It is common knowledge that as the population increases at such an astronomical, record breaking speed, more resources are impacted. One of these resources is water, the basic building block of life. Water is essential for agriculture, drinking water, and wildlife. And due to the recent droughts California has faced, a debate has arisen over the question that baffles many; Whose water is it? The article published in The Fresno Bee (Fresno’s Mainstream Media), addresses this issue with a pun filled, persuasive article titled, “River Plan Too Fishy For My Taste Buds”.…
Jerry Brown said the state was facing perhaps "the worst drought that California has ever seen since records (began) about 100 years ago. " The United States spends billions of dollars per year treating water; however, we only use 10 percent for drinking and cooking. The pros of using treated waste water for drinking water and agriculture: conserve our fresh water resources, replenishes sensitive ecosystems where wildlife and plants are vulnerable, and help ease water shortages. Moreover, it decreases wastewater discharges and may reduce and prevent pollution. Yet, by doing so there are cons that cannot be denied such as, the increase of cost for infrastructure treatment facilities and extra pipes to control it and finally public perception.…
California Water Crisis How would you feel if you didn’t have enough water to use the restroom everyday, or if you couldn’t shower for over 6 months? Being that California has been in a gargantuan drought for the past 4 to 5 years, water has been in short supply in more places than not. Farmers claim that they should be allowed unlimited access to the state’s supply of groundwater, solely in view of money crops. Ironically, while farmers are making these claims there are people in these towns, traveling 3 to 6 hours to get a gallon of water to last their families a week. Many believe that there should be regulations and water control considering farmers are complaining that they grow crops to sell,…
Farmers are increasingly relying on groundwater to water their crops when surface water is limited. Groundwater is a strategic backup play; however, it is rapidly vanishing. After the groundwater is all used up what will be the next strategic plan? Several organizations and individuals are concerned that there is not reliable strategy placed for environmental issues that will protect California.…
Now it is questioned whether the causes of California drought is linked to climate change, or even man-made. The severe atmospheric conditions joint with California’s drought occurrence are far more likely to appear with today’s global warming that have not existed before California citizens relied on the large amount of greenhouse gases. Combinations of unusual warm temperatures for California weather and stagnant air conditions, the loss of precipitation has produced a dangerous uproar with incidents relevant to air pollution, wildfires, and increased evaporation. The high increase in evaporation rates gradually lead to greater drying of soils and vegetation, having the potential to affect the natural land-based and manage ecosystems, coastal systems, and both…
Due to the lack of water people are pumping water out of the ground very quickly. Taking this much water out of the ground has some natural effects. In the article, “Why the California Drought is Affecting Everyone”by Katharine Mieszkowski she states “In some areas of the state, the groundwater has become so overtaxed that the earth is literally sinking. Between 2008 and 2011, parts of the Central Valley subsided more than 2 feet.” People are pumping so much water out of the ground, that the ground is sinking.…
Without firmer groundwater management, California residents will continue to experience the effects from groundwater overuse. Communities will lack water security, experience water quality issues, and face high costs from digging deeper wells. These problems will grow, but can be better addressed locally with support from the state. The introduction of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act should provide much needed guidance for managing California’s groundwater system. Pre-Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) Up to 2014, there had been no coordinated effort on managing groundwater in California.…
Being the worst in over 1,200 years, the fourth year of the great drought may be the most impactful devastation California has experienced destroying many fields, forests and water wells. Although California’s depression of dryness began in the ‘30’s with the Dust Bowl due to human involvement, today’s drought is developed from natural causes. Therefore, it will make it extremely hard for it to be recovered by humans, if at all, it will never be the same. For the future, California’s drought today may possibly be just the start to a even more devastating “megadrought” formed by climate change.…
Water is an important part of our lives ,even though it is not the first thing to come to mind, it will always remain our number one necessity. The scarce water source not only puts Texans at war against each other, but it also made people's everyday lives difficult. Water is every living thing's number one necessity, we humans cannot live without it, yet we take advantage of it. Jenna Craig states how in 2007 Texas had a severe drought and how it had its effect on farmers, businesses, communities, and the environment. "The ongoing drought has created real conflicts among water users" (page 1.)…
More water is imported to substitute for the lack of rainfall due to the hot weather. This water comes from other places, such as the Colorado River and rivers in Northern California. The importation will not last forever and Southern California must start thinking about creating more desalination plants to convert our plentiful ocean water to usable water. This would tremendously help with the drought, but would cost the state millions. The people wold have to vote to produce these plants because it would be people’s tax dollars that allow and pay for the…
Daniel Weintraub, a native Californian was born and raised in San Diego and graduated in economics from San Diego State University, has an formidable and impactful history with serving his years viably for The Sacramento Bee and covering for California’s politics and public policy, and now, with the disastrous juncture of the lack of water unconfined through the rivers; upon the devotion he has in himself, he sees a resolution to aid rivers of California. Without the water flowing, crops can decrease crucially, in which can only affect the whole state and its inhabitants because farmers are openly assuranitated to grow vigorous crops for all people in California. Extracted words from Weintraub, ‘’ We really need to focus on getting that water back. The project has been in operation for over half a century and the whole fabric of the community here has been built on having those reliable water supplies.’’ (Weintraub 4)…
Here at Salton Sea Restoration we suggest that the people of California can be the short-term solution. We need to raise awareness and get people involved. A recent report from drought.ca.gov “…announced that urban Californians’ monthly water conservation declined to 17.7 percent in August.” (Kostyrko, 2016) Marketing campaigns need to be set in place to reach out to people.…
First of all, here is some background about this problem. Global warming is a general topic on the Earth, and it is also one of the main causes for the water shortage in California. As global warming makes the water in reservoirs evaporate, California keeps losing water. It then causes the water shortage. Besides, according to the Jonathan Foley’s speech in TED talk, some parts of Colorado River have been dried up when the other states in the United States of America keep using a large amount of water from the Colorado River.…
We observed about California drought. We planned to observe how California drought affected the farmer, because we thought that farmers used water to irrigate their farm, so California drought would affect them severely. We went to farmers market at Oakland. We met with many farmers there and asked several questions. We wanted to know how severe is California drought for farmers, what have they done regarding California drought and what are they going to do if the California drought got severe.…
2. The drought in California isn’t just a natural disaster but is also a man made one in another critical sense by capitalist governments largely beholden to giant energy cooperation 's refusal to seriously address the issue. Since the states founding in 1850 water policies have never been carried out in a rational scientific or democratic fashion, but rather subordinated to powerful corporate interests that include but are not limited to agribusiness, real estate, and finical aristocracy. 3. Two-thirds of California’s precipitation falls in the northern portion of the state, while two-thirds of all Californians live to the south.…