[2014] water water -not everywhere

[x3 skier]

Might be a good idea to stop the CA high speed rail to nowhere and build more/better dams instead.

Cheers

 

[Blues]

Might be a good idea to stop the CA high speed rail to nowhere and build more/better dams instead.

Gov Brown proposes $437 million for water and flood control infrastructure

Totally independent of high speed rail. And I wouldn't call LA to SF "nowhere".

 

[x3 skier]

Gov Brown proposes $437 million for water and flood control infrastructure

Totally independent of high speed rail. And I wouldn't call LA to SF "nowhere".

Not my description, http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/...cle_b288b442-bd3e-5973-868a-3a5c21a7d1c1.html. From the Bakersfield Californian.

Seems to me, water and flood control is a better use of money than the estimated $60B for the train.

Cheers

 

[MULTIZ321]

Sierra Snowpack Smacks California's Drought
By Richard Gonzales/ The Two-Way: Breaking News From NPR/ National Public Radio/ America/ npr.org


"Remember those pictures of parched lawns and bone-dry unplanted fields when it seemed that Californians could only pray for rain and snow?

Now thanks to one of the wettest winters on record, scientists say that the snowpack along the Sierra Nevada mountain range is a whopping 185 percent of average. And that's important because the runoff from the Sierra snowpack provides one-third of all of California's water...."

Frank Gehrke (right), California's chief snow surveyor checks the weight of the snowpack on a scale. Scientists say the snowpack is 185 percent of average, which is welcome news after the state's long drought.

Rich Pedroncelli/AP


Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

From the California Sky, Measuring All That Snow
By Mike McPhate, Derek Watkins, and Jim Wilson/ U.S./ Interactive/ The New York Times/ nytimes.com

"Mammoth Lakes, Ca. — The majestic beauty of California’s Sierra Nevada never fails to impress. But the mountain range, which stretches hundreds of miles, is much more than a stunning vista. It’s a linchpin that helps make living in an arid state possible.

That’s because one of California’s most important water supplies is melted snow. Each spring and summer, the Sierra sends runoff down its slopes that recharges rivers and reservoirs, allowing crops to be irrigated and drinking glasses to be filled.

Knowing with precision how much snow has accumulated is crucial for farmers and water managers.

That’s where a mapping project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory known as the Airborne Snow Observatory comes in. Using measurements gathered by specialized instruments on a plane, scientists have been able to gain an unprecedented understanding of the amount of water present in the Sierra’s snow.

Trees on a slope in the snow-covered eastern Sierra Nevada. Photo by Jim Wilson/The New York Times


Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

Scientists Create Graphene-Based Sieve That Removes Salt From Seawater
By Avaneesh Pandey/ World/ International Business Times/ ibtimes.com

"It is estimated that over 660 million people in the world still do not have access to clean and safe drinking water — a number that is only expected to rise in the coming decades as water supplies begin to run dry. According to the United Nations, by 2025, 14 percent of the world’s population will face water scarcity.

This is despite Earth being a “pale blue dot,” 70 percent of whose surface is covered in water.

The problem is that the water held in our planet’s oceans, which accounts for over 96 percent of all water on Earth, is not potable. So far, efforts to make it drinkable have been either inefficient, dauntingly expensive, or both...."

An artist's concept showing a graphene oxide sieve capable of removing salt from seawater. Photo: University of Manchester


Richard

 

[WalnutBaron]

Gov Brown proposes $437 million for water and flood control infrastructure

Totally independent of high speed rail. And I wouldn't call LA to SF "nowhere".

As described in this article from the LA Times, the high speed rail fiasco is $3.6 billion over budget and a full seven years behind schedule--and that's just for the first 118 miles of the project through the Central Valley (which was supposed to be the easy part of the project). I'd also disagree that building more dams and reservoirs in California is "totally independent" of high speed rail. Infrastructure projects--whether dams or trains--are paid for by California taxpayers, either living or yet unborn. Increasingly, California's leaders are choosing to lay those costs off on the younger generations. And what a tax wollop it will be.

 

[MULTIZ321]

California Drought, Then and Now, In Pictures
The Photo Desk/ Flipboard/ cdn.flipboard.com

If interested, click on link for more pictures.


Richard

 

[WalnutBaron]

Thanks, Richard, for posting the photos!

To put some perspective on what's been going on here in Northern California, Sacramento has received a little over 32" of rain so far this season (the season is measured beginning Oct 1, when California's rainy season typically begins), compared to average rainfall year to date of 16.7". The all-time record for recorded rainfall for Sacramento is 36.6", which occurred in 1982-83. If we receive no more rain between now and September 30, this will still rank as the 4th wettest year on record.

The real concerns are for how well California's system of dams, reservoirs, levees, and canals will be able to handle the snowmelt, which has begun but which will hit its peak in May and June. The mountains are holding the equivalent of an additional 51" of rainfall, the great majority of which will be coming down during the upcoming summer and fall months. It's going to be a very interesting year.

 

[Passepartout]

Maybe instead of building more dams, a system of humongous pumps should be incorporated to inject runoff water back into the underground aquifers rather than flushing it out to sea in the rivers.

 

[WalnutBaron]

Maybe instead of building more dams, a system of humongous pumps should be incorporated to inject runoff water back into the underground aquifers rather than flushing it out to sea in the rivers.

I wish it was that simple. Unfortunately, recharging the aquifers requires slow percolation rather than blasting the water back into the ground. That's why everyone here is hoping we continue to have a relatively cool spring so that the snowmelt comes down slowly and evenly rather than all at once. The truth is we do need more storage. The last major storage project in California was the New Melones Dam, completed in 1979. At the time, the population of California was a little over 23 million. Today it's more than 39 million. Over the past 35 years, California's leaders have done a terrible job of investing in the state's infrastructure--and now it's time to pay the piper.

 

[MULTIZ321]

Widespread Drought Across U.S. Stokes Fears About a Repeat of 2012's Wrath
By Madelyn Beck/ Food for Thought/ The Salt:What's on Your Plate/ National Public Radio/ npr.org

"Western Illinois might be close to the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, but it's the driest part of the state this year.

"We really haven't really had any measurable rain since the middle of October," says Ken Schafer, who farms winter wheat, corn and soybeans in Jerseyville. "I dug some post-holes this winter, and it's just dust."

His farm is in an area that the [URL='http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/']U.S. Drought Monitor considers "severe." Some of the nation's worst areas of drought are in southwest Kansas, much of Oklahoma and a slice of Missouri. But several states are in some sort of drought, from Illinois to California, the Dakotas to Texas.

The worry also is widespread, considering the reach of this winter's drought is even worse than in 2012, a year that brought the worst drought in the U.S. since the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and cost farmers, ranchers and governments an estimated $30 billion, according to the federal National Centers for Environmental Information...."

In 2012, record heat throughout the U.S. farm belt curtailed crop production like this rotting corn on a farm in Bruceville, Ind. Farmers are now worried that the lack of rainfall this year could start the cycle over again.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images [/URL]


Richard