It hasn't rained much in the last couple weeks and it's getting warmer, so I just turned on my lawn sprinkers. Three days a week. which is what I'd be doing if the reservoirs were full. My 2yr old daughter takes a bath 3 days a week now. just like she always has. In fact, the only change to my water habits has been that I do a lot more laundry now that I have a second daughter who spits up all over her clothes and whoever's-holding-her's clothes every hour or two.
I'm not really sure what to make of it. Water is still inexpensive. Everyone in my neighborhood has a green lawn, so I'm going to water mine. I turn on the faucet and water comes out.
What should we be doing?
Agriculture uses something like 80% of California's water. Do we tell the farmers, "Sorry, you can't work."? That seems foolish. Food prices go up for the whole country while CA's unemployed population goes up? No thanks.
They're talking about desalinization plants for CA. One of the most energy intensive ways to find fresh water will increase carbon emissions and possibly contribute to the climate change that's causing less rainfall in CA in the first place. That sounds foolish. Taking shorter showers has little downside, but I don't think it has realistic upside, either. When rainfall is half what is needed, saving a half a percent on showers doesn't seem like it's going to cut it.
We can all let our lawns die off. I'm not really opposed to that solution, but that's going to require something from the state lawmakers. It's not realistic to hope that I'm going to allow my lawn to die off when all my neighbors have green lawns.
What happens if we don't?
It seems unthinkable that I'd turn on my faucet and no water would come out. and yet it seems unthinkable that we can continue to use more water than we have and still have water left. What happens and when if we don't change our usage habits?
It seems like now is the right time to change. I remember last year shaking my head about the November headlines saying that California was now in an exceptional drought. as if we didn't know that was going to happen when the rainy season ended in April. Well, now another disappointing rain season is ending. It's time to do something now because we know that the reservoirs and snow pack aren't going to get charged for 7 more months. We don't know if next winter will be another disappointment or if next winter will be an El Nino year, but we do know how much water we have to work with through November. Let's not act surprised that it doesn't rain in the California summer.
I'm not really sure what to make of it. Water is still inexpensive. Everyone in my neighborhood has a green lawn, so I'm going to water mine. I turn on the faucet and water comes out.
What should we be doing?
Agriculture uses something like 80% of California's water. Do we tell the farmers, "Sorry, you can't work."? That seems foolish. Food prices go up for the whole country while CA's unemployed population goes up? No thanks.
They're talking about desalinization plants for CA. One of the most energy intensive ways to find fresh water will increase carbon emissions and possibly contribute to the climate change that's causing less rainfall in CA in the first place. That sounds foolish. Taking shorter showers has little downside, but I don't think it has realistic upside, either. When rainfall is half what is needed, saving a half a percent on showers doesn't seem like it's going to cut it.
We can all let our lawns die off. I'm not really opposed to that solution, but that's going to require something from the state lawmakers. It's not realistic to hope that I'm going to allow my lawn to die off when all my neighbors have green lawns.
What happens if we don't?
It seems unthinkable that I'd turn on my faucet and no water would come out. and yet it seems unthinkable that we can continue to use more water than we have and still have water left. What happens and when if we don't change our usage habits?
It seems like now is the right time to change. I remember last year shaking my head about the November headlines saying that California was now in an exceptional drought. as if we didn't know that was going to happen when the rainy season ended in April. Well, now another disappointing rain season is ending. It's time to do something now because we know that the reservoirs and snow pack aren't going to get charged for 7 more months. We don't know if next winter will be another disappointment or if next winter will be an El Nino year, but we do know how much water we have to work with through November. Let's not act surprised that it doesn't rain in the California summer.