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You would think that stoppкng the pumping of fracking waste water into the resevoir might be a start.
NASA
Scientist Warns "California Has One Year Of Water Left"
13
March, 2015
Given
the historic low temperatures and snowfalls that pummeled the eastern
U.S. this winter, it
might be easy to overlook how devastating California's winter was as
well.
As
our “wet” season draws to a close, it is clear that the paltry
rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought
conditions. January
was the driest in California since record-keeping began in 1895.
Groundwater and snowpack levels are at all-time lows. We're not just
up a creek without a paddle in California, we're losing the creek
too.
Data
from NASA satellites show that the total amount of water stored in
the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins — that is, all of the
snow, river and reservoir water, water in soils and groundwater
combined — was 34 million acre-feet below normal in 2014. That loss
is nearly 1.5 times the capacity of Lake Mead, America's largest
reservoir.
Statewide,
we've been dropping more than 12 million acre-feet of total water
yearly since 2011. Roughly two-thirds of these losses are
attributable to groundwater pumping for agricultural irrigation in
the Central Valley. Farmers
have little choice but to pump more groundwater during droughts,
especially when their surface water allocations have been slashed 80%
to 100%. But these pumping rates are excessive and unsustainable.
Wells are running dry. In some areas of the Central Valley, the land
is sinking by one foot or more per year.
As
difficult as it may be to face, the simple fact is that California is
running out of water — and the problem started before our current
drought. NASA
data reveal that total water storage in California has been in steady
decline since at least 2002, when satellite-based monitoring began,
although groundwater depletion has been going on since the early 20th
century.
Right
now the state has only about one year of water supply left in its
reservoirs, and our strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly
disappearing. California
has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let
alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in
emergency mode and praying for rain.
In
short, we have no paddle to navigate this crisis.
Several
steps need be taken right now.
First, immediate mandatory water rationing should be authorized across all of the state's water sectors, from domestic and municipal through agricultural and industrial. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is already considering water rationing by the summer unless conditions improve. There is no need for the rest of the state to hesitate. The public is ready. A recent Field Poll showed that 94% of Californians surveyed believe that the drought is serious, and that one-third support mandatory rationing.
Second, the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 should be accelerated. The law requires the formation of numerous, regional groundwater sustainability agencies by 2017. Then each agency must adopt a plan by 2022 and “achieve sustainability” 20 years after that. At that pace, it will be nearly 30 years before we even know what is working. By then, there may be no groundwater left to sustain.
Third, the state needs a task force of thought leaders that starts, right now, brainstorming to lay the groundwork for long-term water management strategies. Although several state task forces have been formed in response to the drought, none is focused on solving the long-term needs of a drought-prone, perennially water-stressed California.
Our
state's water management is complex, but the technology and expertise
exist to handle this harrowing future. It will require major changes
in policy and infrastructure that could take decades to identify and
act upon. Today, not tomorrow, is the time to begin.
Finally,
the public must take ownership of this issue. This
crisis belongs to all of us — not just to a handful of
decision-makers. Water is our most important, commonly owned
resource, but the public remains detached from discussions and
decisions.
This
process works just fine when water is in abundance. In times of
crisis, however, we
must demand that planning for California's water security be an
honest, transparent and forward-looking process. Most
important, we must make sure that there is in fact a plan.
Call
me old-fashioned, but I'd like to live in a state that has a paddle
so that it might also still have a creek.
Only 1 year of water left in California, NASA scientist suggests rationing
RT,
13 March, 2015
NASA’s
top water scientist says California only has about one year’s worth
of water left in storage, and its groundwater – often used as a
backup for reservoirs and other reserves – is rapidly depleting. He
suggests immediately rationing water.
California
just had the driest January since record-keeping began in 1895, with
groundwater and snowpack levels at all-time lows, NASA scientist Jay
Familglietti wrote in a column
for the Los Angeles Times.
He said the state has been running out of water since before the
current years-long drought and storage levels have been falling since
at least 2002, according to NASA satellite data.
“California
has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let
alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in
emergency mode and praying for rain,” said
Familglietti. “In
short, we have no paddle to navigate this crisis.”
A
team of NASA scientists, using
the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites,
discovered that the state’s Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins
were 11 trillion gallons (41.6 trillion liters) below normal seasonal
levels. The researchers say that water levels have steadily dropped
since the launch of GRACE in 2002.
Californians
use an average of 181 gallons of water each day and a total of around
2.5 trillion gallons a year, according to data from the USGS website.
Familglietti
called for an immediate and dramatic rationing of water, including
for domestic, municipal, agricultural and industrial uses. A recent
Field Poll shows that 94 percent of Californians surveyed believe the
drought is serious, and one-third support mandatory rationingч.
Other
solutions to rationing are desalination plants. San Diego is building
the largest ocean desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. The
$1 billion project will deliver 50 million gallons of drinking water
a day and is scheduled to open in 2016, while 15 other plants are
planned along the coastline from Los Angeles to the San Francisco
Basin.
But
there are a few drawbacks: the San Diego plant requires more
electricity to produce than any other water source, and in order to
get 50 million gallons of drinking water it has to process 100
million gallons of seawater, which once returned to the ocean as
discharge water has double the saline level.
California Water Shortage: $1 Billion Plant Will Make Seawater...
“This
plant can’t come online fast enough,” Bob
Yamada, water resources manager at the San Diego County Water
Authority, told
the Sacramento Bee.
The Authority serves 3.1 million people and is buying all of the
plant’s freshwater production.
“It’s
drought-proof. That’s one of the most important attributes. It will
be the most reliable water source we have,”
he dded.
Desalination
has been adopted by other nations with fewer natural freshwater
supplies – Israel, Australia and Saudi Arabia, for example.
Another
remedy being considered by California municipalities is wastewater
recycling, which involves treating city sewage to drinking water
standardsand
using it to refill reservoirs.
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