Could this be the beginning of a water war

[Nevada Ed]

If Southern Calif. needs more water...........

How hard would it be to dam up a large canyon that they have down there?

They are just too cheap & lazy !!

 

[geddylee10002000]

A while ago I read The Water Knife - Wikipedia which I found to be good read. I had no idea that this was relevant until I researched it.

 

[dockmurgw]

Patience patience...when the big one hits you'll have California's share to divvy up.

 

[dave1918a2]

This city just keeps expanding and there is not enough water for what there already is. 30 years ago, My water bill was $13 a month. Now the base is $40 and it goes up in tiers after 2K gallons. Daily watering of new sod cost over $400 a month and I can't imagine what the elite homes are paying. At least this city is working on more water. That takes more $$$$

 

[two-bit cowboy]

LVSteve: this ain't the beginnin'; been goin' on for scores of years.

I was stationed in Vegas in the '70s and '80s. I watched all those pools being put in; I saw "The Lakes" being built with its huge ponds so the privileged residents on the "shore" could paddle around in their toy boats; I saw the big "strip" casinos dazzle visitors with their fancy, computer-driven fountains; I saw the lush golf courses. I'm not much for forgiving the arrogance and selfishness I witnessed. I got nothin' for it.

The Air Force thought I loved the desert southwest. Three tours in Vegas, one in Phoenix, and two in southern New Mexico.

Most of my Air Force friends back then xeriscaped our yards. Rocks and cactus don't need waterin' and there's no grass to mow.

I'm a third generation Wyomingite. Grandpa was a farmer who worked his quarter-section homestead ground till the day he died in his 80s.

Wyoming's Green River feeds the Colorado. In lean years Californians holler about Wyoming not letting enough water out of the Green to feed their crops, pools, and toilets. Well, when we get 60" of snow in a season in the high country, there ain't no water to let! Does the phrase, "You can't get blood out of a turnip," mean anything?

The best thing our early politicians did when Wyoming gained statehood in 1890 was to use Colorado water law as a starting point, then made it tougher.

No sympathy here. Dear desert dwellers: you broke it, you fix it.

 

[Rustyt1953]

 

[johngalt]

It's already being done indirectly. Underground aquifers carry water a long way. Nestle swung a deal with the town of Evart and the State of Michigan to pump 130 million gallons of water a year for bottling their Ice Mountain brand. They pay the State $200 annually for the right to plunder.

The corporation does pay property and business taxes and their employee's pay all the usual taxes and contribute to the local economy, but it's still a horrible deal for Michiganders. The resource belong to the people of Michigan and has devastated the Twin Creek River fishery. Evart is a poor town and was behind it because they wanted the jobs, but the bulk of them are at the bottling plant in an adjacent county. I think they only employ about 50 people at the pumping station and truck the water to the plant. Evart got hosed and Nestle got richer...

Sounds like whoever did the negotiating for Michigan was either an idiot or in collusion!

 

[billwill]

Ours comes from Duke Powers coal ash pits.

But that is what gives it that unique flavor, plus Duke keeps your lights on. What a package deal

 

[Rustyt1953]

Ours comes from Duke Powers coal ash pits.

When I lived in Randolph County, Duke was CP&L.

The Convention Center, downtown Cincy:

 

[LCC]

anyone remember Irish Lawn?
Lawns out front ripped up, concrete poured, painted green.

'what was old will be new again'

 

[wheelgun28]

Maybe a new cable show, Water wars!

This week on Water Wars, will the farmers have enough water or will the city go dry. Tune in to you local cable channel.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

We get ours from the Ohio River. I try not to think about it.

How do you think New Orleans feels??

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Yes, no sympathy for those who settled and built on deserts-no sympathy for those who built on flood plains, either.
I see an interesting conflict developing, MJ cultivators vs.food producers.

 

[Rustyt1953]

How do you think New Orleans feels??

I can only imagine the dread that the guys at NOLA's treatment plants feel at tackling the runoff from Mardi Gras.

 

[Coldshooter]

Yes, no sympathy for those who settled and built on deserts-no sympathy for those who built on flood plains, either.
I see an interesting conflict developing, MJ cultivators vs.food producers.

If you smoke enough MJ you can live off Doritos Skittles and twinkies. Reading the labels more synthetics than food.

 

[Coldshooter]

I was stationed at Ft Huachuca in the late 70s and remember the mayor of Tucson threatened to cut off Davis Monthan's water when the Base commander ordered the residents to keep their Bermuda grass lawns green. I hope he had better judgement in the air.

 

[LVSteve]

LVSteve: this ain't the beginnin'; been goin' on for scores of years.

I was stationed in Vegas in the '70s and '80s. I watched all those pools being put in; I saw "The Lakes" being built with its huge ponds so the privileged residents on the "shore" could paddle around in their toy boats; I saw the big "strip" casinos dazzle visitors with their fancy, computer-driven fountains; I saw the lush golf courses. I'm not much for forgiving the arrogance and selfishness I witnessed. I got nothin' for it.

.....

No sympathy here. Dear desert dwellers: you broke it, you fix it.

There's been a LOT of change since then. AFAIK developers are no longer allowed to put grass at the front of properties. Many associations have xeriscaped their common areas, much to the chagrin of those who moved here in the 80s and early 90s. There is a scheme where the water district will pay you so much per square foot to remove 400 sq ft or more. One of the local golf courses paid a chunk to have some kind of grey water arrangement with the water company as a sort of recycling.

As for your last point, I have to agree. Back in 1998 I needed a hose to wash a load of playa off my SUV having traversed a "not as dry as it should have been" dry lake bed. My dad was visiting and as we picked out a hose and attachment I made the following comment to him out loud:

"Good grief! Look at all this different stuff for watering the grass. Which part of living in the desert don't these people understand?"

A woman further down the aisle turned slowly and fixed me with stare. No kidding, if looks could kill, I'd have been a smoking hole in the floor. My dad spotted the look and could barely contain his mirth.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Yes, it will be very interesting, no substitutes for water, the old Boy Scout joke about dehydrated water not withstanding. IMHO time for a return to rain barrels in some areas. And maybe "the little brown shack out back".

 

[LCC]

"Cadillac Desert, The American West and its Disappearing Water", written by Marc Resiner and published in 1986, details how the Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers teamed up to develop the the west per national settlement goals deeply influenced by the lobbying of local and state politicians, industrialists and real estate developers. In other words, business as usual.

There's a lot of research out there that projects the shifting demographics that will occur during the rest of this century as dissapearing water tables force migration to wetter states.

And with snowpacks become increasingly minimal due to warming, it's time to start planning and building new dams in any and all locations offering enough water storage to justify the cost.

 

[Kinman]

Locally we have an aquifer that is left over from the last Ice Age, if you dig down 50 feet or more you will hit it, most of our local gravel pits are filled with water from the aquifer, the local river feeds the aquifer until the river hits the falls downtown, from that point on the aquifer feeds the river. It is massive, rich the source of some of the best tap water in the country, although a little on the hard side because of all the minerals that it flows through.
The only tap water I ever drank that was better was in Ogden, Utah. That water came from massive lakes inside the mountains, it was so cold it hurt your teeth.
I remember when I was a kid in San Diego in around '56, we didn't drink water from the tap...it was Colorado River water, we drank water from a big jug in the kitchen a guy replaced once or twice a week, I remember how wierd that was. I know people that are amazed at how nice our tap water is, something we take for granted, we have never been told to ration water...