California Drought
As of 1 May, the state-wide snowpack water content was only 3% of the
average for that date. As the rain and snow season ends, the 12 most significant reservoirs were at 45% of capacity. The average for that date is 77%. Note that the averages include prior drought years, not only for the current drought but also for other droughts. Oregon and Washington also declared various drought emergencies. rant My local water agency imposed new restrictions on the use of water to irrigate my garden. Micromanaging my water use, the agency not only decreed that I can run my sprinklers only twice a week but also on which days -- Mondays, and Thursdays. Normally, I work in my garden on Thursdays; but now the ground will be too wet. I will have to change to Wednesdays. Will they next come into my house a time how long I shower? In the meantime across California, land developers are still getting new water connections. While existing residents and businesses are facing rationing, developers are creating demands for even more water -- water that does not exist -- for homes, factories, offices, restaurants, etc. Also, rice and cotton -- both very thirsty crops -- are still being planted. /rant -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary |
California Drought
"David E. Ross" writes:
As of 1 May, the state-wide snowpack water content was only 3% of the average for that date. As the rain and snow season ends, the 12 most significant reservoirs were at 45% of capacity. The average for that date is 77%. Note that the averages include prior drought years, not only for the current drought but also for other droughts. Oregon and Washington also declared various drought emergencies. rant My local water agency imposed new restrictions on the use of water to irrigate my garden. Micromanaging my water use, the agency not only decreed that I can run my sprinklers only twice a week but also on which days -- Mondays, and Thursdays. Normally, I work in my garden on Thursdays; but now the ground will be too wet. I will have to change to Wednesdays. Will they next come into my house a time how long I shower? In the meantime across California, land developers are still getting new water connections. While existing residents and businesses are facing rationing, developers are creating demands for even more water -- water that does not exist -- for homes, factories, offices, restaurants, etc. Also, rice and cotton -- both very thirsty crops -- are still being planted. /rant I understand Calif is getting closer to drinking some of that recycled waste water. I'm for thinking bigger. We need Calif agriculture to feed us and the country. A mega project to build a pipeline to the Columbia River is a solution for the longer term. As for the crude attempts to slow down water consumption, what do you expect? Without increasing supply none of "solutions" are going to work. Don't expect any politician to endorse slowing or reversing growth. -- Dan Espen |
California Drought
On 5/18/2015 11:22 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
As of 1 May, the state-wide snowpack water content was only 3% of the average for that date. As the rain and snow season ends, the 12 most significant reservoirs were at 45% of capacity. The average for that date is 77%. Note that the averages include prior drought years, not only for the current drought but also for other droughts. Oregon and Washington also declared various drought emergencies. rant My local water agency imposed new restrictions on the use of water to irrigate my garden. Micromanaging my water use, the agency not only decreed that I can run my sprinklers only twice a week but also on which days -- Mondays, and Thursdays. Normally, I work in my garden on Thursdays; but now the ground will be too wet. I will have to change to Wednesdays. Will they next come into my house a time how long I shower? My sympathy for drought hardships, but changing the day you work in your garden? I hope that is the worst that befalls you :o) Watering restrictions (hours, days, no run-off) have been in force in Florida for years. Clearwater installed an extensive reclaimed water system for watering lawns years ago. Some areas around Tamps bay also ban sale of fertilizer during certain months due to run-off polluting Tampa Bay. There are too many folks who follow the "if a little is good, then a lot is great" in fertilizer, herbicide, insecticide use; very sad. In the meantime across California, land developers are still getting new water connections. While existing residents and businesses are facing rationing, developers are creating demands for even more water -- water that does not exist -- for homes, factories, offices, restaurants, etc. Also, rice and cotton -- both very thirsty crops -- are still being planted. /rant |
California Drought
David E. Ross wrote:
As of 1 May, the state-wide snowpack water content was only 3% of the average for that date. As the rain and snow season ends, the 12 most significant reservoirs were at 45% of capacity. The average for that date is 77%. Note that the averages include prior drought years, not only for the current drought but also for other droughts. i didn't even think they bothered to measure it as there was so little to measure? but, yep, the snow pack situation is not good for CA this snow melt season. there has been a few rains recently and it looks like more will be possibly coming soon, but until it happens i sure wouldn't count on it. this is the link i check (later in the day after things get more updated): http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/reservoirs/RES by far it isn't the whole story as there is much ground water being pumped and some sewage now being recycled and the water reused. desal is not really an answer as it is very expensive compared to what could be done instead with more storm water capture more recycling and more adjustments to rivers and ground water recharge basins. Oregon and Washington also declared various drought emergencies. rant My local water agency imposed new restrictions on the use of water to irrigate my garden. Micromanaging my water use, the agency not only decreed that I can run my sprinklers only twice a week but also on which days -- Mondays, and Thursdays. Normally, I work in my garden on Thursdays; but now the ground will be too wet. I will have to change to Wednesdays. Will they next come into my house a time how long I shower? In the meantime across California, land developers are still getting new water connections. While existing residents and businesses are facing rationing, developers are creating demands for even more water -- water that does not exist -- for homes, factories, offices, restaurants, etc. Also, rice and cotton -- both very thirsty crops -- are still being planted. /rant there is so much more recycling and rain water capture/storage and reuse that can be done that the real shame in all of this is that the amount of water that is being cleaned up and then dumped into the sea that instead could be used for groundwater recharge and many other purposes. California has plenty of water, it's just that up to now it's been cheap enough to dump instead of figure out how to reuse and it's been easier to direct rain/rivers to flow through the cities instead of slowing and soaking in some of that instead. right now the el nino is getting stronger and perhaps it will help this last bit of spring for some moisture, but they are also hoping it will help drive a wetter than normal year. we can hope so for the sake of CA and the other Colorado River basin states. as i've been watching the radars lately it seems that there is a fair bit of rain and storms happening, but they are still not dropping a large enough amount of snow or rain into the CR basin or in northern CA. if we could have a few good storms in either of those places that would help a lot... Lake Powell and Lake Mead are at interesting levels and forecast to still keep dropping. that means some interesting times possibly this year or next for Arizona as their water gets reduced and a slight reduction for Vegas, but Vegas has done a lot to recycle and reuse (they pump treated water back to Lake Mead so they can draw more water out, but they also require any places built to have a plan for recycling and reusing water and reducing water, so they're not quite as thirsty down there as compared to what they used to be). still they are finishing up their emergency intake from Lake Mead (that will work even if Lake Mead turns back into the CR again). as for your rant, i suspect they stagger watering days to keep the load on the overall system more balanced. in any arid climate, rain water harvesting, deep mulching, wind breaks, swales, etc are all very important elements if you're going to try to grow vegetables or fruits on plants that aren't acclimated to the climate. it's been pretty dry here lately too, with perhaps an inch of rain the past few weeks. as usual the storms go north and south of us or break up due to the valley effect. i've had to water lightly a few of the seeded areas i put in and the ditch out back is down quite a bit from where you'd normally expect it to be this time of the year. it's just how it goes here sometimes. the well is holding up ok, we're down pretty deep and in the middle of the groundwater flow too, so not too likely to dry up, i also try not to use it too much as rainwater is much more preferable... songbird |
California Drought
Dan Espen wrote:
.... I understand Calif is getting closer to drinking some of that recycled waste water. already does in some places, they pump it back through a wetland or put it back underground and then pump it back up and run it through a treatment plant again. these are now getting more and more common and people stop objecting because that's pretty similar to what people in the rest of the country also do (they drink treated water that comes from rivers that have other cities upstream). I'm for thinking bigger. We need Calif agriculture to feed us and the country. A mega project to build a pipeline to the Columbia River is a solution for the longer term. peanuts compared to what they could accomplish if they just stopped dumping all their treated water and storm run off into the oceans and recycled more water. they'd be just fine. it's just that it's been so cheap now to just dump it that is what they've set up to do. this is changing... As for the crude attempts to slow down water consumption, what do you expect? Without increasing supply none of "solutions" are going to work. Don't expect any politician to endorse slowing or reversing growth. there's plenty of places that won't develop any more as there is no water and they've so poorly managed their wells that the groundwater is gone now too. CA is a good example of how to be environmental on the surface but their overall system is not integrated or designed for arid spells longer than a few years instead it was designed to exploit cheap water and it's done that for 90 years. if there continue to be low snowpacks for the Sierras and Colorado Rockies then things will get pretty interesting for Arizona and LV but we may not hit those too hard for a few years yet if we're lucky (hope the el nino gives a break this late spring and next winter). songbird |
California Drought
On 5/18/2015 11:32 AM, Norminn wrote [in part]:
My sympathy for drought hardships, but changing the day you work in your garden? I hope that is the worst that befalls you :o) Watering restrictions (hours, days, no run-off) have been in force in Florida for years. Clearwater installed an extensive reclaimed water system for watering lawns years ago. Some areas around Tamps bay also ban sale of fertilizer during certain months due to run-off polluting Tampa Bay. There are too many folks who follow the "if a little is good, then a lot is great" in fertilizer, herbicide, insecticide use; very sad. The problem is not what day I work in my garden. It is the micromanaging of my use of water. Originally, they decreed that I could irrigate only Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. In a three-week period, that was nine days. Until that decree, I chose to irrigate every third day. In three weeks, that would be Monday, Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Friday, and (in the fourth week) Monday again. That would be only seven days. That is correct, their decree meant I could actually irrigate two extra days in a three-week period. I applied for a waiver to continue using less water. They rejected my request because it would make monitoring irrigation across the community too complicated. We are already irrigating parks, school playfields, golf courses, landscaped street medians, and other large scale areas with reclaimed water. Individual gardens are not included because amateurs such as me might accidentally cross-connect reclaimed water lines with potable water lines. I generally feed my garden only once a year, in the spring. Fertilizer promotes plant growth that requires additional water. With water bills exceeding the sum of all other utility costs -- electricity, natural gas, and phone -- before restrictions went into force, I could not afford to have my garden develop excess foliage. Even with a 19% reduction in water use compared with two years ago, my water bills are still close to the sum of the other utilities. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary |
California Drought
On 5/18/2015 6:00 PM, songbird wrote [in part]:
as for your rant, i suspect they stagger watering days to keep the load on the overall system more balanced. No. Everyone in the community now irrigates on Mondays and Thursdays. Thousand Oaks (a neighboring city) proposed specific days for irrigating gardens, with odd addresses on certain days and even addresses on other days. The Public Works staff, however, pointed out that if everyone ran their sprinklers on their permitted days before 9:00am (beyond that time irrigating was already prohibited), there would not be enough pressure in the mains during those times to support fire-fighting. In some parts of Los Angeles, having alternating days for irrigating gardens resulted in aged mains rupturing, wasting thousands or even millions of gallons of water. By the way, see my "Gardening During a Drought" at http://www.rossde.com/garden/drought.html. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary |
California Drought
David E. Ross wrote:
On 5/18/2015 6:00 PM, songbird wrote [in part]: as for your rant, i suspect they stagger watering days to keep the load on the overall system more balanced. No. Everyone in the community now irrigates on Mondays and Thursdays. i read your other post, so while it may not make sense in some ways it does make sense for the enforcement aspect. consider in the age of the cellphone that takes pictures. if the city had to deal with every nosy neighbor sending in pictures of the "deviants" then it would be more work to deal with those complaints (correcting them). Thousand Oaks (a neighboring city) proposed specific days for irrigating gardens, with odd addresses on certain days and even addresses on other days. The Public Works staff, however, pointed out that if everyone ran their sprinklers on their permitted days before 9:00am (beyond that time irrigating was already prohibited), there would not be enough pressure in the mains during those times to support fire-fighting. In some parts of Los Angeles, having alternating days for irrigating gardens resulted in aged mains rupturing, wasting thousands or even millions of gallons of water. By the way, see my "Gardening During a Drought" at http://www.rossde.com/garden/drought.html. i did. while most of it i agree with you don't say much about rainwater capture/storage, landscaping to retain water (slow, spread, soak) and wind breaks aren't really mentioned either. where you mention mulch it is to say enough to cover the soil which is better than nothing, but beyond that a deeper mulch can be much better, especially if you have drip irrigation below it. songbird |
California Drought
songbird writes:
Dan Espen wrote: ... I understand Calif is getting closer to drinking some of that recycled waste water. already does in some places, they pump it back through a wetland or put it back underground and then pump it back up and run it through a treatment plant again. these are now getting more and more common and people stop objecting because that's pretty similar to what people in the rest of the country also do (they drink treated water that comes from rivers that have other cities upstream). I don't think there is anywhere they go directly from sewage treatment to back into water supply. They do have plants that apply sufficient treatment. Last I heard San Diego was getting close to giving it a try. I'm for thinking bigger. We need Calif agriculture to feed us and the country. A mega project to build a pipeline to the Columbia River is a solution for the longer term. peanuts compared to what they could accomplish if they just stopped dumping all their treated water and storm run off into the oceans and recycled more water. they'd be just fine. it's just that it's been so cheap now to just dump it that is what they've set up to do. this is changing... I've never seen the Columbia in person, but from the maps and pictures, I don't see how "peanuts" applies. -- Dan Espen |
California Drought
On 5/19/2015 7:04 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
songbird writes: Dan Espen wrote: ... I understand Calif is getting closer to drinking some of that recycled waste water. already does in some places, they pump it back through a wetland or put it back underground and then pump it back up and run it through a treatment plant again. these are now getting more and more common and people stop objecting because that's pretty similar to what people in the rest of the country also do (they drink treated water that comes from rivers that have other cities upstream). I don't think there is anywhere they go directly from sewage treatment to back into water supply. They do have plants that apply sufficient treatment. Last I heard San Diego was getting close to giving it a try. I'm for thinking bigger. We need Calif agriculture to feed us and the country. A mega project to build a pipeline to the Columbia River is a solution for the longer term. peanuts compared to what they could accomplish if they just stopped dumping all their treated water and storm run off into the oceans and recycled more water. they'd be just fine. it's just that it's been so cheap now to just dump it that is what they've set up to do. this is changing... I've never seen the Columbia in person, but from the maps and pictures, I don't see how "peanuts" applies. The Columbia River flows through Washington and Oregon. Both states have declared drought emergencies in some form. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary |
California Drought
On 5/19/2015 4:46 AM, songbird wrote [in part]:
I previously wrote [also in part]: By the way, see my "Gardening During a Drought" at http://www.rossde.com/garden/drought.html. i did. while most of it i agree with you don't say much about rainwater capture/storage, landscaping to retain water (slow, spread, soak) and wind breaks aren't really mentioned either. When we do get rain, more then 2/3 falls in December, January, and February; often, that is more than 3/4. A cistern large enough to supply water from March through November is quite out of the question. My landscape does indeed retain rain. Last week, we had 0.34 inches, which is a lot for the entire month of May. I have not run my sprinklers since last Wednesday and will not run them tomorrow. (The Monday and Thursday only schedule does not go into effect until 1 June.) where you mention mulch it is to say enough to cover the soil which is better than nothing, but beyond that a deeper mulch can be much better, especially if you have drip irrigation below it. I try to maintain several inches of leaf mulch where there is no ground cover. Although I place twigs and small branches on top, the wind often reduces the thickness of the mulch. My valley white oak cannot survive without a thick mulch of leaves; I applied the mulch and then anchored chicken wire on top. This will require quite some effort to renew the mulch as it becomes compost. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary |
California Drought
"David E. Ross" writes:
On 5/19/2015 7:04 AM, Dan Espen wrote: songbird writes: Dan Espen wrote: ... I understand Calif is getting closer to drinking some of that recycled waste water. already does in some places, they pump it back through a wetland or put it back underground and then pump it back up and run it through a treatment plant again. these are now getting more and more common and people stop objecting because that's pretty similar to what people in the rest of the country also do (they drink treated water that comes from rivers that have other cities upstream). I don't think there is anywhere they go directly from sewage treatment to back into water supply. They do have plants that apply sufficient treatment. Last I heard San Diego was getting close to giving it a try. I'm for thinking bigger. We need Calif agriculture to feed us and the country. A mega project to build a pipeline to the Columbia River is a solution for the longer term. peanuts compared to what they could accomplish if they just stopped dumping all their treated water and storm run off into the oceans and recycled more water. they'd be just fine. it's just that it's been so cheap now to just dump it that is what they've set up to do. this is changing... I've never seen the Columbia in person, but from the maps and pictures, I don't see how "peanuts" applies. The Columbia River flows through Washington and Oregon. Both states have declared drought emergencies in some form. Yes, I heard that this AM so I knew that before posting. I just checked what I "assumed". The drainage basin of the Columbia includes 7 states and a Canadian province. Lets hope we don't have to tap the Yukon. -- Dan Espen |
California Drought
On 5/19/2015 10:10 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
I try to maintain several inches of leaf mulch where there is no ground cover. Although I place twigs and small branches on top, the wind often reduces the thickness of the mulch. My valley white oak cannot survive without a thick mulch of leaves; I applied the mulch and then anchored chicken wire on top. This will require quite some effort to renew the mulch as it becomes compost. I've used bird netting to anchor mulch for that very reason: when it's time to remove it to add more mulch, it's just a matter of lifting off the anchoring rocks and bricks, after which the netting handles easily. Plus, the black color is very inconspicuous. Even in the land of 10,000+ lakes, many cities routinely have watering restrictions, mainly due to our over-preoccupation with having thick, green, weed-free lawns. |
California Drought
On Wed, 20 May 2015 07:58:23 -0500, Moe DeLoughan
wrote: On 5/19/2015 10:10 AM, David E. Ross wrote: I try to maintain several inches of leaf mulch where there is no ground cover. Although I place twigs and small branches on top, the wind often reduces the thickness of the mulch. My valley white oak cannot survive without a thick mulch of leaves; I applied the mulch and then anchored chicken wire on top. This will require quite some effort to renew the mulch as it becomes compost. I've used bird netting to anchor mulch for that very reason: when it's time to remove it to add more mulch, it's just a matter of lifting off the anchoring rocks and bricks, after which the netting handles easily. Plus, the black color is very inconspicuous. Even in the land of 10,000+ lakes, many cities routinely have watering restrictions, mainly due to our over-preoccupation with having thick, green, weed-free lawns. Plastic deer fencing works well, inexpensive, and easy to roll/unroll so easy to apply/remove/store. http://www.lowes.com/pd_53046-13113-...deer+ fencing |
California Drought
Dan Espen wrote:
songbird writes: Dan Espen wrote: ... I understand Calif is getting closer to drinking some of that recycled waste water. already does in some places, they pump it back through a wetland or put it back underground and then pump it back up and run it through a treatment plant again. these are now getting more and more common and people stop objecting because that's pretty similar to what people in the rest of the country also do (they drink treated water that comes from rivers that have other cities upstream). I don't think there is anywhere they go directly from sewage treatment to back into water supply. They do have plants that apply sufficient treatment. Last I heard San Diego was getting close to giving it a try. i'm reading too many project descriptions and statuses to keep them all straight, but seems i recall a pilot project there which is not yet feeding water to the mains, but it could be and if the drought persists it may get switched over. another near SF comes to mind too but i'm not sure that is online yet or just starting the next stage, but it's coming. I'm for thinking bigger. We need Calif agriculture to feed us and the country. A mega project to build a pipeline to the Columbia River is a solution for the longer term. peanuts compared to what they could accomplish if they just stopped dumping all their treated water and storm run off into the oceans and recycled more water. they'd be just fine. it's just that it's been so cheap now to just dump it that is what they've set up to do. this is changing... I've never seen the Columbia in person, but from the maps and pictures, I don't see how "peanuts" applies. peanuts is what you can move via pipeline from there to California as compared to what you could do for the same money spent on projects that reuse existing sources. the large CWP uses huge pumps to move water from the north to the south which also uses a lot of electricity (some which they regain on the other side from generation but the cost is still high). this is only a small fraction of the water used in CA for irrigation. to move a much larger portion of the Columbia would need many more pipelines than one. that's not a minor expense for pumping, materials to build it, maintenance, etc. songbird |
California Drought
On 5/20/2015 2:02 PM, songbird wrote [in part]:
the large CWP uses huge pumps to move water from the north to the south which also uses a lot of electricity (some which they regain on the other side from generation but the cost is still high). this is only a small fraction of the water used in CA for irrigation. to move a much larger portion of the Columbia would need many more pipelines than one. that's not a minor expense for pumping, materials to build it, maintenance, etc. The California State Water Project is possibly the largest customer for electricity in the state. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary |
California Drought
On Monday, May 18, 2015 at 11:42:19 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 5/18/2015 6:00 PM, songbird wrote [in part]: as for your rant, i suspect they stagger watering days to keep the load on the overall system more balanced. No. Everyone in the community now irrigates on Mondays and Thursdays. Thousand Oaks (a neighboring city) proposed specific days for irrigating gardens, with odd addresses on certain days and even addresses on other days. The Public Works staff, however, pointed out that if everyone ran their sprinklers on their permitted days before 9:00am (beyond that time irrigating was already prohibited), there would not be enough pressure in the mains during those times to support fire-fighting. In some parts of Los Angeles, having alternating days for irrigating gardens resulted in aged mains rupturing, wasting thousands or even millions of gallons of water. Note what David said about "aging mains". Some of the municipal "plumbing" is 100 years old or more. Disaster waiting to happen. HB By the way, see my "Gardening During a Drought" at http://www.rossde.com/garden/drought.html. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary |
California Drought
David E. Ross wrote:
songbird wrote: I previously wrote [also in part]: By the way, see my "Gardening During a Drought" at http://www.rossde.com/garden/drought.html. i did. while most of it i agree with you don't say much about rainwater capture/storage, landscaping to retain water (slow, spread, soak) and wind breaks aren't really mentioned either. When we do get rain, more then 2/3 falls in December, January, and February; often, that is more than 3/4. A cistern large enough to supply water from March through November is quite out of the question. i wasn't meaning about your site in particular, but when speaking of arid climates there should be mentions that those sorts of things can help a great deal. many people have roofs and the downspouts go right into the drains, they have no features in their lawns to capture, slow, spread and soak rains, they have no mulch layers, they don't consider the wind and how it can dry out areas when it isn't blocked, etc. as for roof capture of rain and getting through an entire season, that is good, but even if that is too big a consideration, even a few hundred gallons every time it rains would make a dent in the water bill for a few months and take some of the damand off the central water supply. an entire city setup with a few hundred gallons for each household would take a lot of storm water that they used to have to treat and use it instead to irrigate and help recharge the groundwater (which many cities are now drawing on via wells to supplement their other water supplies). My landscape does indeed retain rain. Last week, we had 0.34 inches, which is a lot for the entire month of May. I have not run my sprinklers since last Wednesday and will not run them tomorrow. (The Monday and Thursday only schedule does not go into effect until 1 June.) that's good and of course it all helps. where you mention mulch it is to say enough to cover the soil which is better than nothing, but beyond that a deeper mulch can be much better, especially if you have drip irrigation below it. I try to maintain several inches of leaf mulch where there is no ground cover. Although I place twigs and small branches on top, the wind often reduces the thickness of the mulch. My valley white oak cannot survive without a thick mulch of leaves; I applied the mulch and then anchored chicken wire on top. This will require quite some effort to renew the mulch as it becomes compost. one of the nice things about an arid climate is that mulch lasts much longer. around here wood chips are good for a few years - well rotted wood chips turn clay into pretty good garden soil. songbird |
California Drought
David E. Ross wrote:
songbird wrote [in part]: the large CWP uses huge pumps to move water from the north to the south which also uses a lot of electricity (some which they regain on the other side from generation but the cost is still high). this is only a small fraction of the water used in CA for irrigation. to move a much larger portion of the Columbia would need many more pipelines than one. that's not a minor expense for pumping, materials to build it, maintenance, etc. The California State Water Project is possibly the largest customer for electricity in the state. i'd believe it because i've come across some of the numbers in recent readings. with the drought it is lowering the ability of the state to generate hydroelectric power and you folks are lucky that the state mandate for solar and wind has increased those supplies as that has helped a great deal, but also it is causing more natural gas burning. somewhat related: as i'd recently been reading up on Owens River/Lake/valley i was interested to come across this in the news: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...514-story.html for something that had been running since 1913 to be shut off until November gives an idea of how deep this drought has become. recent rains/snows in Colorado have upped some of the percentages for runoff so we hope this continued gift from El Nino keeps on rolling... songbird |
California Drought
thanks to a huge amount of new rainfall in the
upper Colorado River Basin and recent rains in southern California (Delores) you folks are getting a little more breathing room. i hope you use it wisely... songbird |
California Drought
On 7/19/2015 9:32 AM, songbird wrote:
thanks to a huge amount of new rainfall in the upper Colorado River Basin and recent rains in southern California (Delores) you folks are getting a little more breathing room. i hope you use it wisely... songbird Yesterday's rains (1.26 inches near my house) will do little to refill California's reservoirs. The primary source of water for the reservoirs is precipitation in central and -- most important -- northern California. Some cities in southern California -- including Los Angeles -- do attempt to capture rainfall and use it to replenish underground aquifers. And, of course, we all will be using less water for a while to irrigate our gardens. Where I live, we do not get any water from the Colorado River. A slight increase in its flow from storms in the northern part of its watershed will mean a slightly less demand for water from the California Water Project's dams and aqueduct. Thus, we are getting some minor relief. At this stage of the drought, even minor relief is welcome. Today, I have not seen any rain. The weather is hot, cloudy, and extremely humid. The 9:00am PDT forecast is for 50%-60% probability of measurable rain this afternoon, this evening, and daytime Monday. "50%-60% probability" means that 50%-60% of the area will experience some rain, not that all areas have a 50%-60% probability of rain. As of 30 June, 12 major California reservoirs were collectively at 37% of capacity. That is less than half the historical average for that date. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary |
California Drought
David E. Ross wrote:
songbird wrote: thanks to a huge amount of new rainfall in the upper Colorado River Basin and recent rains in southern California (Delores) you folks are getting a little more breathing room. i hope you use it wisely... Yesterday's rains (1.26 inches near my house) will do little to refill California's reservoirs. The primary source of water for the reservoirs is precipitation in central and -- most important -- northern California. Some cities in southern California -- including Los Angeles -- do attempt to capture rainfall and use it to replenish underground aquifers. And, of course, we all will be using less water for a while to irrigate our gardens. yes, however, my post was aiming more at the difference a few million acre feet of water will make over the next few years that as of a few months ago were not there. it was looking like they may have had to declare a shortage for Lake Mead water levels and that affects both Arizona and southern California water supplies above and beyond what is already lacking from the reserviors. Where I live, we do not get any water from the Colorado River. A slight increase in its flow from storms in the northern part of its watershed will mean a slightly less demand for water from the California Water Project's dams and aqueduct. this is a more structural and legal and or treaty difference than "slightly less demand" implies. however it is also important in other ways as it impacts how much electricity can be generated (they are currently upgrading the turbines at Hoover Dam to be able to generate electricity efficiently at lower water levels, but this is underway and not done yet). Thus, we are getting some minor relief. At this stage of the drought, even minor relief is welcome. oh for sure, and any little bit that can go towards groundwater recharge... however a large fraction is likely to be lost due to evaporation, but that might end up further to the east in the mountain ranges as rain or fog/mist/dew. at this point any single drop is better than none. Today, I have not seen any rain. The weather is hot, cloudy, and extremely humid. The 9:00am PDT forecast is for 50%-60% probability of measurable rain this afternoon, this evening, and daytime Monday. "50%-60% probability" means that 50%-60% of the area will experience some rain, not that all areas have a 50%-60% probability of rain. the radar is currently showing a nice pattern for the area to get more actual rain on the ground, i hope the rains can hold together long enough to actually get the ground soaked in places enough to give the trees and rivers a bit of a recharge. As of 30 June, 12 major California reservoirs were collectively at 37% of capacity. That is less than half the historical average for that date. and as they get emptier the problems get tougher (water quality gets poorer as they get warmer, with algae problems and pumping and treatment costs rise, hydroelectric generation reductions, etc.). also the losses in forest cover in the north will make things even worse as you lose your sponge and soaking zones, but you also lose your trace moisture capture capabilities (forest can trap, condense and soak up mists/fogs). songbird |
California Drought
On Sunday, July 19, 2015 at 5:10:55 PM UTC-7, songbird wrote:
David E. Ross wrote: songbird wrote: thanks to a huge amount of new rainfall in the upper Colorado River Basin and recent rains in southern California (Delores) you folks are getting a little more breathing room. i hope you use it wisely... [...] You can have 100% confidence in our decision-making process. The one thing we (or our "lawmakers") will not tolerate is any interference with the golf courses dotting the landscape East of Palm Springs. http://www.motherjones.com/environme...e-powered-poop 800,000 gallons a day for the average golf course! And let's not get into the water-hogging, highly reumunerative almond and cotton crops grown by agribusiness in the totally unsuitable Central Valley. Some growers are more equal than others... HB |
California Drought
On Wednesday, May 20, 2015 at 7:44:31 PM UTC-7, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Monday, May 18, 2015 at 11:42:19 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote: On 5/18/2015 6:00 PM, songbird wrote [in part]: as for your rant, i suspect they stagger watering days to keep the load on the overall system more balanced. No. Everyone in the community now irrigates on Mondays and Thursdays. Thousand Oaks (a neighboring city) proposed specific days for irrigating gardens, with odd addresses on certain days and even addresses on other days. The Public Works staff, however, pointed out that if everyone ran their sprinklers on their permitted days before 9:00am (beyond that time irrigating was already prohibited), there would not be enough pressure in the mains during those times to support fire-fighting. In some parts of Los Angeles, having alternating days for irrigating gardens resulted in aged mains rupturing, wasting thousands or even millions of gallons of water. Note what David said about "aging mains". Some of the municipal "plumbing" is 100 years old or more. Disaster waiting to happen. HB Update: Disasters ARE happening. Every few days we get news that another ancient main has broken with resultant damage to houses, people displaced, traffic disrupted. Wonder who pays the bill for public safety personnel and replacement of infrastructure. MWD (Metropolitan Water District) has had a lot of nasty reports about management. HB By the way, see my "Gardening During a Drought" at http://www.rossde.com/garden/drought.html. |
California Drought
On 7/26/2015 3:07 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
Update: Disasters ARE happening. Every few days we get news that another ancient main has broken with resultant damage to houses, people displaced, traffic disrupted. Wonder who pays the bill for public safety personnel and replacement of infrastructure. MWD (Metropolitan Water District) has had a lot of nasty reports about management. The mains that have been breaking -- and wasting millions of gallons of precious water -- are under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LA DWP), not the MWD. And it is the LA DWP that has come under severe criticism in recent years for (among other things) a botched roll-out of a new computer billing system, payments to foundations controlled by the primary LA DWP labor union without any accountability of how the money has been spent, and millions of dollars transferred annual to the Los Angeles City budget but not having enough money to replace centry-old water mains. It is the LA DWP that reimburses businesses and home-owners for damaged caused when a LA DWP main breaks. The LA DWP will soon be paying several millions of dollars to UCLA for damage to campus buildings and equipment for a double break. The same break resulted in destruction of a number of private automobiles parked in an underground garage at UCLA, andother liability against the LA DWP. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary |
California Drought
On Sunday, July 26, 2015 at 4:15:54 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/26/2015 3:07 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote: Update: Disasters ARE happening. Every few days we get news that another ancient main has broken with resultant damage to houses, people displaced, traffic disrupted. Wonder who pays the bill for public safety personnel and replacement of infrastructure. MWD (Metropolitan Water District) has had a lot of nasty reports about management. The mains that have been breaking -- and wasting millions of gallons of precious water -- are under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LA DWP), not the MWD. And it is the LA DWP that has come under severe criticism in recent years for (among other things) a botched roll-out of a new computer billing system, payments to foundations controlled by the primary LA DWP labor union without any accountability of how the money has been spent, and millions of dollars transferred annual to the Los Angeles City budget but not having enough money to replace centry-old water mains. It is the LA DWP that reimburses businesses and home-owners for damaged caused when a LA DWP main breaks. The LA DWP will soon be paying several millions of dollars to UCLA for damage to campus buildings and equipment for a double break. The same break resulted in destruction of a number of private automobiles parked in an underground garage at UCLA, andother liability against the LA DWP. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean, see http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary You are correct. I apologize to MWD for indicting them for the mis/mal/non-feasance committed by DWP. They have been "untouchable" for far too long. We are still hearing/reading fallout from the incidents you cite, and many others. HB |
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