to one central theme which is an acceptance of reality and that reality is less with less. It means a political, social, and economic transformation. Growing is much different from contracting in a complex system. It requires all new thinking and attitudes. It will be interesting to see if this drought initiates the dramatic changes so far resisted.
Mike in Calif. on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 10:16 pm
The author’s timing is as good as that jackass Jerry Brown’s emergency declaration. It’s raining from the Oregon border to Santa Cruz. March is often a heavy month for rain…we’ll see.
action on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 10:24 pm
If it’s yellow – let it mellow, if it’s brown – flush it down.
In this land of sun and fun, we don’t flush on number one!
There’s a start, no one wants California’s population to flood East, they’re good staying over there. If you’re a waiter I’d be worried about this.
andya on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 12:07 am
You could actually recycle your manure. Kill about 50 birds with one stone. Takes no water, good for everyone and everything blah blah blah.
http://humanurehandbook.com/
Book is even free online.
Makati1 on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 2:30 am
Anyone consider what this is going to do to food bills this year? A very large part of the US veggies and fruits come from Cali. Or at least, they used to come from there. Add in the freezing in Florida and it means more imports and higher prices at the market. Then there is the drought in cattle land. Rising fuel prices, contracting economy, loss of jobs. etc. The US is headed for the 3rd world, thanks to Mother Nature and our own greed.
jeyeykei on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 3:30 am
California is running out of water because of the billions and billions of fresh water being used in hydraulic fracturing of OIL. Period.
You’re Govt. is so STUPID. And you Californians are IDIOTS.
WAKE UP !!!!!!!!!!!
jeyeykei on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 3:32 am
billions and billions of gallons of fresh water.
Northwest Resident on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 5:16 am
jeyeykei — “California is running out of water because of the billions and billions of gallons of fresh water being used…”
Here’s a quote:
“Taken together, all the wells (fracture sites all across the USA) surveyed from January, 2011 to May, 2013 consumed 97 billion gallons of water, pumped under high pressure to crack rocks containing oil or natural gas.”
You didn’t exaggerate by saying “billions and billions of gallons of water” have been used in fracking — but across the entire USA, not just in California. I think drought, millions of swimming pools, green lawns and golf courses have much more to do with California “running out of water” than fracking is responsible for.
From this link:
http://blog.sfgate.com/energy/2014/02/05/fracking-california-during-a-drought/
Of if you really want the facts on California water:
California’s water system is large, complex, and interconnected. Most precipitation
falls in the sparsely populated northern and mountainous regions of the
state during the winter, whereas most human water demands occur during
the late spring, summer, and early fall in the population and farming centers
farther south and along the coast. Precipitation also varies greatly across years,
making the state susceptible to large floods and prolonged droughts. These
conditions have led to the development of vast infrastructure systems that store
and convey water to demand centers and that protect residents from flooding.
The successive eras of water management over California’s history, in turn, have
spawned a wide array of management institutions involving local, regional,
state, and federal entities.
http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_211EHChapter2R.pdf
Null Hypothesis on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 5:44 am
Thanks for that link andya, I have been wanting to learn about doing just that!
Newfie on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 11:04 am
The fairy tale of never ending growth will have a tragic ending.
Beery on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 12:13 pm
Dsula wrote:
“Send about 20M mexicans [sic] home.”
Are you volunteering to take over from them, working on the farms and cleaning toilets?
Didn’t think so.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 1:07 pm
If you talk California water you have to talk the Colorado River and basin, the related agreements, and the rest of the southwestern growth. They are all in this together. This is a regional issue. Because of the agreements on water sharing Arizona and Nevada are on the short end of the stick because of their later growth. California has 1st rights to the water. Las Vegas faces a bigger danger long term than anywhere in California unless of course the March rains do not start in California. This is a predicament not a problem. There are no long term solutions to the status quo and there is little desire to face reality. There is mainly competing interest and efforts around the edges at efficiency. There is no effort at managed de-growth because as we know that is a strike out in our business-as-usual society. I do see some hope but the only way to deal with this predicament is managed de-growth. I imagine just like in the wider world it will be a process where nature forces the issue not agreements and technological solutions.
george on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 3:56 pm
this will be great if they all start heading into oklahoma
grapes of wrath in reverse
Kenz300 on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 5:31 pm
Oil, coal and nuclear power plants all require huge amounts of water to produce electricity.
Wind and solar can provide power generation with little of no water needed.
Another good reason to transition to safer, cleaner and cheaper alternative energy sources.
Norm on Mon, 10th Feb 2014 4:50 am
Fill up those backyard swimming pools with something else …. gasoline?