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45 Comments
- urbanetruth, on 10/27/2009, -0/+23Stop building population centers in deserts and dry places. Waterway diversion and irrigation has already wrecked many fragile places. It's a needless waste of resources.
- socialpyramid, on 10/27/2009, -0/+17All on one page: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4335 ...
- michaelrsa, on 10/27/2009, -0/+13We need to stop breeding, evey major environmental concern is either a direct or indirect result of overpopulation.
- grnicon, on 10/28/2009, -0/+10Here in SoCal, the crisis is purely a voluntary or man-made one. Humans created a city, LA, where there is no water. So basically, the entire city of LA steals water from other places (Owens Valley). The places LA steals water from, however, do not supply enough water for the growing city.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Water_Wars
Also see the movie Chinatown. - jboitnott, on 10/27/2009, -0/+10Water desalination might help along the coast, but this problem is massive.
- NoDrama, on 10/27/2009, -1/+10Water's an under-appreciated resource, and a looming crisis.
http://actualizers.blogspot.com/2009/10/are-we-run ... America is NOT exempt, merely unaware. - maximilen, on 10/27/2009, -2/+10High school kids: If you're smart and want to make a ***** load of money and always be in demand, become a scientist and get a degree in hydrology. Somewhere in the future, wars will be fought over water, not oil.
- michaelrsa, on 10/28/2009, -0/+8At some point it's going to get so bad where we won't be given the choice. When that day comes we will have deserved it.
- michaelrsa, on 10/27/2009, -0/+5Damn it, all this money I wasted on Computer Science.
- inactive, on 10/28/2009, -0/+5We're using more water than we collect, and our use is growing.
- JessterKing, on 10/28/2009, -1/+5Ummmm lets see, how about impose some restrictions
+Enforce water rationing, charge fines for people who go over. 2 birds one stone, It will help with the water shortage and help with the lack of funds. Eventually everyone, even people coming up from/though Mexico will hear how bad it is and move elsewhere. - mwtapp, on 10/27/2009, -1/+5I don't take my H2O for granted.
- sm8385a, on 10/27/2009, -1/+5Its called supply/demand. Ever heard of it? California probably spends millions of dollars and thousands of hours deliberating on this issue when the concept for managing a scarce resource has been around for centuries. When the price of a good is free, demand is infinite. That is why conservation efforts have failed and will continue to fail.
If the price of water reflected its cost, there wouldn't be a water shortage. - stonebear, on 10/28/2009, -0/+4I would like to point out that when they say "urban water use," residential applications are only about 6% of that. Unsaid is the way water us used by business (including agriculture,) and I'll bet "high flow" toilets make up so little of that as to be unmeasurable.
- AKron, on 10/28/2009, -0/+3One paragraph per page?
- computershack, on 10/28/2009, -1/+4Wow, California seems like a real nice place to go what with brownouts, water shortages, air pollution, massive levels of crime...
- stonebear, on 10/28/2009, -1/+4We did, and the greedy brought in immigrants to drive down our wages.
- russ3, on 10/28/2009, -2/+5Where did he ever state his political views? and insulting people for asking questions is never going to win you any friends. also you didnt even quote him. You sound like an exteremly judgemental douche. I'm not saying you are one (that would be judging) but in the 3 sentences i've ever read of yours, you sound like a douche.
- holygram, on 10/27/2009, -1/+3I'm not saying it doesn't exist or anything, but I don't understand the idea of a water crisis. Isn't the same amount water around forever, thanks to the water cycle?
I'm sure it isn't that simple, but if anyone could enlighten me, that would be cool... - beccabob, on 10/28/2009, -0/+2Here in the northern half of Illinois, we are having the opposite problem. Our local water table is so high that some farm fields had pools of water all summer. Someone I work with who lives at the top of a hill had water seepage problems. By where my parents live, some people had basement water for the first time since the houses were built, sometimes over 80 years ago. Yes, we get periods of drought, but we need to have people live where there are resources available to them, not just where the weather is "nice". Southern California is attractive because of the warm, but not humid climate. However, along with that comes no water, wild fires, mud slides when it does rain, and a slew of other problems.
I think we need to take a look at where the Native Americans built. I in a town near a relatively big river in Illinois, and most of the small towns near me settled by white people are in the floodplain. However, the town I am in was an old Indian village, above the floodplain. We need to use common sense (I know, not a trait us humans willingly use a lot) about where we put population centers, regardless of the comfort of the environment. Though, last winter we got to -32 F here I beleive (my digital thermometer does not read below that, and that is darn cold), and in a bad summer we can get over 100 F and almost tropical humidity. But, at least we get rain! - shaelen, on 10/28/2009, -0/+2That doesn't make any sense, the water evaporates from the pee eventually.. Or you can distill the pee.
- akatsuki, on 10/28/2009, -0/+2It isn't quite the typical tragedy of the commons, partially because of farmers' lobbies, chip makers and other industry lobbyists getting preferential treatment on water use - meaning rent-seeking plays a big role. Also since water is a necessity, it is hard to charge a lot for it.
Of course, the easiest solution is to have sliding scale prices. Let each household have enough for 3-4 moderate users (meaning drinking and showering) at a subsidizied price and then let the price get exponential after that. If you want a non-native species yard of a super-shiny car, that is great, but why should everyone else suffer for it? - reticulate, on 10/28/2009, -0/+2We had much the same problem in Brisbane, Australia about a year back. We ended up with heavy water restrictions (no washing cars, no watering the lawn or garden, strict household and industrial usage limits, piping grey water to power plants rather than using aquifer or bore water) and only managed to scrape through to some rain with about 20% of our overall water capacity left for a metro area of almost 2 million. People were getting huge fines for watering their gardens beyond what rain tank water they could gather - although it was pretty obvious if you were the only property on the street with a green lawn, duh.
We now have one of the lowest per-capita usages of water in the developed world, apparently. Nothing like the imminent (as in, within months) prospect of having absolutely no water left in our system, and having to pipe it in from the southern states at hugely inflated cost to homeowners. Put the restrictions in, police them properly and use the time you gain trying to fix your infrastructure. - urbanetruth, on 10/27/2009, -1/+3well -- it's going to be tougher to get people to agree on that one.
- Barackalypse, on 10/28/2009, -1/+2How to stop it? Get more water by desalinating the ocean that so conveniently sits right next to most of the major population centers.
- Yage2006, on 10/28/2009, -1/+2Ban swimming pools ?
- iletumi, on 10/28/2009, -1/+2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNGWn-aWn5g
- leif777, on 10/28/2009, -0/+1This is going to make a great movie... like China Town
- Trick07, on 10/28/2009, -0/+1Don't forget we have some of the highest tax rates as well as those who are unemployed.
- hereticoftruth, on 10/29/2009, -0/+1I already know what will happen in California. The water table will drop so low that there will be no rivers flowing above ground so there will also be no fish left alive in the region. Then we will pump the ground water out to the last drop. Then most of the people will move away. But a few will stay living off the annual supply. No brainer in every context of the situation. Also, salt water will flow in to replace the receding fresh ground water.
- satori3000, on 10/28/2009, -0/+1This has been known for 45 years now. The US Army corp of engineers has many plans to move water from the great lakes into California and other southern states. It won't happen tomorrow, but it'll happen.
- u3b3rg33k, on 10/31/2009, -0/+1Yeah. Smart move. lets live in a place where there's no water, and then bitch about it.
- urbanetruth, on 10/28/2009, -2/+2You're ultimately right (michael), but just a small point that the earth can sustain many more billions than originally thought only a few decades ago. And there's no reason to believe that that number cannot be increased by making the most of natural resources. Putting large cities in the desert, for example, is a complete waste. There is, of course, a population breaking point. It's just tough to know exactly where that is.
- Surfer51, on 10/28/2009, -1/+1http://shekinahfellowship.blogspot.com/
- InactiveUser, on 10/28/2009, -3/+3Someone is well versed with Republican double speak.
"Water cannot be destroyed so why is it a crisis"..
Bangs head on keyboard... - aolley, on 10/28/2009, -3/+3if there are two cups of water and you drink them and pee two cups of pee, do you want to now drink that?
- holygram, on 10/28/2009, -1/+1/voted Obama
/member of greenpeace - askantik, on 10/28/2009, -2/+2Thank you for at least asking this question instead of being a douche and being like, "OMFGZ WE ALL NO TEH WATER NEVR RUNZ OUT, CRAZY LIBERAL SOCIALST SCAR TACTICS OMFGZ!!1"
- stuffradio, on 10/28/2009, -1/+1No, you can't have our water!
- Arghblarg, on 10/28/2009, -2/+1Easy, just demand all of Canada's water. Apparently under NAFTA Canada can't refuse! :/
- Chompy, on 10/27/2009, -3/+2Not here in Las Vegas. Our population has essentially doubled in the last 20 years, yet our total water use has actually *decreased* by 30% during that time. Unfortunately, we're the only major city around here that's taking the necessary steps.
Just cutting off California's unnecessary subsidized agriculture would pretty much solve the entire problem for the American Southwest; Argentina and Mexico can grow avocados and strawberries for much less than we can, anyway.. and California agriculture really only benefits agricorps and illegal workers. The "family farmer" is a long-extinct phenomenon in the San Joaquin valley. - jp2535, on 10/28/2009, -3/+2 Its like the same crap as the earth is getting warmer.......except for the last 10 years its getting colder........over water.......it covers 75% of the planet, technology makes clean water much cheaper to produce than weapons.
- shaelen, on 10/28/2009, -3/+1Who is "we?" All water eventually goes back into the atmosphere unless someone is storing it or preventing others from accessing an aquifer. Just because it's not raining in areas it used to, it will be raining more in other areas that already have enough rain, which will cause flooding, but that water still evaporates and goes back into the cycle.
If there are too many people living in one area that is running out of water, maybe it's time to move?
Because people have created technology to control nature doesn't mean nature has to follow their rules. People really do think too much of themselves, anyway.
"I have a career in this city that is running out of water.. *I* am supposed to change *my* way of life? HAhah, I don't think so!" is what I'm hearing. - InactiveUser, on 10/28/2009, -4/+1Holygram stated: Isn't the same amount water around forever, thanks to the water cycle?
My summary of that statement and its intended implecations: "Water cannot be destroyed so why is it a crisis"..
Repuglicans use double speak or total ***** to subvert an argument. Chewbaca defense.
Bangs head on keyboard = expressing frustration at the lack of basic year 5 science education.
Available fresh water in the world remains at 1%. Dispersion rates and zones have changed as a consequence of global warming or Climate change or sunspot cooking or whatever you choose to call it.
Its happening all over the world - the rain is not falling where it used to and is falling to much to fast where it always did.
Call it what you want since you are judging me but it was merely an assessment of the language used to imply it was all crap and nothing to fear. - BrandonJM, on 10/27/2009, -9/+2Drink toilet water.
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