
Good News on the California Drought - hvo
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/22/us/california-measuring-snowpack.html
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LeoPanthera
Living in California, I can tell that the drought situation is improving
because people have started complaining about the rain again.

~~~
ntaylor
I've only been living in SoCal for 6 years. This is the first year I've seen
any greenery since I got here.

~~~
freshyill
Ive been flying out to SF from the east coast three to four times a year for
the last three years. Every time, I've been struck by how brown everything is.
Well, I'm in San Diego right now (a little different, I know), and now I'm
struck by how green everything is. Glad it's finally let up.

~~~
shaftway
It'll go brown again by June. It's not called The Golden State because there
was gold, it's because of the characteristically gold color of the hills in
the summer.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=california+hills+summer&tbm=...](https://www.google.com/search?q=california+hills+summer&tbm=isch)

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_ph_
This is great news for all people in the region. This should supply water for
the next 2 to 3 years. But I really hope, that these years are used to repair
the aging infrastructure (see the Oroville dam) and build more dams, to be
able to manage larger amounts of water, both in the absence as in long
droughts, as in presence as in storing more the snow now present.

~~~
mateo411
I also hope that they fix the existing dams. We don't really build dams
anymore in the US. They alter the surrounding environment too much and wreak
havoc on fish species. It's hard for fish to swim up a river when there a dam
there.

It's too bad that's the case, because it could improve CA's water situation
and we could generate more hydropower which does not produce greenhouse gases.

~~~
_ph_
I think that mostly depends on the design of the dams. New dams that would be
built where currently a river exists, should be built with a small bypass
river, which is just large enough to allow the fish and other species to
travel upriver still. And of course, locations have to be carefully selected.
But any kind of human settlement or building alters the nature, be it by
farming or building roads or houses. I think of all the possibilities, setting
up a dam is so beneficial overall, that it is worth the tradeoffs. It should
also be considered, that while altering the environment, it has a lot of local
benefits too, as it creates a huge habitat for water-living species, full of
clean and un-polluted water.

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hkmurakami
Countdown to the next drought, since we are woefully short of water storage
facilities (dams are letting out excess water in many dams in Northern
California, and the snowpack melt hasn't started yet).

~~~
ilaksh
Are the aquifers/groundwater sources filled up/filling? Seems like they have
been kind of overtapped for awhile in many areas. If they ever get back up to
high levels then maybe we should celebrate.

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stouset
Groundwater takes decades to replenish, and that's a huge source of water
we've been tapping.

~~~
theandrewbailey
Add in the fact that the ground sinks when enough water goes out of it, I'm
not sure that it will ever come back until civilization leaves.

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dmode
Great pictures in the article. Eastern Sierra is probably my favorite place in
CA and possibly in the entire country. Driving down 395, with snowcapped
mountains on your right and Nevada desert on your left is magical.

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toolslive
visiting CA from Europe, I'm always surprised: extensive periods of drought,
but

    
    
      - nobody has a dual flush toilet
      - everybody has sprinklers

~~~
thinkmassive
I just visited Cali for a few months, and it seemed like most residential
toilets were dual flush and all recent commercial installations are water-
saving of some sort.

The amount of sprinklers (and artificial turf, hah) surprised me at first too.
It does seem like most large systems use recycled water though. My hunch is
it's the best use possible for that water.

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rectangletangle
This is the most rain I've seen since I was a child (in the 90s). It's really
nice to see wildlife, and frogs again. It was getting kinda scary when the
grass went from it's typical golden hue, to grey, and then to dirt...

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aplomb
Comes in cycles, always has - certainly more severe due to nature and more
people on this last go-around.

I remember in elementary school being taught how to properly brush our teeth
and conserve because the drought at the time - decades ago.

~~~
mturmon
The drought plays a major role in the skateboard culture movie _Dogtown and
Z-Boys_. The drought of the 70s caused people around Venice to leave their
swimming pools empty, and these pools turned out to be a great practice area.

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LeicaLatte
Beautiful photos! The only reason I still click on big media links is the
photography. It is the only thing 10-100x better.

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azinman2
A really great talk to watch from 2015 is Felicia Marcus, head of the water
board, who goes over the altering wet/dry climate of CA and it's unique
challenges:

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rShYQVZvX-k](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rShYQVZvX-k)

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bonniemuffin
All that snow made for some good skiing this winter, too.

~~~
nether
No kidding. I've still got 5 bring a friend tickets for Mammoth, if anyone on
HN is interested.

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beatpanda
One good year does not erase the structural problems facing California in the
coming years due to climate change and poor water management. I really hope
that we don't take our eye off the ball because of this.

~~~
recondite
Don't forget California also has one of the higher population growths rates in
the country. There's still no serious long-term plan for how California is
going to handle droughts in the future proposed by any lawmakers, and the
gridlock between farmers v population centers, norcal v socal will continue.

But we did vote for a $64 billion high-speed rail project that will probably
end up costing $100+ when all is said and done.
[http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/01/13/confidential-report-
ca...](http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/01/13/confidential-report-california-
bullet-train-could-cost-billions-more-than-expected/)

~~~
ac29
$100B isnt really all that much as compared to California's GSP of $2.5T [0].
The US spent, percentage wise, quite a bit more on the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan: $2.4T [1] out of $18.6T GDP [2].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_California)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War)

[2]
[https://bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdpnewsrelease.htm](https://bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdpnewsrelease.htm)

~~~
knowaveragejoe
GDP isn't the amount of money the government has sitting around to invest,
though.

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konceptz
Does anyone know which crops would particularly be bolstered? It would be
interesting to see what lagging effect this has on produce.

Edit: not the point of the article.

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BadassFractal
Lovely shots!

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birken
> allowing crops to be irrigated and drinking glasses to be filled.

Ugh. Drinking glasses are going to be filled regardless of how much rain we
get. I don't want to diminish the importance of agriculture, it's important
and I'm excited that we had a very wet winter to keep things going, but
residential water supplies have never been at risk throughout this whole
drought.

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alsetmusic
> Ugh. Drinking glasses are going to be filled regardless of how much rain we
> get.

I live in the Bay Area and many restaurants here have notes on their menus
explaining that they only serve water on request due to drought. This is much
different from a cavalier auto-fill that is customary in some places.

~~~
ars
And this is why the whole country laughs at California's water problems.

 _Printing_ the paper saying we won't fill glasses used 48 times[1] more water
than the water in the glass!

The amount of water used is so minuscule that you become a laughing stock just
for suggesting it!

And CA made it a law....

> "cavalier auto-fill"

Please tell me that was your way of making fun of the law, and not that you
actually support it.

[1] [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/it-
ta...](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/it-takes-more-
than-3-gallons-of-water-to-make-a-single-sheet-of-paper/258838/)

~~~
8_hours_ago
It's more about public outreach than saving a few cups of water. Reminding
people that there is a drought every time they go out to eat is an effective
way to get people to talk about water conservation, and perhaps even make some
changes in their lifestyle to reduce water usage.

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sowbug
As long as they understand that household water use in California is only
about 15% of total usage.

[https://ca.water.usgs.gov/water_use/2010-california-water-
us...](https://ca.water.usgs.gov/water_use/2010-california-water-use.html)

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joelthelion
Unfortunately this will probably make people forget about global warming.
People need concrete signs right before their eyes to take action.

