Water Troubles

[humblescribe]

At some point we will honestly call this thread, The Water Wars because they are coming.

They have simmered in California for some time.

The Water War That Polarized 1920s California

Thank you for the reference! I have read a lot about the devious City of Los Angeles and how it surreptitiously bought up all that real estate from north of Bishop to south of Lone Pine for the water rights. There are at least eight tiny creeks that are tributaries of the Owens River flowing east out of the Sierra.

LADWP also bought up real estate in Mono County and started taking water from tributaries of Mono Lake in the 50s, I think. As Mono Lake started to shrivel, a long court battle ensued with the "Save Mono Lake" Committee eventually prevailing due to an obscure law from the early 20th Century that essentially said that once a stream has water flowing in it for fish, then the water must be of sufficient quantity to sustain the fish population.

LADWP was also sued because Owens Lake dried up. They lost that suit too. But they have yet to fulfill the obligations of that suit.

The former camp that housed the Japanese during WWII in the Owens Valley is named Manzanar. Manzanar is Spanish for apple orchard. The Owens Valley used to be an agricultural oasis until the evil DWP came along.

[much ado]

If you have not seen the PBS four part mini-series Cadillac Desert (1997), you must watch it. I watched years ago, but I have never forgotten this woman's story. This link starts with her story at 39:18 into the first episode, Cadillac Desert - Part 1: Mulholland's Dream.

[pipistrelle]

Not seeing any changes. Thought there might be something by now.

This week:

Last week:

[humblescribe]

I can say that we received 1.22" of rain on Tuesday. We received another sixth of an inch last night into today. A new story has revealed that Shasta (federal) and Oroville (California) reservoirs are filling nicely.

We are slated to be receiving rain continually for the next fortnight. Some days are forecast to be 70% chance upwards while other days hover around 40%. And, in California, the further north the greater likelihood of more and longer periods of precipitation.

I'd hold off on drawing conclusions from these maps until the second week of January. The monthly snow report from the Sierra will be completed over the weekend to see the water content of the snowpack across the range. That data may change this map if it exceeds expectations.

The one thing I will add is that whenever we get a lot of winter precipitation the people scream for dams and more dams. They don't want that water going into the Pacific. Their belief is that if we build four or five more dams and impound water in wetter years that this will tide us over in the drier years. Highway 99 will be plastered with signs condemning Newsom and the Democrats for squandering all this water.

Simple is as simple does.

[sugar magnolia]

All Jackson Public Schools to resume classes virtually due to ongoing water crisis
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - All Jackson Public Schools will resume classes virtually due to the city’s ongoing water crisis.

According to the Jackson Public School District, 33 schools are reporting low or no water pressure. Because of this, the district says JPS will shift to virtual learning on Thursday, January 5, and Friday, January 6.

The district says computer device pick-up is scheduled for January 4 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at each school site.

Breakfast and lunch will be available for pick-up at each school site from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

“The loss of water pressure in our school communities has had an enormous impact on us all,” the district said in a press release. “Please know that this decision was made after careful consideration of many factors, including the possibility of more schools losing pressure while scholars and staff are present and the challenge of maintaining a safe and clean environment.”

There has not been a date on when scholars will return to in-person learning. The district says it will continue to monitor updates from the City of Jackson to determine when it is safe to reopen.

According to a press release, JPS will provide daily updates to families at 4:00 p.m. “Thank you for your continued patience and understanding during these difficult times,” the district said.

We've been under a boil water notice since Christmas Eve. At least those who have water. Most of us have trickles from the faucet still. It's sad to see the big "potable water" tankers parked all over town and lines not only around the block, but around many blocks, waiting to fill up their containers. Multiple restaurants that made it through the covid shutdowns are now closing. At least 5 in the last week. Businesses are moving out of the City limits in droves. We are the Capitol of MS and have 175,000 residents. But we're also 85% African American so who gives a shit if we have running water? Biden appropriated $600 million for our water system and that probably won't be enough once all the locals stuff their pockets first.

I just want to be able to take a shower in less than 30 minutes and make a pot of coffee without boiling the water first.

[AndyinPA]

That sounds horrible and must be infuriating beyond words.

[sugar magnolia]

That sounds horrible and must be infuriating beyond words.

It is. Fortunately, they list all the water pick-up locations in the paper every morning.

Third world countries have nothing on us.

[humblescribe]

That sounds horrible and must be infuriating beyond words.

It is. Fortunately, they list all the water pick-up locations in the paper every morning.

Third world countries have nothing on us.

You. . . have a paper every morning? O! for a morning paper that was more than twelve pages and did not run $150 for three months after the introductory offer of $2.99/month for six months. A paper that goes to bed around 6:00 PM and is printed 180 miles away.

[sugar magnolia]

That sounds horrible and must be infuriating beyond words.

It is. Fortunately, they list all the water pick-up locations in the paper every morning.

Third world countries have nothing on us.

You. . . have a paper every morning? O! for a morning paper that was more than twelve pages and did not run $150 for three months after the introductory offer of $2.99/month for six months. A paper that goes to bed around 6:00 PM and is printed 180 miles away.

Actually, the on-line headlines section of our local "paper" is what I check. I haven't actually read that piece of trash in years.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

So, yesterday I went to our main water plant to conduct a walkdown and Basis of Design workshop for a change to our ammonia system (we have an opportunity to get several million dollars in funding from the state if we can get this and several projects designed and approved in a very short timeframe, so the plant specifically asked for me to be assigned to the project). As I parked, I saw a bunch of people walking out of the building, primarily people that I knew would be in the meeting. I assumed they were starting the walkdown, but they didn't turn, and when I opened my door I heard the dulcet tones of the fire alarm. I looked up to see white clouds billowing out of the 6th floor dry chemical mechanical bay.



Turns out the soda ash system (we use lime and soda ash powder to soften our water) had a major blowout, releasing enough particulates to trigger the fire alarm several floors down. Good thing I'm an engineer - I don't have to clean up that mess.

[Volkonski]

ABC News :verified:
@abc@news.twtr.plus
A Native American tribe that has one of the largest and most secure rights to Colorado River water now has approval to lease some of it in Arizona, a state that’s been hardest hit by cuts to its water supply. https://abcn.ws/3VZJlNe

[AndyinPA]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate- ... drying-up/

Without dramatic cuts to water consumption, Utah’s Great Salt Lake is on track to disappear within five years, a dire new report warns, imperiling ecosystems and exposing millions of people to toxic dust from the drying lake bed.
10 steps you can take to lower your carbon footprint

The report, led by researchers at Brigham Young University and published this week, found that unsustainable water use has shrank the lake to just 37 percent of its former volume. The West’s ongoing megadrought — a crisis made worse by climate change — has accelerated its decline to rates far faster than scientists had predicted.

But current conservation measures are critically insufficient to replace the roughly 40 billion gallons of water the lake has lost annually since 2020, the scientists said.

[humblescribe]

"has shrank the lake?

That conjugation is cringeworthy. Shame on the proofreaders at the Washington Post. I would have caught that in ninth grade journalism.

[pipistrelle]

"has shrank the lake?

That conjugation is cringeworthy. Shame on the proofreaders at the Washington Post. I would have caught that in ninth grade journalism.

Do newspapers employ proofreaders?

[Foggy]

Shrank is past tense. Shrunk is past participle.

So it was a definite error. It should have just been "unsustainable water use shrank the lake," or as a past participle, "unsustainable water use has shrunk the lake".

[humblescribe]

But it will all be moot once the Salt Lake Cityzens get the funding to pipe seawater from the briny Pacific across 850 miles or so of mountains and desert.

[Foggy]

I heard the Arctic has way more water than it needs, due to warming or sumpin'. Just build a pipeline, like oil people do.

[AndyinPA]

This is how Utah is handling its water crisis.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... er-crisis/

St. George and surrounding Washington County, two hours northeast of Las Vegas in Utah’s hottest and driest corner, was once known mostly as the gateway to Zion National Park. Now its stunning landscape is drawing droves of retirees and remote workers from northern Utah and beyond. The county’s population of about 180,000 is expected to more than double by 2050 — even though its single water source, the Virgin River basin, is dwindling as the West remains locked in the worst drought in 1,200 years.

A plan to pipe water from the drying Colorado River remains far off amid objections from other states. The county, which state officials say has a decade before demand outstrips supply, has adopted new water restrictions. It is also building reservoirs and considering reusing wastewater. But as the future grows more tenuous, the county’s primary water provider is now seeking state permission to drill wells far beneath rural reaches, sparking protest from small towns and landowners who fear the region’s breakneck growth will imperil their shallower groundwater.

“This seems to be some level of insanity to me that you continue to allow unabated growth at the same time you’re dealing with this unprecedented drought,” said Don Fawson, president of the Leeds Domestic Water Users Association, which provides drinking water to about 430 households in town. “Rather than trying to find all these sources of water, we ought to be controlling the growth.”

I saw some kind of documentary on this last year, and to say they are sticking their heads in the sand is putting it really mildly.

[humblescribe]

The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River that flows into Lake Mead. This is just one more reason the water in the Colorado/Lake Mead is dwindling at record pace.

In addition, there is a compact among the seven Western States that benefit from the Colorado. The compact from 1922(!) is divided into the Upper Basin (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico) and the Lower Basin (Nevada, Arizona, and California). Plus we cannot ignore the agreement with Mexico which is at the mouth of the river that flows into the Sea of Cortez (or Gulf of California.)

There is an allocation formula for tapping into the watershed of the Colorado. Historically there had not been too much of a problem with the allocation. (The Upper Basin states get so much, and the Lower Basin states get so much.) Of late the evil gubbiment has been amending the allocation as supply plummets. I think the most recent amendment was in 2019. When the compact was signed, this allocation was 16.4 million ac-ft. This was contrary to subsequent tree-ring analysis that estimated that the long-term average flow of this river varied between 14.3 to 13.2 million ac-ft. The compact allocation was based upon historical data over the 12-year period prior to the creation of the agreement. This time frame turned out to be much higher in annual precipitation than a longer frame of many decades.

The source of the Virgin River is in Utah (Upper Basin) but the confluence with the Colorado in Lake Mead is in Nevada (Lower Basin.) Whether this is problematic, I do not know.

Our good patriotic citizens from Bunkerville, Nevada, have their world-renowned cattle and cantaloupe ranch on the banks of the Virgin River.

[pipistrelle]

Southern California looking better, although not sure it's a good thing how. Midwest/Plains and Southeast not improving. The one area that looks to be in fairly good shape is the Appalachians.

[humblescribe]

We're getting another barrage of storms starting Friday afternoon and extending into Sunday. Then there is another 50% possibility for Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

[humblescribe]

Here is the latest information on our reservoirs from around the state:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topst ... 613b71b1d5

Encouraging, but not definitive as yet. It will be interesting to see how the levels rise after this next series of storms. It will be more encouraging after the snow pack measurements on Feb the one.

[pipistrelle]

Arizona city cuts off a neighborhood’s water supply amid drought

Some living here amid the cactus and creosote bushes see themselves as the first domino to fall as the Colorado River tips further into crisis. On Jan. 1, the city of Scottsdale, which gets the majority of its water from the Colorado River, cut off Rio Verde Foothills from the municipal water supply that it has relied on for decades. The result is a disorienting and frightening lack of certainty about how residents will find enough water as their tanks run down in coming weeks, with a bitter political feud impacting possible solutions.

Gift link: https://wapo.st/3XAKSKF

[raison de arizona]

Arizona city cuts off a neighborhood’s water supply amid drought

Some living here amid the cactus and creosote bushes see themselves as the first domino to fall as the Colorado River tips further into crisis. On Jan. 1, the city of Scottsdale, which gets the majority of its water from the Colorado River, cut off Rio Verde Foothills from the municipal water supply that it has relied on for decades. The result is a disorienting and frightening lack of certainty about how residents will find enough water as their tanks run down in coming weeks, with a bitter political feud impacting possible solutions.

Gift link: https://wapo.st/3XAKSKF

The water district plan — which supporters say would give them long-term access to a reliable source of water — was rejected in August by the Maricopa County supervisors. The supervisor for the area, Thomas Galvin, said he opposed adding a new layer of government to a community that prizes its freedom, particularly one run by neighbors with the authority to condemn property to build infrastructure.

Bunch of yahoos who want the benefits of civilization without the obligations of civilization.

[pipistrelle]