[HN Gopher] Watermark: Along the California Aqueduct (2015) ___________________________________________________________________ Watermark: Along the California Aqueduct (2015) Author : samclemens Score : 18 points Date : 2021-06-25 23:18 UTC (2 days ago) (HTM) web link (placesjournal.org) (TXT) w3m dump (placesjournal.org) | slownews45 wrote: | The interesting thing is that despite claims of shortages | California water is essentially given away for free and there is | plenty of it. | | Setting a tax of 1 cent per gallon would likely solve water use | issues (you'd still have distribution likely to sort out). | | They actually grow alfalfa in the desert out here - imperial | valley has ET rates of something like 60 inches(!!!!). That's 60 | inches of water! | | Maybe 5 million acre feet of water just for alfalfa (yes - in | some cases exported to china). | | 8 trillion gallons of water for a crop that sells for $200 a ton. | Meanwhile places without the subsidies can't grow it even if | climate is better because they don't have this massive subsidy. | | Umm.... this only works because water is basically cheap / free - | growing rice and alfalfa are crazy in desert areas. | wnissen wrote: | Just a reminder that California has a ton of water. Plenty to | supply all the people and lawns and a bunch of agriculture. What | it doesn't have is enough to send a million tons of alfalfa | overseas at $200 a pop. Each ton uses more water than a household | does in a year. I bet you paid way more than $200 in water bills | last year. | | Yes, there are many locations that are actually short on water | for real. Some of them are in very bad shape, with depleted | reservoirs and aquifers and no prospect for access to more water | resources. But the vast majority of Californians are getting | their water from places where there would be surplus if the | consumption wasn't so heavily subsidized. Read Cadillac Desert, | it's a masterpiece and an eye opener. | oh_sigh wrote: | I feel like there needs to be some kind of reckoning when it | comes to water rights in CA. Like, say that water rights will | be rationalized 25 years from now. Maybe it can be done under | the guise of eminent domain. Give farmers who are getting | essentially taxpayer subsidized free water enough time to | prepare for it, and then 25 years from now create some kind of | market based system where water goes to 1) people, and 2) | whoever can use it most productively. Farmers can buy/sell | water futures if they need higher certainty in what they will | pay rather than a rate based on demand. | | It just doesn't make sense that the fact that a plot of land | which was occupied 300+ years ago is setting the precedent for | how we use water today. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-06-28 23:00 UTC)