patrick.net

If you spent the 100 billion on desalination plants instead of those stupid high speed trains from SF to LA-how much of that water problem would remain?

lostand confused says

If you spent the 100 billion on desalination plants instead of those stupid high speed trains from SF to LA-how much of that water problem would remain?

Plenty of the drought problems would still remain. While desalination will work for urban users, it is not going to cut it for large scale agriculture.

Also, it isn't really an either/or. You can have sane policies about water and efficient transportation. OR I guess you can just vote for that dumb fucker trump, who just says, "it's done! I solved it!"

Sharingmyintelligencewiththedumbasses says

lostand confused says

If you spent the 100 billion on desalination plants instead of those stupid high speed trains from SF to LA-how much of that water problem would remain?

Plenty of the drought problems would still remain. While desalination will work for urban users, it is not going to cut it for large scale agriculture.

So what's the solution?

Anglo-Saxon Riprarian Water Rights like the 13 Original Colonies and the Founding Fathers, not Foreign Arabian-Spanish Laws, allowing people to own moving bodies of Water and even raindrops before they hit the Earth.

He's going to stop diverting water into the ocean to save a few minnows.

I used to think those big canal ditches that they had all of those cool car chances in when they were dry. Collected the flood water when it rained and did something useful with it, but apparently now.

So there's that Trump could decide hey! Why don't we "Store" the water. Why expect snow melt every year. We waste a lot of summer monsoon rain.

California's water is probably the most mismanaged resource in the world.

elliemae says

Ain't no drought in California! Drink all you want, fill your pools, plant lawns everywhere. Hell, turn your sprinklers on just cuz you fucking well can.

those things are not terribly significant in california. i think trump was talking about this stuff:

http://www.ppic.org/main/publication_show.asp?i=1108

Statewide, average water use is roughly 50% environmental, 40% agricultural, and 10% urban.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/416918/no-farmers-dont-use-80-percent-californias-water-devin-nunes

i'm not saying we shouldn't allocate 50% for environmental uses, only that trump is not just completely making shit up.

We can have a desalination system to solve our water shortages, but liberals are opposed to that. They rather spend money on their stupid pet train projects.

Ironman says

Strategist says

So what's the solution?

It doesn't matter.... did you see, house prices in CA are up!!

Just read OC median hit an all-time high of $649K.

Sharingmyintelligencewiththedumbasses says

Also, it isn't really an either/or. You can have sane policies about water and efficient transportation. OR I guess you can just vote for that dumb fucker trump, who just says, "it's done! I solved it!"

If it was more efficient transportation I doubt anyone would be complaining. LA badly needs light rail systems parallel to the 405 and 110 freways. But gtfo with that Central Valley train. Flying is cheaper so no ones taking that failure of a train. That's only about pandering and getting jobs for the predetermined companies that will win the bids to build the train and tracks.

Trumpligula thinks riparian is those damned feminist protesters again.

PCGyver says

California uses 38 billion gallons of water a day. The Carlsbad desalinization plant cost 1billion and produces 50 million gallons per day. So we could build 100 desalinization plants that would give us 5 billion gallons of water a day. So we could have desalinization for 13% of our water needs or a high speed rail. Opportunity costs.

There is no need for a high speed rail. even their advocates are saying it won't break even. The water on the other hand-there is need and when you bulld at scale and do it right-you can squeeze efficiency.

Now by itself, it may not make sense-but when you are throwing that money away at the train, might as well use it for something more useful.

PCGyver says

The Carlsbad desalinization plant cost 1billion and produces 50 million gallons per day.

What about operating costs? Desal is energy intensive: $$$.

Looking at the overall costs, a mix of some desal, a reconfiguration of the reservoir and aqueduct system, actual market pricing of agricultural water (which would boost efficiency markedly) probably results in a minimum cost for water.

High-speed rail (assuming the line finally runs all the way between LA and SF - hahahaha) saves energy which can be diverted from motor vehicle and airplane use and into desalination plants.

lostand confused says

even their advocates are saying it won't break even.

Neither cars nor airplanes break even, either.

rando says

i'm not saying we shouldn't allocate 50% for environmental uses, only that trump is not just completely making shit up.

He likes talking points. I get it, it's how he's so popular. But the environmental use, according to the attached article, are necessary to sustain wildlife and keep fish & wetlands from extinction.

I anticipate desal plants becoming substantially cheaper as technology changes. But it's crazy that the water used for urban use is what's on lockdown, when it's so much less than the other categories. And the water being sold to bottled water companies is just plain wrong. Sends the wrong message.

Trump is a dick. But a little one.

SUMMARY of TRENDS (key to understanding the logic why there in NO drought in California)

“precipitation” ~ DOWN
“groundwater (reserves)” ~ DOWN
“water use” ~ UP
“population” ~ UP
“infrastructure” ~ DOWN
“economy/wages (for majority)” ~ DOWN
“political bullshit” ~ UP

http://piggington.com/ucsd_econ_roundtable

don't know if its widely known, but due to ground water extraction (for farming) the land in the central valley is sinking (about 1 ft per year), so high speed track this gets laid in the area most likely will buckle in years ahead (and I'd guess if the train becomes operational train speeds will have to be slowed down)...

elliemae says

I anticipate desal plants becoming substantially cheaper as technology changes. But it's crazy that the water used for urban use is what's on lockdown, when it's so much less than the other categories. And the water being sold to bottled water companies is just plain wrong. Sends the wrong message.

current desal is costly because the filters are "thick" and require high pressure (and thus use HIGH amounts of energy)

if new single atom "thin" filters can be developed on a commercial scale, low pressure is all that will be needed and thus have LOW energy requirements)

http://phys.org/news/2016-03-revolutionary-graphene-filter-crisis.html

also FWIW saw a program science program that showed a solar desal setup that looked interesting if it could be scaled....

TechKnow: The New Dust Bowl - Full Episode

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/techknow/multimedia/2015/8/techknow-the-dust-bowl.html