The water wars are about to heat up between ag and cities. California ag (Imperial Valley) doesn't want to address almonds and alfalfa and cities don't want to have to pay for desal but the feds are about to cut the flow from Lake Mead with or without voluntary concessions. 'The moment of reckoning is near': Feds warn huge cuts needed to shore up Lake Mead, Colorado River (msn.com) Tempers have flared, one senior official said, with urban districts from other states on Friday angrily demanding California, particularly its agricultural water districts, cede supply. Colby Pelligrino, deputy general manager of resources at Southern Nevada Water Authority, shouted and yelled curses at California officials. They responded by demanding Arizona and Nevada present actual numbers showing amounts they're willing to cut. Cutting supplies is especially tough in a year in which farmers are obtaining banner prices for wheat, alfalfa and other crops, caused by widespread domestic drought, and shortages worldwide created by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. ............................................ In Imperial County, farmers are on track to actually take 3% more water than they're entitled to this year, although IID's board of directors likely will pass a mid-year "equitable distribution plan" within two weeks that sets caps and could rein in the usage for this year. In the Coachella Valley, CVWD actually has increases in Colorado River supply written into its state-required groundwater sustainability management plan over the next two decades, including providing water for multiple new surf wave park developments and a Disney desert "beachfront" destination. Three Coachella Valley districts have had the highest per capita water use in the state, though officials point to the area's high heat as an unavoidable factor. Both CVWD and IID, along with the Palo Verde Irrigation District in Blythe, hold the oldest rights to Colorado River water. IID alone holds rights to about 70% of the state's supply from the river, though it is paid to transfer substantial amounts to CVWD, greater Los Angeles and San Diego.
Yes it’s a mess. CA is often the bellwether of where the country is headed. It is an example of everybody having different individual and collective interests and no willingness to compromise so nothing gets done. When they voted down the recent desal I just had to shake my head.
I think California is a more of an extreme example of where the rest of the country is heading. Water has always been a problem in California, ever since the population exploded there. It normally has a very dry climate, with occasional periods of moderate rainfall. Hollywood drew people to California like flies during an unusually wet century (the 1900's) that only happens once in every ten centuries. Wildfires are fairly normal in California, even without lunatics lighting them. The climate is perfect for agriculture when there is enough water, which gave people something to do when their Hollywood dreams didn't work out. People just can't seem to get it through their thick skulls that California is a dry place, and has way more people living there than the water supplies will support, much less agricultural needs. In California, farmers fight not only over water rights for the normal water flows down the rivers, but there are separate fights for shares of the excess water (floodwater) that comes down the rivers. The entire western half of the U.S. (except for Washington state) has major problems with water. Nebraska has been pumping water out of the Oglalla Aquifer (one of the two largest in the world) for 70 years to grow corn, and the aquifer is now almost dry. The aquifer runs from North Dakota to the Texas panhandle (N-S), and from east Colorado to western Kansas (E-W). Many of the poorest people in NW Texas have to travel many miles to get even small amounts of water (the house has none). The eastern half of the U.S. is in much better shape as far as drought conditions in a typical year.
more to produce alfalfa for cows to eat Alfalfa - UC Drought Management (ucdavis.edu) About 1,000,000 acres of alfalfa are irrigated in California. This large acreage coupled with a long growing season make alfalfa the largest agricultural user of water, with annual water applications of 4,000,000 to 5,500,000 acre-feet.
Wait till I break the news that Vegas is essentially uninhabitable. Still working on the deadman switch, don’t tell anybody.
All good concepts, it is just that the most salient point where California is ahead of the rest of the US, and where we are heading, is their banning the use of the "N" word. You know, no. No one wants to be told "no".
Italy also facing water crisis due to lack of rain. Why hasn't Musk invented a rainmaker yet? Have drones been tried for cloud seeding? As Po dries up, Italy's food and energy supplies are at risk (msn.com) The drying up of the Po, which runs 652 kilometers (405 miles) from the northwestern city of Turin to Venice, is jeopardizing drinking water in Italy's densely populated and highly industrialized districts and threatening irrigation in the most intensively farmed part of the country, known as the Italian food valley. Northern Italy hasn’t seen rainfall for more than 110 days and this year's snowfall is down by 70%. Aquifers, which hold groundwater, are depleted. Temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above season average are melting the tiny snowfields and glaciers that were left on the top of the surrounding Alps, leaving the Po basin without its summer water reservoirs. ................. Berselli is frantically working on a resiliency plan to guarantee drinking and irrigation water to millions of households and to the Po valley farmers, who produce 40% of Italian food. Parmesan cheese, wheat, and high-quality tomatoes, rice and renowned grapes grow in huge quantities in the area. ............................. “We believe that there will be a drop in this wheat productivity by at least 20% or more due to the lack of rain and irrigation,” she said. The Italian farmers confederation estimates that wheat yields could drop by 20% to 40% this year. Wheat is a particular concern for farmers as it’s completely reliant on rain and does not get irrigated.
Thank you G8trGr8t. Personally speaking this issue is of MONUMENTAL importance to the well being of the U.S. and is a portent of things to come. Climate Change is a far more serious threat to Society than many Americans believe or realize, IMO. Water is fundamental to Society and especially so to industrial and concentrated, high yield, agricultural systems, that we currently have in place. Water is a scarcity out West. The Colorado River is arguably the most important river body in N America. Then come the reservoirs. Scientists say the West is in a historic drought condition. This is proven and documented by the water levels in reservoirs all over the region. The Colorado is being overused to the point of turning it into a stream. Think food prices are HIGH now in the US? Wait until the Imperial Valley can't produce due to a lack of irrigation. Sure, we may have a couple of good rainy seasons and snow pack seasons in a row, BUT, what if we don't? 100 Million Amwericans without water will create some serious problems!
eliminate the almond and alfalfa production. start there. we can live with out almonds and cows can eat other feed. water shortages are going to lead to food shortages which is going to lead to famine and migration unless there is a major shift in rainfall patterns in the next 2 - 3 years, if not sooner.
Exactly, you just succiently summarized my post. The Citizens out West may rue the day the Gov't spent One trillion + on the F35 program and not water works projects from the Eastern US to the Western US.
Your second paragraph contradicts the first paragraph. I do see the point in the alfalfa as much of that is shipped to China (at least I have read that). If the SJV is going to produce food it should be for US consumption first when there is a water crisis.
much of the alfalfa is shipped to northern Cali to feed cows. only around 50% is exported. nationwide around 10 - 12% of the total alfalfa production is exported. the US also consumes a lot of water to produce food for other countries. Exporting the Colorado River to Asia, Through Hay (nationalgeographic.com) Virtual Water Exports When Robert Glennon, a water policy expert at the University of Arizona and author of the book Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What to Do About It, first learned that the U.S. was exporting alfalfa crops that had been grown with the very limited western irrigation water, his reaction was "utter disbelief." Glennon crunched some numbers and figured that in 2012, roughly 50 billion gallons of western water—enough to supply the annual household needs of half a million families—were exported to China. Not literally bottled up and shipped, but embedded in alfalfa crops grown with irrigation water. And that's just to China, which still trails Japan and the United Arab Emirates as a top destination for American alfalfa. ....................... According to a UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education report published in 2011, the United States exports more than twice as much virtual water, about 82 trillion gallons, as any other country. That's largely because American farms feed the whole world.
There is a large scale geophysical (seismic) survey being conducted along the ridge here in SE polk to better define the geology beneath numerous large karst lakes. From what I’ve been told the data will be used to assist with placement of large production wells in the coming years. Collaboration between the FdEP, SWFWMD and USGS.
We shouldn't be tapping more underground. Pay for desal is my opinion. Are those going to be muni or private wells?
Muni. Growth here along the 27 corridor is unreal. Ag consumption should continue to decline with the drastic loss of citrus production here.
