Will California run out of water? (San Francisco: landscaping, codes, statistics)

[LakersWon310]

With the California drought still ongoing and with many articles talking about water shortage of the Colorado River, do you think California will run out of water soon? If yes, please discuss the outcome of a California without water. Please discuss your thoughts on this serious yet forgotten issue.

I personally think California will have no more water by 2025 (the way things are going). This may force millions to leave CA. Also, if there is no more water, it will only increase wildfires, unfortunately.

[V8 Vega]

They don't save any water when it rains, stupid. Going to run out of electricity too.

[Hemlock140]

They can solve the problem by taking two steps:

1. Eliminate water to the Almond growers (resulting in many illegals out of work, and some companies going out of business)
2. Ban the use of water on lawns

Almonds use 1 to 3 gallons per one almond plus shell and hull.

Lawn watering is 5% of water use in the state, and outside landscaping is 50% of all residential water use in the state.

If that doesn't help enough, they could ban watering of golf courses except if using reclaimed water.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

They can solve the problem by taking two steps:

1. Eliminate water to the Almond growers (resulting in many illegals out of work, and some companies going out of business)
2. Ban the use of water on lawns

Almonds use 1 to 3 gallons per one almond plus shell and hull.

Lawn watering is 5% of water use in the state, and outside landscaping is 50% of all residential water use in the state.

If that doesn't help enough, they could ban watering of golf courses except if using reclaimed water.

Many golf courses have already switched to recycled water. I don't know if there are any statistics on how many or percentage of golf courses that have done so statewide.

[wac_432]

Norcal/Centcal - No.

Socal:

Coasts:
Agriculture - Probably not. Some crops might not be worth planting during drought years.
Housing - No.

Inland:
Agriculture - Probably not but crop reduction might happen in parts of the SJ valley at times.
Housing - Some small depressed towns might disappear. Major cities won't.

Our coastal town is adequately supplied with potable water, even with the population growing and us being in pretty severe drought. Water rates are elevated, but not all that high. With the present rates, the city has enough money to build a new desalination/reclamation plant to ensure drinking water supply into the future, no matter the weather conditions. If it just never rained ever again, only a moderate rate increase would be necessary to expand the plant to meet all our water needs.

What is actually going to happen is that there will be an El Nino year (or three) and everyone is going to be talking about floods, mudslides and then fires again (due to fuel growth in rainy years), in SoCal.

I actually prefer the drought. Everything is nice and stable when it doesn't rain much. I'd rather pay extra for desal ocean water than have to worry about fires and mudslides. Also the roads fall apart in the rain.

[Californiaguy2007]

1) California is next to the Pacific Ocean.

2) California has the $$$$$.

3) California is very important economically.

4) California is a major agricultural region.

So No,California will find a way around this

[MechAndy]

I agree with Hemlock and will add,

All the new buildings for at least the last 10 or so years in San Francisco have grey water systems.
These grey water pipes are painted purple and terminate at the street.

One day in the future there will be a large grey water project that harnesses all these dead ended pipes.

I imagine that other areas have these same codes.
These codes will really make more of a difference in hot areas like Las Vegas and several other desert communities.

One day San Francisco will turn on its grey water system.
One day we will not support the crazy overseas almond industry.
One day we will…….

[davdaven]

California droughts are cyclical. Nothing you can't pick up on by picking up an old Steinbeck novel. Cut down on almond farming and everything will be fine. Still a bit concerned about the water table sinking in the Central Valley, though. Will be a competition to see if Lake Mead dries up first.

[Axxlrod]

Commercial/industrial use accounts for 80% of all water used in CA. That means that all residential use, including watering lawns, only accounts for 20%.

Forcing cuts to residential use is focusing on the wrong end of the equation.

Stopping people from watering their lawns won't do anything in the grand scheme of things.

Forcing residential customers to cut back water use just ends up with the water companies raising their rates.

To really cut water use, eliminate the watering/growing of alfalfa, almonds and pistachios. And the majority of those crops are exported to other countries.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by davdaven

California droughts are cyclical. Nothing you can't pick up on by picking up an old Steinbeck novel.

Not this one.

Study finds Western megadrought is the worst in 1,200 years: https://www.npr.org/2022/02/14/10803...in-1-200-years

And in The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads were leaving Oklahoma to come to California.