California water situation

[SMD]

I was not joking. You alluded to what I was attempting to infer. The vast majority of California is a desert. They attempted to build a multi billion dollar plumbing system in an attempt to convert the state to a tropical oasis. This was a huge mistake and is completely unsustainable. Last time I checked California was the #2 producer of rice in the US. Growing a crop like rice which likes to grow in wet, marshy fields and planting it in the middle of a desert is beyond stupid. Why on earth are people even allowed to water their grass?

Not all of California is a desert and they don't grow rice in the desert part.

 

[squidlet]

More than 95% of CA rice is grown in the Sacramento Valley on land that historically flooded naturally prior to being converted to farmland, cities, etc. Flooded rice fields provide critical habitat for migratory birds, jobs, and food for humans and wildlife. Kind of a win-win situation.
Heard a news story on the radio yesterday about Orange County residents using an average of 500 gallons per capita per day -- that's a lot water for all that pretty grass!

 

[sheetz]

There's no way all of OC uses 500 gallons of water per day per person. Maybe there's some small area that uses that much for commercial reasons.

From last year
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-644057-percent-district.html

The most miserly water users in Orange County in October were in Seal Beach (58 gallons per person per day) and Santa Ana (72 gallons per person per day). Long Beach residents also didn’t use much at 75 gallons per person per day. Among the biggest users were customers in the East Orange County Water District, the Yorba Linda Water District (201 gallons per person per day) and the Trabuco Canyon Water District (171 gallons per person per day).

 

[squidlet]

I looked into a little further -- apparently it is the Cowan Heights area, which is a wealthy suburb of Orange County and 94-99% residential.

Got that info from here: http://pacinst.org/new-data-show-residential-per-capita-water-use-across-california/

Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego County uses up to 644 gpcd, mostly for grass, according to the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-water-rancho-20141202-story.html

 

[GatorChris]

One things for sure. Grizzly River Run is about the only river in CA you can take a raft down. Everything else you roll up your jeans and walk through.

 

[figment_jii]

While water conditions are very low in many reservoirs, there are still rivers flowing with enough water to raft. There are several rivers throughout CA that I would not recommend trying to wade across, even with today's drought conditions.

 

[southlake]

I'm in Northern CA and in my city and surrounding cities, our front yard lawns have been dead for over a year. No green, just brown. The water crisis is serious. We've been conserving for over a year (we even installed artificial lawn in our backyard and no longer use sprinklers) but so many people have continued to water their Backyard lawns which can't be seen/aren't monitored by the cities. It baffles me, when the drought conditions are so serious, that people are like "I don't care, I want green lawn no matter what, there will be no affect at Disneyland..." Give me a break! There will be if things continue the way they have been.

 

[minneylovesmicky]

It baffles me, when the drought conditions are so serious, that people are like "I don't care, I want green lawn no matter what.

We had the same thing happen here in Australia, with out last drought. It started in 2002. We were on level 5 water restrictions - we could flush our toilets, wash our dishes and do as little clothes washing as possible. Each family could only use a certain amount of water and if you went over that amount, you were penalised...If you were caught with a hose in your yard, you were fined $3000. Out door taps were not to be used AT ALL.

Biggest drop kick award goes to those ppl in town, who thought it was ok to fill their water tanks, with their garden hoses...they were trying to avoid paying to truck the water in but got busted instead by council...the fines they got, cost more than it would have to truck the water in....lol


Cars, paths, boats etc were not to be washed/cleaned at home, you could only use the recycled water at the car wash to wash the car/boat. You were not allowed to have a new pool installed in your yard, if you did already have one, you had to pay to transport water in to fill it, you couldn't use town water. My car didn't get washed for yrs. Our dam was down to 4% usable water, things were getting desperate.

I remember I had brought my daughter a water toy, that you connect to the hose, one Christmas before the drought hit hard, within a month of her getting it, water restrictions meant it couldn't be used. she never got to use it till she was 14 yrs old...she got it when she was 5....she was determined to use it once the restrictions were lifted.

We would drive to other parts of NSW, for holidays and such and see ppl washing their cement drive ways instead of sweeping and get so frustrated at them, they are wasting so much water. To some city ppl it is like milk comes from a fridge, water comes from a tap and the meat comes from a butcher. They don't think about the trials and frustrations a farmer goes through, to get them their milk and meat.

BUT one day in 2011 it rained and rained and rained, it rained so much we went from drought to flooding over night, our towns dam filled to the brim, from being so dry only days before. It was an amazing sight to see.....3 yrs later, we are still on water restrictions but a lower level, we can water our lawns, but most choose not to.

Being made to conserve every last drop, makes you so thankful for every drop you get.

Last yrs summer was the first summer in yrs that my lawn was green, due to so much rain falling that time of yr.

I love going out and standing in the rain these days, you just never know when it will rain again.

I hope you guys get your drought breaking rain soon.

 

[wench]

Weird. I've lived in the Seattle area most of my life & rarely see brown grass???

I'll be sure to do a rain dance at DL when I get there in July. I've got good rainy weather mojo. Hopefully it will scare away some of the crowds for the day.

 

[BellsFam]

Why don't you just ask all those idiots to stop throwing buckets of ice water on themselves!

Looks like Matt Damon had it right when he threw a bucket of toilet water on himself to prove a point...

 

[MouseEXP]

A take on the water issues in California.

 

[minneylovesmicky]

Why don't you just ask all those idiots to stop throwing buckets of ice water on themselves! ..

I said the same thing, when that craze did the rounds down this way, such a colossal waste of water

 

[RKKUNK]

We have had water restrictions where I live in CA for several years. This last year has been really strict and now we have the new 25% reduction for the whole state. But, back to the question that the OP had. I don't think things will change much at DLR. I had been thinking for awhile now though that they should make it to where you have to manually flush the toilet. I know that I have had the toilet flush sometimes before I even used it because it sensed movement. Also, when you wash your hands, you push the thingy in on the faucet and the water runs while you are washing your hands and the it goes off before you can rinse them so you have to push the thingy again and it feels like a waste of water to me. I think the toilet thing in itself would save some water at DLR. Just some thoughts.

 

[ldarcy]

I was not joking. You alluded to what I was attempting to infer. The vast majority of California is a desert. They attempted to build a multi billion dollar plumbing system in an attempt to convert the state to a tropical oasis. This was a huge mistake and is completely unsustainable. Last time I checked California was the #2 producer of rice in the US. Growing a crop like rice which likes to grow in wet, marshy fields and planting it in the middle of a desert is beyond stupid. Why on earth are people even allowed to water their grass?

I don't think I can agree with that. I live a few blocks away from the LA River & it's mostly cement that you see, not water.

 

[ldarcy]

There is no real water shortage in California. Every house I drive past has green grass even if it hasn't rained in months. As compared to Seattle where we have plenty of water and everyone's grass is completely yellow from June to October.

You know, I'm new to SoCal & I assumed that there would be fairly strict restrictions on water usage, but no. You rarely see a yellow lawn, you usually get water in restaurants w/o asking & dirty cars are a rarity. It's appalling, really. I've experienced stricter rules back east when the droughts weren't nearly as bad.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

I had no idea there was such a crisis going on in CA right now.

 

[squidlet]

You know, I'm new to SoCal & I assumed that there would be fairly strict restrictions on water usage, but no. You rarely see a yellow lawn, you usually get water in restaurants w/o asking & dirty cars are a rarity. It's appalling, really. I've experienced stricter rules back east when the droughts weren't nearly as bad.

Agreed!

 

[carrierael77]

I called the HOJO aneheim to ask how water restrictions were going to impact. We are going there in 2 weeks, and had been excited for the water park and pools. They told me it had no impact on them. I thought that was strange.

 

[sillybaer]

I called the HOJO aneheim to ask how water restrictions were going to impact. We are going there in 2 weeks, and had been excited for the water park and pools. They told me it had no impact on them. I thought that was strange.

Most CA water parks and pools use recycled water. The water is cleaned and reused so it does not impact drinking water or state water levels. (This is also why the drought is not expected to impact Disneyland.)


And most of us in the north who have made cutbacks (and tend to think southern CA is "stealing" our water on a good day) are increasingly annoyed at the rich, entitled attitudes we perceive from green lawns and other wasted water in the south. There are still water-wasters here but overall the northern communities have decreased water usage more dramatically.

 

[agamble]

I hate it when people say "Why are they allowed to water their grass!" Um, because they own the house, the land, the grass in their yard and they can. I'm not saying it's "Water Smart," but c'mon! Why are you allowed to paint your house purple? Oh, because it's your property and you want to. BUT the government and water companies are imposing higher fees for water if you use more than a certain amount. So people with large green lawns will be paying for it. They're also doing incentives to encourage people to change their lawns to desert smart landscaping. Something they've done in Las Vegas for years where "Be Water Smart" is a slogan you hear on TV and radio. The biggest users of water in the state are agricultural businesses. Of course food is pretty important. The problem is not just a lack of rain, the problem this year is a serious lack of snow pack in Northern CA.