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Od Growers Diverting Water? Get Ready For This

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Od Growers Diverting Water? Get Ready For This

Seamaiden 72 Replies 7,058 Views
Page 3 of 4 · Replies 41–60 of 73
#42
Thanks for your service Dave. I don't think I have taken a 3 minute shower in 10 years. A warm shower is a guilty pleasure of mine, if poop hit the fan that is what I might miss most.

@below frigid - I see the same thing, 1000's of gallons of water wasted because of improper delivery systems. The flip side of that, major reconstruction and upgrades to almost every farm in Cali. The average farmer in Cali is 65 years old, and their farms show it. When I took over my property every valve in the water system was already broken, or one twist would result in a failed valve. Water leaks all over the pipes, and no timers at all. I have since upgraded every single foot of pipe, valves and drip systems. It wasn't cheap, but I have no choice. My well can't handle all the waste.

I am one of those people using way over the average amount of water per day. In the summer, I wouldn't be surprised if I topped 1000 gallons a day. However, knowing this I have bought almost 10,000 gallons of water storage that I plan to catch rainwater with. I plan to buy a 25k water bladder also. Since I know I take more than my fair share, I plan to supply myself with water through collection. Too bad all farmers in Cali didn't have this sense of personal responsibility.
 
#43
I was recently researching this topic and found that the worst abusers are the rice industry and the livestock...specifically cattle pasture....and as much as people all over want to blame Fracking and Nestles...combined they use about .04% of the water in Cali ....yes .04%
 
#44
Wisher619 said:
I was recently researching this topic and found that the worst abusers are the rice industry and the livestock...specifically cattle pasture....and as much as people all over want to blame Fracking and Nestles...combined they use about .04% of the water in Cali ....yes .04%
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Interesting that you put that up as I was just having this discussion this morning w/ a few of my techs and I even said "If I had to venture a guess as to the largest consumers of water, I'd go with the rice growers."...But I'm hearing now that it may be the almond growers? I've flown over the central valley after the rice fields have been flooded and it practically looks like an inland sea....vast expanses of water covering the fields of the northern central valley.
 
#45
pinegrovedave said:
So I guess these "experts" are simply taking the total amount of water used on a daily basis and dividing it by the population, right?
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Im sure that was how they came up with those numbers.i grew up in a small 1000 sq ft home with 6 children and ma and pa so 8 of us on one toilet and shower.dad made damn sure we all knew how to take a "GI" shower and if you were in there too long he would go downstairs and shut off the hot water on yo ass lol.
i know agri is using most your water but im sure there is still plenty of waste in the big cities,hell i bet every shower in those hollywood mansions run 20 gallons a min with 10 plus head showers.i just did an irrigation quote for a guys lawn here and i asked so hows your well pressure.he started bragging about his shower being 18 gallons a minute with like 16 dif nozzles.and this guy wants to irrigate 2.5 acres of weeds.i asked so what about the atv track that runs all around the property,he says irrigate everything it will keep the dust down .so i give him a ridiculous price and he tells me he wants to pay me with growing equipment .im like dude how many truckloads of promix does a guy need lol.ill take cash check or visa :)
but anyways this guy likes to waste money at home but he dont run his grow store that way.
i live on a lake here and prolly 80% or more of the homes on the water are using the lake water to irrigate their lawns,then they bitch in august when the water stops 100 feet from the end of their docks,fuckin wasters,ok im done dang :)
 
#46
LONG LIVE FIELD SHOWERS!!!

Having recently moved to NorCal, and now being on well water, I do my best to only shower when I have to. When I do...I practice the old field shower routine. I feel like I use a lot less soap when I do a field shower as well.

Has anyone ever seen how Dr. Bronner would wash himself?

Ok....got sidetracked there. One thing I hate doing is talking about problems. I like to talk about solutions. Here's some things that have piqued my curiosity lately.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3044103/...se-waters-itself-and-then-makes-clean-drink#5

http://www.eolewater.com/
 
#48
you guys ever looked on a map of stockton california? what is that thing to the west? Now thank your government regulators that you won't ever be able to utilize that plentiful source. ever
 
#49
Wait, you mean that delta (which is brackish water) isn't being used? Last I checked, those waters are tapped.
Wisher619 said:
I was recently researching this topic and found that the worst abusers are the rice industry and the livestock...specifically cattle pasture....and as much as people all over want to blame Fracking and Nestles...combined they use about .04% of the water in Cali ....yes .04%
Click to expand...
Take a look at this paper, too.
 
#50
I sit and watch these reports and what strikes me and always has, is the first folks they target conservation at is the average Joes because most average Joes really care and we feel guilty and want to do our part and we do. But on the other side of the coin, the real offenders always seem to get a free pass. We the People make the sacrifices to try to offset Big Biz's abuses and rape of the land and resources. Somehow it just doesn't seem fair does it.

I live in a true desert and I cannot even begin to estimate how much water is used everyday keeping the hundreds of golf courses here green. Sprinklers all over the city spewing water during the heat of the day rather than watering at night. Watering during the day is counter productive as it actually will burn the turf. Then look at the water usage in Vegas another desert environment. Generally speaking most of US/we the people are environmentally conscious and we do what we can to conserve, but it is like bailing water out of a boat with a tablespoon and until Big Ag and the rest of Big Biz in America puts in their share of conservation I don't think we will see much change.
 
#51
I think personal water usage is calculated by what you consume as well. It's not fair to put all the water usage on the farmers when you are eating the product they grow. I think that 180 gallons a day per person takes this into account. So if you only take a 5 minute shower, but eat almonds and rice all day, your daily usage of water is pretty high.
 
#52
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento–San_Joaquin_River_Delta#Ecology

"The survival of the Delta smelt has been one of the largest environmental controversies in California, as environmental measures enacted to protect its population have often reduced the amount of water available for federal water projects that depend on water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta"

you and I have slightly different definitions of "tapped"
 
#54
My dad was Navy and he's going on about desal, too.
coloradoBTC said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento–San_Joaquin_River_Delta#Ecology

"The survival of the Delta smelt has been one of the largest environmental controversies in California, as environmental measures enacted to protect its population have often reduced the amount of water available for federal water projects that depend on water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta"

you and I have slightly different definitions of "tapped"
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See the mention of "federal" there? ;) If I recall, we have like one naturally running river left in the entire state. Therefore, I consider them all tapped if they're controlled. So yeah, maybe we do have different definitions of 'tapped.' I didn't know we were using that brackish water in the delta for farming. What I do know is that the feds have told all ag they're not getting any federally controlled water.
 
#55
Seamaiden said:
I didn't know we were using that brackish water in the delta for farming.
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we can't, because of the smelt restrictions. and yet again it is those lovely california regulations that make building a desalinization plant much more expensive than it should be
 
#56
What power source is being used to run desalinization plants--
these days???...
 
#57
geologic said:
What power source is being used to run desalinization plants--
these days???...
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Good lookn out @geologic The amount of power required is an issue all in and of itself. Plus as someone mentioned earlier in this thread the cost to build and maintain desalinization plants is currently cost inhibitive. Then there are disposal challenges of the highly desalinate water as a by product of the process.

Personally I would prefer we as a species stay away from desalinization anyway. The worlds oceans are under full assault as it is and to me this would be adding insult to injury.
 
#59
altitudefarmer said:
I wonder if RO would remove the Fukushima Flu...
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and with that 600 gall a day 2400 gallons ran to waste. It typically takes 4 gall of unprocessed water to produce 1 gall of filtered water. I used to use a RO setup until I found out how much waste was associated with the process. So out to the junk pile went my RO unit. That is an obscene amount of waste. IMHO
 
#60
altitudefarmer said:
I wonder if RO would remove the Fukushima Flu...
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The units we operated in the Marine Corps could deal with radioactive contaminated water.


jumpincactus said:
and with that 600 gall a day 2400 gallons ran to waste. It typically takes 4 gall of unprocessed water to produce 1 gall of filtered water. I used to use a RO setup until I found out how much waste was associated with the process. So out to the junk pile went my RO unit. That is an obscene amount of waste. IMHO
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600 gallons per hour....not day. And if you were using one of those ROWPU units on the Pacific.....the waste would go back into the pacific.
 
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