Water sits in the the Delta-Mendota Canal in February 2014 in Los Banos,
Calif. As the California drought continues and farmers struggle to
water their crops, officials at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation have
announced that they will not be providing Central Valley farmers with
any water from the federally run system of reservoirs and canals.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
10 comments:
I think this is one of the most important articles that we can have because it is related to our state and is a really big current problem though many people don't notice it in everyday life. I found it really interesting that California now uses a 90 year old water distribution system. Before reading this, I had thought that California had always been using these systems because in Room 3, one of the things we were learning about was aqueducts. To me it seems like a great way to spread water throughout different places with drier conditions. I also find interesting that this system was created in a rainy time for the West. That means that some places like California are getting hotter while some places might stay around the same climate or get colder. Does that mean that California is like a "hotspot" just in a warmth zone, not volcano? I also think that the governor is spending a lot of money on this issue and it's too much. It's okay to build a couple new reservoirs that already cost $7 billion, but to keep building more and more every year is just making a lot of money being spent. If we have enough supply to keep everyone alive, there is no need to give everyone more than they need. Also, the article says that "you can't really build your way out of a drought if it doesn't rain again". So then why would you build reservoirs if you have a big chance of not even collecting from them? We are also recycling 7 million gallons of water everyday, and that is at least enought to supply the water for the crops California has. I also don't think that it's a good idea for us to try to cut our water use by 20% because we all have different needs and water is one of the most important things for survival. Overall though I think this article was really interesting.
My question in my previous comment was asking if California has something special that makes it so dry and get hotter each year. I looked this up and I found an article that was really helpful to answer my question:
http://time.com/1986/hundred-years-of-dry-how-californias-drought-could-get-much-much-worse/
If you don't want to read the article this is some info from it:
This article explains a history of the Californian drought starting from times in A. D. all the way up to present time! California hasn't been as dry as it is now since 1580, but there are still pieces of drought history way before that. Scientists have found by tree ring data that from 800 A.D. to 1500 A.D. that the Plains and Southwest had many droughts going on for decades. Many places where there is currently water were completely dry before. Many different cultures were destroyed such as the Anasazi people because they couldn't survive the harsh mega droughts that went on during their time. Nowadays there is approx. 33 million more people populating California as there was then and there are crops and livestock worth about $44.7 billion from records in 2012. 80% of California's water supply is used just in agriculture. I find that really fascinating because people populate so much of California (mostly in Los Angeles). All of these things need more water, but the more we need it, the less we get because of our drought. Recent reports also show that the climate change is just going keep the Southwest drought getting drier and hotter.
I think this is a extremely helpful article. It brings awareness about the drought and can inspire people to not waste water. I always make solutions (that probably won't work) to problems that I hear in the news. My first solution was to recycle. I was skeptical that people would ever try this solution until now. I think that a lot of water will be saved by recycling it.
This article inspires people not to waste water. It tells them that we do not have an unlimited supply of water. It describes a "hot" period from A.D. to now!! It is an insane idea to think that this is going on in the state that we are in right now! It is a great article to learn about water conservation. Biomimicry could be used to help!!!!!!!! But this team of amazing people said, "Hey, let's take wasted water, recycle it, and give it to farmers for their crops to make sure that no fresh water is wasted!" It was a great idea on their part because farmers are big in Calif. It is so hot here that the crops prefer to grow in places with a lot of sunlight. But plants need two things: sunlight AND water. Calif. has the first part, just not the water. We are in such a severe drought and it is not going to go away with a click of the fingers. It is an everyday issue. If you leave the water on for two extra minutes in the shower, it will add up eventually and make a huge difference. 7 million gallons of water recycled every day will help with the water supply for farmers and their crops. Some people in Calif. survive on just their crops, and if their crops fail they will starve. Eric Garcetti is planning to cut down our fresh water use, and with the help of a stable government and a firm hand on this issue, we can make sure that we can have water to survive.
I think this article about drought is very important. We need to start thinking about more effective ways of solving this ongoing problem. Although we figured out a way to take all the water that would go into the ocean back to farmers, I think that most water that people waste is just because they throw it away. Sometimes people just throw a full water bottle away, just because they don't want to carry it or something like that. I think if we had a giant water purifier that purified all the dirty water, like from the ocean, would be a big help, and would take us one step ahead in the stairwell of drought.
I find it very interesting that we have to take so much water from different states. Our governor is urging everyone to vote so he can just use 7 billion dollar water bond. There is also tens of millions of dollars earmarked for water recycling and reuse. I can't believe Eric Garcetti, signed an executive order that is going to cut freshwater use in L.A. by 20 percent in the next three years. But overall, I think this was an interesting article.
I think this article is very important because it tells us what we need to do to cope with this horrid drought. I think that fixing the plumbing is a very good idea, especially after the Los Angeles Water Main Break.
I find it very interesting that we have to take so much water from different states. Our governor is urging everyone to vote so he can just use 7 billion dollar water bond. There is also tens of millions of dollars earmarked for water recycling and reuse. I can't believe Eric Garcetti, signed an executive order that is going to cut freshwater use in L.A. by 20 percent in the next three years. Another thing that I found fascinating was that we have been using a 90 year old water system. But overall, I think this was an interesting article.
I think it is a definete that we need the govener (Jerry Brown) to pay 7 Billion dollars because this will guarentee that our water preservation is better and that this country will survive. People say that the sewege plant that we have already won't survive to 2050 which is very bad. It is also smarter that Eric Garceti is saying by 2020 we will ahve a large decrease in payment for water, by suggesting more water efficent ways to get drinking water and not just waste water and overwater plants. This is the worst way possible to waste water, you will kill the plant because of over watering it and you are wasting water so overall it is good to keep water safe and do not waste it because it is costing the city a lot.
I think this article was interesting. I am dumbfounded that the state we live in right now is depending on a 90 year-old water distribution system. I think that we must conserve water as well as we can. I am very impressed that they have built a recycled water waste plant. It seems to be extremely helpful to keeping the especially dry regions where most of California's renowned agricultural industries with enough water. I was also impressed that they have become more concentrated on fixing leaks in our plumbing systems, which have taken an astonishing 15% of our water away. I'm not sure where they would get water from the mountains, because before, if you were driving on the freeway, you could still see some snow on the very peaks of them, but now snow is like a thing of the past in California. Also, although I know it seems logical that after this big drought finally ends, all of the rain will come pouring down in an El Nino. But, I don't think that after such dry conditions, there would be enough water left for such great rains. Anyways, I think this article was very interesting and helpful.
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