The country could supply all of California with water if we fixed our leaky pipes

[madokie]

As if California didn’t already have enough water issues to worry about right now, last week Los Angeles lost more than 20 million gallons – a day’s worth for at least 100,000 people – when a pipe that was installed a century ago finally broke. But it turns out geriatric pipes aren’t just a problem for the City of Angels. Aging infrastructure means that nationwide, pipes hemorrhage seven billion gallons of treated drinking water each day; enough to meet the daily water needs of the entire state of California.

From ABC News:

Much of the piping that carries drinking water in the country dates to the first half of the 20th century, with some installed before Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House.

Age inevitably takes a toll. There are 240,000 breaks a year, according to the National Association of Water Companies, a problem compounded by stress from an increasing population and budget crunches that slow the pace of replacement.

Which is why the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave U.S. water infrastructure a D grade last year, and the EPA says we need a $384 billion upgrade. Or, you know, as ASCE said in their report, we could do nothing and live with water shortages and higher rates.

http://grist.org/news/the-country-could-supply-all-of-california-with-water-if-we-fixed-our-leaky-pipes/

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. California can supply their own water or learn to cope with living in an arid environment

since it's really not that simple and getting any excess to California requires interbasin transfers, probably across the Rockies; pumping water uphill is very energy intensive and would require significant infrastructure investment in additional power plants and so on to get it there.

[madokie]

2. I think you missed the point.

The point being we can fix our countries problems if we had a congress that would work on real issues rather than shit like the house has been doing since the Black man was elected President, by a large margin I might add, too.

You know the guy who I voted for three times now and would vote for again, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, whose President'n while black is his only crime, yeah that guy.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

4. Water tends to be a municipal/county issue, not federal.

[madokie]

5. Of course it is

thats not the Jest of the article though, or sure wasn't to me when I first read it. Everyone everywhere needs to get off their butts and conserve water for the good of all people no matter where those people are at. Potable water is a finite resource, period
anyways

[Nuclear Unicorn]

6. Ah. I guess I misunderstood the nature of your comment concerning Congress.

Not that your complaint of their do-nothingness is unfounded but that would probably make a strong argument for maintaining local control of local resources. Would we really want those yammering yahoos to set our water and utility policies?

*shudders*

[madokie]

8. I agree with that for sure

needs to be a body overseeing the whole of it but for the most part control left with locals, I think.

[Sienna86]

3. Water is going to be a huge problem

Actually, it already is so imagine 20 years from now.

[JCMach1]

7. Desalinization --- coming to a city near you

once again stuck in that catch-22. Repugs are going to have to FUND INFRASTRUCTURE..!!!

[etherealtruth]

9. Fix leaking pipes (agreeing:a massive large scale problem especially the municipal delivery systems)

.... trade the idea of lawns for xeriscaping; use grey water for industrial processes (and many commercial processes); personal/ individual conservation.