[HN Gopher] Watermark: Along the California Aqueduct (2015)
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       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.
        
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       (page generated 2021-06-28 23:00 UTC)