California Drought

[LadySmith]

I read in the news that our drought here in CA might result in higher produce prices across the U.S.

http://www.ibtimes.com/california-drought-means-higher-us-food-prices-almonds-avocados-more-1868076

Southern CA seems to be getting in pretty bad shape water-wise. I’m up north and this is what I see in my area:
On my way home from work I drive through blue collar areas where creeks are dry and the fenced-off manmade lake is nothing but dirt. There’s a huge banner on that lake’s fence stating, “This is what the drought looks like. Conserve water!”
On my way through the ‘burbs, the creeks are trickling and the manmade lake there is full of water, paying weekend visitors, and Canada geese.
I then pass a reservoir where I see more shoreline, but it’s not much lower than it usually is at this time of year.
Finally I get home to the Land of LadySmith where the grass is green, the vegetation is blooming, and wild turkeys are strutting through my yards. I’m not good with plants, and they tend to do best when I ignore them, so I never water them. I have a well, and the water’s been fine so far without that funky sulphur smell it gets when the water drops to low levels.
Anyone else here notice any drought-related changes or non-changes?

[vaskidmark]

The radio nooze has been discussing the 60% lower than normal snowpack at the head of the Colorado River basin and how that''s going to make the Cali drought even worserer than first predicted.

I'm still waiting for someone to go lasso a couple of icebergs and bring them back.  Partly just to see them doing it, and partly to see if OR & WA will start hijacking icebergs

stay safe.

[Ben]

They're going to fire up the desal plant that's been sitting disused for the last twenty years where I live. I think they're discussing double the current water rate for desal water. There are 12-18 month waits for getting wells drilled in the Central Valley right now, with some communities having water trucked in.

One thing I'm surprised about, what with all the subsidies given for particular crops at the Federal and State level already, is that they haven't talked about "paying not to plant", which they were doing 30 years ago simply to keep the price of certain crops up. With over a billion dollars in emergency money dedicated to drought mitigation and awareness, they could probably take a hundred million or so of the "awareness" money, and instead of using it for TV commercials telling people not to wash their cars, apply it to leaving fields fallow, which would save exponentially more water than a carwash ban.

Of course as I have complained elsewhere on the forum, no discussion of ending the Delta smelt water diversion, or any of the other enviro diversions that are basically dumping billions of gallons of fresh water into the ocean. Some portion of the ag water at least, seeps back down to replenish the aquifers. The diverted water is just gone.

[Chuck Dye]

Driving the southern San Joaquin Valley, I get a view of acre upon acre of formerly productive fruit and nut orchards and groves dying or killed for lack of water.

[Ben]

Interesting article on anthropogenic inputs contributing to the drought.

If the state survey on the delta smelt population is accurate, I had no idea the numbers were that low, which seems to be too low for repopulation in the wild, and it also means the diversion of fresh water out to the ocean for that fish is on the order of 3 million acre feet per fish. Also if the statement on just needing three new dams is accurate, that is a pretty big pie in the face of the environmentalists who have stopped dam construction over the last few decades.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/04/16/man-made-disaster-critics-say-california-drought-caused-by-misguided/

[TechMan]

The radio nooze has been discussing the 60% lower than normal snowpack at the head of the Colorado River basin and how that''s going to make the Cali drought even worserer than first predicted.

I'm still waiting for someone to go lasso a couple of icebergs and bring them back.  Partly just to see them doing it, and partly to see if OR & WA will start hijacking icebergs

stay safe.

May not be an iceberg, but an Alaskan community is getting ready to do bulk water exports to CA this summer.

http://www.adn.com/article/20150414/long-anticipated-bulk-water-exports-sitka-start-summer-businessman-says

[MechAg94]

So what did the Delta Smelt do back in the old days when there was a severe drought in California?

[SADShooter]

So what did the Delta Smelt do back in the old days when there was a severe drought in California?

Likely got pretty Omega-svelte.