LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.Best Political Blog Winner, 2007 Webby Awards, People's Voice and Jury.   Gore Vidal and Mr. Fish - Exclusive Truthdig Gifts for the Holidays
 
December 1, 2008
Log in / Register

 Choose a size
Text Size

Most Read

Afghanistan in Crisis

Report: WMD Terror Attack Likely

Confronting the Terrorist Within

Bush’s 11th-Hour Bid for Secrecy

They’re Here, They’re Queer, and They’re … Well-Organized

Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture

Digs
Financial Meltdown 101
Vetting Sarah Palin

Truthdig Bazaar
Daphne’s Lot

Daphne’s Lot

By Chris Abani
$13.95

more items

 
Ear to the Ground

California Feels the Heat

Email this item Email    Print this item Print   
Posted on Jun 4, 2008
Flickr / Randy Son Of Robert

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made it official: California is in a drought. It’s the first official drought declaration for the Golden State in 17 years. Schwarzenegger has threatened water rationing to protect the state’s $32 billion agriculture industry.

New York Times:

LOS ANGELES—Its reservoir levels receding and its grounds parched, California has fallen officially into drought, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday, warning that the state might be forced to ration water to cities and regions if conservation efforts did not improve.

A farm near Bakersfield has been put up for sale for commercial development. There is tension between city residents and farmers, who consume most of California’s water.

The drought declaration—the first for the state since 1991—includes orders to transfer water from less dry areas to those that are dangerously dry. Mr. Schwarzenegger also said he would ask the federal government for aid to farmers and press water districts, cities and local water agencies to accelerate conservation. Drought conditions have hampered farming, increased water rates throughout California and created potentially dangerous conditions in areas prone to wildfires.

The declaration comes after the driest California spring in 88 years, with runoff in river basins that feed most reservoirs at 41 percent of average levels. It stops short of a water emergency, which would probably include mandatory rationing.

Read more

Email Newsletter

Get truth delivered to your inbox every week.

Previous item: Clinton to Face the Music

Next item: Putting Journalists in Check

Jump to Comments

Advertisement


Elsewhere: .

Comments

Are you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.

By montymarket, June 5 at 8:06 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

On Hong Kong island, the central section of the former British colony in south China, for years the hotels (e.g., the Furama, Mandarin, etc.) have two water lines: sea water piped in from the Hong Kong Harbor for flushing toilets, fresh water for sink and shower. That saves fresh water.  And no need to put a colored scent in the toilet tank because the toilet water naturally is green already.

Report this

By Leefeller, June 5 at 5:21 am #

JPS

Planing for the future?  Like Iraq oil, the water will not be yours for long, their is money to be made.  Almost like one of those Scifi. movies Mad Max comes to mind.

Report this

By jackpine savage, June 5 at 4:07 am #

And yet building codes do not specify rain water catchment or gray water recycling for toilets.

There are 300M+ people in the country, and while i don’t know the average number of daily trips to the toilet per person i would figure it to be a minimum of four.  The average toilet is a 2.5 gallon flush (some are better, few are worse).

Is my math correct?  We contaminate 3 billion gallons of drinking water per day with urine and feces.

Last summer, stories about serious water rationing in the south were in the news.  Towns were limited to a few hours of running water each day (a common thing in many parts of the world, but terror for Americans).  Did that significantly change behavior?  No, it only meant that every washing machine, dishwasher, and shower in town turned on at the same time every day.

The rest of you will soon (in some cases/ways you already are) be beating down my door to get at the 20% of the world’s fresh surface water that i’m sitting next to/on.  Think again.

I’ll be damned if i’m going to let the rest of you pipe this water away just so you can shit in it and throw it away. 

Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

Report this

By cyrena, June 5 at 3:39 am #

I don’t know why there isn’t more of a desalination effort in California. We’re sitting here on a pretty big Ocean. And for the purposes of addressing areas that are dangerously dry and subject to wild fires, the stuff doesn’t even have to be desalinated first. They just need to move some of this Ocean water to those areas and soak ‘em down before they can go up in flames.

Am I being too simplistic here? Hell, if they can put men and women on the moon, or robots on Mars, why can’t they figure out how to move a bunch of gallons of Ocean water to wherever the dry spots are?

We use recycled water here in my own community for watering any of the grounds. Seems like they could hook-up the agricultural irrigation system the same way.

Nope...I’m not a water or agricultural engineer, but it still seems like an idea worth considering. Besides, it’ll give a bunch of folks something to do..considering the lack of other jobs.

If water has to cost so much more, it ought to be because we’re paying folks to purify it and move it from one place to the other.

Report this

By Johnny, June 5 at 1:05 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Hi,

I just wanted to say that the site http://www.treehoo.com uses most of its profit to plant trees and fight global warming and climate change. The service is free and on the site you can do Google searches plus more. Everyone should use it as their default homepage, I do!

Report this

Add Your Comment

Posts by unregistered readers are moderated. Posts by members
are published immediately. Why wait? Register today!






Notify you when others comment on this article?


Are you a human?
Retype the word you see here.


Please read and abide by our comment policy.
By submitting this comment, you agree to this site's terms and conditions.

Newsletter

Get Truthdig in your inbox

Privacy Policy

 
Click here to advertise with Truthdig
 

 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
Copyright © 2008 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved.