Federal water allocation for drought-stricken California farms cut to zero
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/22/federal-water-allocation-for-drought-stricken-california-farms-cut-to-zero/
Federal water allocation for drought-stricken California farms cut to zero
By Reuters
Saturday, February 22, 2014 8:04 EST
The worsening drought in California will force a first-ever complete cutoff of federally supplied irrigation water to most farm districts throughout the state’s Central Valley heartland this year, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said on Friday.
The projected 2014 zero allocation to all but a handful of agricultural districts supplied by the federally run Central Valley Project comes three weeks after forecasts of similarly drastic cuts were announced by managers of a separate water-delivery system operated by the state.
California grows roughly half of all U.S. fruits and vegetables, most of that in the Central Valley, and ranks as the No. 1 farm state by value of agricultural products produced each year.
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Here's my solution to the water crisis in California:
1. Melborne installed a salt water desalinization plant in 2009 for around $2.5 billion dollars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Water
Seawater Desalination Plant
The Seawater Desalination Plant is a $(AUS)3.1 billion desalination plant that was built in the Wonthaggi region of the Bass Coast.[17] The plant can provide an additional 150 gigalitres of water each year.[18][19] Construction commenced in mid-2009.[20] This project represents the single biggest boost to Melbourne's water system since the approval of the Thomson Dam in 1975. While this project will supply water for Melbourne, it is being managed by the Department of Sustainability & Environment (DSE) as a Public-private partnership (PPP). DSE awarded the tender for design, build and operation to another company who will in turn supply the water to Melbourne Water.
2. Zumwalt-class destroyers cost over $5.6 billion dollars to build. (One's been floated already.)
Don't build one destroyer and build TWO salt water desalinization plants in California. What would 300 annual gigaliters do for farmers in the west?
I'd rather have food than more (very) expensive stuff that kills other humans.
A final note: The military budget is full of big ticket items including $7 billion dollar submarines, $40 billion dollar aircraft carriers $1.8 billion dollar Aegis-class destroyers and don't forget the $400 (ok, $396) billion dollar F-35 program. Even the brain bucket for the F-35 costs half a million.
= new reply since forum marked as read
> Better to conserve and invest in plants that recycle our water.
What kind of un-American traitor are you?
The twenty-eighth amendment to the United States Constitution means that
the God-given right to consume whatever, wherever & whenever is totally
sacrosanct and only commies & other foreigners use that kind of talk
to undermine the economy!
Especially fracked natural gas.
That's what would happen because it's the cheapest, fastest way.
There are some processes, not entirely commercial yet (such as "forward osmosis"
that could, in part, utilize waste heat from existing power plants and water already used for cooling, but these are the sorts of fossil fuel plants we want to be getting rid of.
The current natural gas boom will end exactly the same way the oil boom is ending -- with increasingly destructive and expensive means of extraction, things like tar sands, dangerous offshore rigs, and increasing reliance on coal as a source for synthetic products, including syn-gas.
Syn-gas and light fuels (like gasoline or diesel) made from coal is a nightmare, the worst-of-the-worst of the fossil fuels.
In any case even with some magic power source like solar, nuclear, or even fusion, sucking water out of the ocean, killing everything in it to keep the pipes clear, and then dumping the saltier waste water back into the ocean, that is never going to be good for the environment.
Desalinated water is also very expensive, too expensive for almost anything but interior household use for the average person, or the uber-wealthy person who wants a big green lawn.
It's a far better to live within our resources, with flexible agricultural practices that can cope with occasional droughts, and an economic system that provides for people when farming (or even living in) a certain place becomes untenable, perhaps because there is no more water, or along the coasts as the oceans rise.
