

Maps reveal extent of CA drought - mikenyc
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-g-california-drought-map-htmlstory.html

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sanswork
My wife(Australian) and me(Canadian) are in California at the moment. She is
constantly commenting on the fact that despite all the drought warnings and
conserve water posters everywhere we constantly see people watering their
grass and fields to the point of forming large puddles of water. Like
everywhere we have been there has been constant watering of plants. As someone
that has lived through drought it has been really confusing to her.

It really seems like no one there believes their is a drought or at least it
isn't changing anyones personal actions.

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youngtaff
I had the same view when I was in the Bay Area recently - the hotel sink was
square and flat so needed lots of water in it to shave, and the toilets seem
to have at least a gallon in before you flush it

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bjz_
The toilets in SF are so incredibly wasteful. I didn't see any dual flush ones
anywhere, and the full flush probably 10x as much water as the toilets in
Australia.

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ulfw
American toilets are old-fashioned like that. It's not an SF thing.

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henrikschroder
"American Standard"

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TezzellEnt
I've been to Lake Shasta, and the drought is apparent and appalling. The
shoreline has receded a few hundred feet.

This report [1] shows that in 2010, Palm Springs was using 736 gallons of
water per residential customer per day.

It almost makes me sick.

Sources: [1]
[http://www.water.ca.gov/urbanwatermanagement/docs/Report%20t...](http://www.water.ca.gov/urbanwatermanagement/docs/Report%20to%20Leg%20on2010%20UWMPs-6-25-2012.pdf)

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ghshephard
Why would 736 gallons of water use per day almost make you sick? Presumably
the water board continues to charge very little money for water, and so people
use it accordingly. Increase the cost of water, people stop using it as much.
Increase it enough, and people will decide they no longer need emerald green
lawns, and, hell, maybe they will have make big sacrifices and put a nozzle on
their hose when watering their car.

I've never understood why the California water boards don't just using pricing
as a mechanism to moderate people's water use.

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jfmiller28
Water in SoCal _is_ very expensive. The problem is that by the time you make
it expensive enough for the country club set to need to conserve, the rest of
us can't afford to flush the toilet. There are solutions, but billionaires
with green lawns while low-income workers are loosing service just doesn't
work.

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burkaman
Couldn't they simply charge a normal rate for the first 50 or so gallons, and
then a "drought rate" for anything beyond that?

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henrikschroder
I read the comments. Don't read the comments.

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facepalm
Wow, the comments are epic. How did people ever get so confused? I'm surprised
nobody has mentioned extraterrestrial visits as a possible cause for the
drought yet.

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gowan
There are plans to build a desalination plant in the Bay Area [1]. This and
other plants in CA could help water supply in populated areas.

The water districts in CA have two problems: 1\. They are not connected well
so water cannot easily be transfered from one district to another. 2\. The
reservoirs cannot sustain an extended drought.

[1] [https://portal.ebmud.com/our-water/water-supply/long-term-
pl...](https://portal.ebmud.com/our-water/water-supply/long-term-planning/bay-
area-regional-desalination-project)

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tacawa
80 percent of California's water usage is agricultural. Agricultural water
allocations are based on a "use it or lose it" system.

That's the water districts' biggest problem.

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Tiksi
Slightly off topic, but I was hoping these were satellite images and not just
shaded maps. Also showing 180 individual images seems like an awful way to
present the data, maybe an animation or have a time slider?

Regardless, it's an interesting dataset, and I honestly didn't know that the
drought was so severe, having only heard it mentioned in passing.

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woah
[http://www.latimes.com/la-me-g-california-drought-map-gif-
ht...](http://www.latimes.com/la-me-g-california-drought-map-gif-
htmlstory.html)

~~~
Tiksi
Thank You! This definitely helped me visualize it. It's interesting that it
seemed to "move" locations over time. At the beginning the hardest hit area
was the north eastern part and towards the end it was (is I suppose) the
Southern part of the state. Does anyone know a particular reason for this? I'd
think that the driest parts would be mostly consistent, but my knowledge in
this area is non-existent.

Edit: Looking at the article again I see this link is at the bottom of the
text, not sure how I missed it the first time around.

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GorgeRonde
"The desert grows, and woe to him who conceals the desert within him."

Nietzsche

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thaumasiotes
I remember a "conserve water!" flyer that was set on the tabletops in the UCSC
dining hall. It helpfully pointed out that, since California was experiencing
a drought that year, we shouldn't be using so much water.

It _also_ gave the actual rainfall statistics for the current and past year
(approximated but basically accurate in my memory): that year, we'd received
20% of the average annual rainfall. The year before, 210%.

This basically convinced me that emoting about california droughts is just
something people do because it makes them feel good.

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skrebbel
I'm clearly not as smart as you. How do those numbers imply that the droughts
don't need worrying about?

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thaumasiotes
That sort of thing is the whole point of a reservoir. It doesn't make any
sense to complain that we desperately need to conserve water because we've
actually been getting more than we expected. A rainfall cycle longer than one
year doesn't make calendar years that happen to swing low into emergencies.

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Someone
It is if your average water consumption is based on an above-average rainfall,
just like winters are disasters if you do not collect extra wood in autumn.

But you are right; the US/California government should continuously call for
water conservation.

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dyoo1979
We are getting regular fliers in the mail saying to conserve water. The call
is being made. But consumers are often bad listeners when told not to consume.

