Totally Parched: 100% of California in Drought

[xchrom]

http://www.livescience.com/45131-california-in-drought.html

?1390415163
The Southern, Eastern and Western Slopes of Mt. Shasta were almost bare in January.
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Robert Simmon, using Landsat 8 data from the USGS Earth Explorer

California is parched, with 100 percent of the Golden State entrenched in drought conditions for the first time in 15 years, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM).

"With the expansion of D1 [moderate drought] across southeast California and southwest Arizona, this week marks the first time in the 15-year history of the USDM that 100 percent of California was in moderate to exceptional drought," according to a statement by the Monitor, which is a joint effort by the National Drought Mitigation Center, NOAA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. drought observers.

Since March 25, the state has been under "abnormally dry" conditions, and just this week the Drought Monitor listed the entire state as experiencing a moderate drought. [Photos: The 10 Driest Places on Earth]

Various parts of the state are feeling the California drought more than others. For instance, the city of Montague may run out of drinking water by the end of the summer, according to the Monitor; the city has asked residents to curtail outside watering at this time.

[merrily]

1. I hope Californian DUers are okay.

Really, I hope all Californians are okay.

I have so many friends and family there. Guess I should check in with them today.

[PasadenaTrudy]

7. Ok for now

I stopped watering my small patch of grass. Looking forward to putting in drought tolerant plants!

[merrily]

9. By any chance, does California (or cities within) offer homeowners any tax break for that?

During a visit to San Antonio, TX, I commented that a front lawn looked as though it could use some help. It was all brown dirt, cacti, etc. The person I was visiting, said, "Oh, no, that's to save water and they can apply for a break on real estate taxes for doing that.

I guess San Antonio had not privatized the water supply, so saving water was saving San Antonio money; and San Antonio was willin to to reward that with a tax break.

Real estate taxes in TX were very high then because red TX has no sales tax--very hard on retirees and others trying to hang onto their homes. You can cut down on purchases and therefore cut down on your sales tax obligations, but there are not a lot of ways to cut down on real estate taxes, so a real estate tax break was really a very green and welcome thing.

That was in the 90s. Don't know what the story is now.

Oh, duh. As I finished this, I remembered California homeowners get Prop 13. I feel like Emily Litella.

[OnlinePoker]

12. Wish that was the same here in Victoria.

Everybody got on the bandwagon for water conservation and because of this they've had to raise the cost per litre of water to cover the operating cost of the system. The same appears to be happening for tipping fees at the dump...because of recycling not as many dump trucks are going there but they still operate with the same staff levels and have to raise the cost to compensate.

[merrily]

13. Glad to hear Victoria is so green.

Your grandkids will be even gladder .

[hatrack]

2. Holy shit - that's Shasta in JANUARY?

Yeesh.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. There are going be water wars again.

Big money is already buying as much water area as they can.
And fracking is using up incredible amounts.

I grew up in Puget Sound.( Seattle area)
The Cascade Mountains run north to South along the state,
We were always aware of "snowpack"., meaning how much snow there was up there each season.
snowpack was part of the weather report, for skiers, way back when, but we also knew it meant our drinking water for the year, and the water for crops.
When climate change became an issue, most people did not think in terms of snowpack, and what it meant.
All over the West, snow pack has diminshed to a startling degree, as it has in africa, and Japan, and other countires.
Kilimjiro and Mt. Fuji are just 2 examples.

[NickB79]

3. Food prices are going to get crazy

Thank God I've gotten a good start to my garden already. I'd advice others to do the same if they can.

No way I'm paying $2 for one measly pepper at the story this year.

[stuntcat]

4. Right!? & for EVERYONE, so much is grown there

It's the vineyards I'm worried about, will there still be 3-buck Chuck?

[merrily]

10. I remember two buck chuck. Either way, what a deal!

[Kablooie]

6. Do you think Jack Nicholson could get his nose slit again over this?

[PasadenaTrudy]

8. Funny!

I drive past the house in Pasadena where Chinatown was filmed all the time. I find it ironic that the huge lawn is as green as can be and we are in a drought..

[Kablooie]

14. I found the address. I'll have to check it out.

I live over in La Canada. Not far from you.

[merrily]

11. My first post was going to include a Chinatown reference, but I deleted it.

I thought someone might get angry.

[nationalize the fed]

15. Dear California- There's water off your left coast

Get busy!

Solar desalination is a technique to desalinate water using solar energy. There are two basic methods of achieving desalination using this technique; direct and indirect...

Methods of solar distillation have been employed by humankind for thousands of years. From early Greek mariners to Persian alchemists, this basic technology has been utilized to produce both freshwater and medicinal distillates. Solar stills were in fact the first method used on a large scale to process contaminated water and convert it to a potable form...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_desalination

Maybe if the US wasn't spending trillions bombing and invading foreign lands 8000 miles away there would be enough to build more Solar Desalination plants than CA needs. Pakistan can build one-

National ENERGY GLOBE Award Pakistan
Submitted by: Karachi Industrial Research Group
Crystal Clean Water from a New Desalination Plant

Conventional solar desalination plants, which are built in the customary horizontal setup, produce approximately four litres of clean water per square meter every day. With his sophisticated modifications, Akhtar managed to increase the yield in his project to over 40 litres of clean drinking water per day, while at the same time reducing construction and maintenance costs.

Akhtar Zuberi’s solar desalination plant consists of a 2.5 metre high hollow cement tower with a water tank on top. Its outer surface is covered by glass at a distance of approximately 0.5 to 3 centimetres from the cement. The tank is filled with saline water, which gradually flows down into the tower and condenses as a consequence of the sunlight hitting the cement walls. Clean water particles adhere to the glass cylinder’s inner surface, and then run off through a drain, filtered and ready for use, just like the salt that remains as a “by-product”. The plant was built using only materials that are available locally and needs no energy source other than the sun...
http://www.energyglobe.info/awards/national/awdid/70178/#.UmGu7FDIbcw