Is American SouthWest drying up?

[Berzerker]

So where else we gonna look?

How about west, there's a ****load of water there.

[Lancer]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


Well, a state's gotta do what a state's gotta do.

We began sucking Owens Valley dry at the beginning of the 20th Century. A couple of decades ago, we got into a dispute with Arizona and Mexico over our overuse of Colorado Riiver water. We're sucking in water from the Sacramento River Delta. Our population is exploding. So where else we gonna look?

Our plan:
First, get Oregon electrical power.
Second, get Oregon water.
Third, get Oregon women.

Bwuhahahahahahaha!!

We're willing to deal on the women. I'm sure they are too.

[Jonny]

Originally posted by Berzerker


How about west, there's a ****load of water there.

It's about time we get serious about large-scale desalination in the west. The rivers are no longer a reliable supply of drinking water... preferably they should be left for irrigation only, if used at all.

[realpolitic]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


Well, a state's gotta do what a state's gotta do.

We began sucking Owens Valley dry at the beginning of the 20th Century. A couple of decades ago, we got into a dispute with Arizona and Mexico over our overuse of Colorado Riiver water. We're sucking in water from the Sacramento River Delta. Our population is exploding. So where else we gonna look?

Our plan:
First, get Oregon electrical power.
Second, get Oregon water.
Third, get Oregon women.

Bwuhahahahahahaha!!

Yes, I was part of the campaign to stop the Peripheral Canal in 1980. Central California was going to use Northern California's water, and Southern California was going to pay, to send water half a mile uphill(imagine the enegry cost), to farm rice patties in the desert. The publisher of the LA Times, Otis Chandler, was the largest landowner in Kern County. He tried to convince LA that they needed the water. The water would have come from estuaries, so the saltwater from the Pacific would have leached into farmlands so,

No more Napa wine,
Even worse, maybe no more Humboldt pot.


Here's the drought map for the US. For comparison, look at the archive for previous years. I'll admit it isn't scientific, but the first few years the US was alot wetter.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by realpolitic

Is there a problem with the water tables?


Are the reservors OK?

Yeah, rain fall has been good in California and our reservors don't seem to be lower then normal. Of course the population keeps going up and we haven't built any new reservors in 30 years...

At least some of the desal plants will be up and running in a couple of years.

[Lancer]

Are those solar powered?

Is there a new method of desalination? I seem to recall a cheap and easy method being discussed a year or so ago.