momoese

.....or stop watering my bananas?

The Ten Biggest American Cities That Are Running Out Of Water - 24/7 Wall St.

1. Los Angeles, CA

Major Water Supply: Colorado River Basin
Population (U.S. rank): 3,831,868 (2nd)
Population Growth Rate: 3.7%
Average annual rainfall: 14.77 in.

In the 1980’s, Los Angeles suffered a major crisis when the city was forced to stop using 40% of its drinking water due to industrial runoff contamination. Like Las Vegas, the city now relies on importing water from the Colorado river via hundreds of miles of aqueducts. The Colorado may only be a temporary solution, however, as the fastest growing city in the country continues to increase its demand at an unsustainable rate. In its utility risk rating, CERES gave the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power the highest likelihood of risk among the cities it assessed. That list included Atlanta and the Ft. Worth Area. On top of this, The Hoover Dam, which is the main source of electricity for LA and much of the greater southwest, is also producing at a lower rate than it has historically. Some scientists suspect this drop-off will continue to a point where its electricity production is too small to sustain the dam economically. Los Angeles, even if the dam doesn’t cease production in 2013, as some predict, it still faces serious water shortages.

rick2001

Definitely stop showering...... the other option should not be taken even in consideration....

Joking apart it's really a big problem...
I don't know if could be a solution for a city so big like L.A. but in Canaries I saw huge desalination units taking water from ocean .... I know for sure that those units can be integrated with photovoltaic panels to avoid using petrol.
Even if it cannot solve the entire city's demand for water it could ease a little the situation.... in my opinion.

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sunfish

Install a Cistern or Rain Barrel | www.treepeople.org


http://www.psfk.com/2009/07/los-ange...n-barrels.html

Jack Daw

Told ya. Rapid depopulation of your area would do the trick. Your city is too big to be a water sustainable desert city.
This has been a problem for years in California now. The real trouble comes, when even more of the water is taken from desalination plants. LA will be the most expensive city to live in on this planet.

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momoese

Wish I would have known...

LA RAIN HARVESTING PROGRAM

momoese

Or we could just shut down Vegas, that would do the trick! We just need to figure out where to ship them all too.

Richard

Most of the surveys of water usage for metropolitan areas of southern California come up with around 60% going to watering lawns. A luxurious shower takes about 75 gallons of water, but 15 lawn sprinkler heads output 75 gallons in one minute. My entire 1/2 acre nursery uses less water than the house across the street on 1/9 acre that is primarily lawn, front and back yard.

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Bananaman88

A friend sent me this article and it's pretty sobering. I'm in Houston, which is #2 on the list. This will likely be the major issue facing us in our lifetime, in my opinion. Lawns certainly do take an inordinate amount of water. Cities really need to look into creating ordinances that require more of the lawn to be converted to nativing plantings that can take the local conditions. I think if only about 20% of the area around our homes were allowed to be turf we'd be doing a lot better. All irrigations systmes should be required to have rain sensors and violators should be fined!

sunfish

Rain sensor's would work.Most if not all irrigation controller's have a rain off switch. It's very easy, if it's rained recently or rains coming just flip the switch.When you need to water again flip the switch on and it will continue with your watering program.Many people don't even reprogram there controllers for the rainy season. I see sprinklers on all the time when it's raining.

Patty in Wisc

We don't have a water shortage here, but I only used my garden hose once or twice this year to water plants. I got rid of my grass about 4 yrs ago - all mulch & stones. I use my 55 gal rain barrel... fill 5 gal buckets & water plants from that. It's more work but water bill is lower.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

Jack Daw

That's an even more ridiculous city.

Russians have it in Siberia and no problems with that. Give them cold and insufficient light and they won't bother.

Water is also one of the reasons (or maybe the only reason), why I had to discontinue thinking about Australia as a possible future home. And that's when I read pretty much about California too, because (due to the conditions) it is very similar (say Perth and southern Cali).
I too want to see how you (and Australians, Indians, Arabs...) want to deal with this issue. It will be instrumental in the survival of many nations.
Links:
South Australia's water shortage: In need of a miracle | The Economist
Australia Turns to Desalination Amid Water Shortage : NPR
Report: water shortage endangers Australia's cities

I believe that Australia or India will find a way, they are wat beyond the point of return... If you're interested, some great info here:
Great Artesian Basin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So don't worry about Cali, it's still not that bad.

Just as rapid desertification caused by man in the Mideastern USA can give answers how to turn deserts back to sustainable habitats. That's what's beeing studied in Africa (and quite succesfully I might add).
This could help in creating a much wider and stronger habitat capable of holding significantly much water... and thus creating a more sustainable place to live in (practised and proved to work in Kenya and Zimbabwe for example - by methods very similar to those practised in India for millenia, without them even knowing them).
To keep it academical and not just talking: Living on Earth: Reversing Desertification

Please, do keep this thread alive as years go on and when you find something new, it could be interesting to watch the progress. But I guess that not much will be done, until LA faces serious shortages and droughts.

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Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

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rick2001

I have a 600Lt rain tank that I use to water all my nanas and plants.... i wish I have more space for a bigger tank, 'cause during summer it lasts only ten days if nor refilled by rain in the meanwhile, but It's the biggest I can afford actually.....
If everyone would buy a big rain tank (the one you can bury underground) it would make the difference in water usage.....

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Jack Daw

Yeah, but it doesn't rain there for weeks at a time, not days. Yay or nay?

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Richard

I disagree with the part about native plantings. You can replace a 400 sq.ft. lawn that uses 500 gallons of water 3 to 5 times per week with an amazing 400 sq.ft. herb garden that uses 75 gallons of water once per week. The point is, that in many parts of the country a lawn is really stupid compared to ordinary plants with an appropriate watering system and a generous layer of mulch.

The rain-off switch is great. The rain sensors do not work properly in semi-arid areas, but can be effective in the Pacific northwest, etc.

I have 25 irrigation controllers, a few hundred control valves, hundreds of plants in the ground, a few thousand in 5-gallon pots, and hundreds more in 4-inch, 8-inch, and 2-gallon pots. All of this uses less water on a weekly basis than my neighbors 2 lawns totaling 1200 sq.ft.

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momoese

Nobody has touched on this minor problem.

Question, why are we not hearing about this from our "politicians"? All this blitzkrieg of campaigning and never once did I hear anything about this. This article is saying that there is a good chance we won't have hydro electricity in 2013. HELLO

rick2001

Yeah...especially in July/August it may rain once a month... that's why I wish I have more space for a bigger tank....
An underground 5000Lt tank would ensure all the water I need all year long...

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rick2001

US shoud invest more in renewable energies as it's been doing Europe, especially in some countries (Germany, Italy and Spain for Photovoltaics and UK ,Denmark and others for aeolic).
When i speak about P.V. do not imagine hyper mega big solar plants.... I'm thinking about small roof plants ....
For example I have a 5Kw P.V. plant on my roof that produces 6500 kw per year and i use max 4000 Kw having converted everything , incuded heating to electricity, so I have still more than 2000 Kw that I put in grid for others to use....
If every house would be fitted with one small plant there would be less demand for oil or other fossils based fuels to run conventional plants. It would only be needed only to keep up the grid and supply energy at night (when usually big industries are not open).

That's my plant:
Water Addiction - Focene

and that's my solar plant to heat water:
Water Addiction - Focene

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Jack Daw

That's not sustainable, Rick, it's even doing more damage that you would think. Overall energy prices are calculated from the total sum of the production, whereas in Europe it is extremely expensive to create wind, solar or bio energy (you actually can't see it, because ENEl projects these prices to the foreign countries, in which he owns assets. ). It is also a very insufficient form of energy (to sustain, say, desalination plants). However, generally I agree that Europe is in energoindustry much further than USA, but only thanks to Russian contribution (or assembly) of ITER which is still not finished only because the Russians earn a lot from sellin' oil and gas.

Regarding the water future of Europe, it will not be a problem. Certainly not in the Northern Italy, Central and Eastern Europe + Siberia has one of the largest underground water reservoirs, so I guess that will be an import commodity too one day.

It is questionable, what will happen in the future though and what populations can be supported on the individual continents (it says 2 billion people tops in Europe).
Whatever happens, it won't affect Europe that much. Not more, than it does now.
But it looks bleak with some densly populated areas.

Regarding your house and energy, yes, Rick, but consider it from this point of view: you live in one of the most favorable climates in the summer and winter, you don't need to warm up the house in the winter and you see the sun in winter more often, than most of the people.
Vast majority of Europeans however live beyond a threshold of optimal efficiency. Neither sun, nor wind energy is practical here. It just doesn't blow/shine here that much (if you read about Seattle or other cities with this problem, you'll see that your solution applies only and majorly to at least partial desert climates)

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Richard

The hydro-electric system that provides part of the power to the Los Angeles area is more complex than it appears. In the day time when demand for electricity is high, the water is flowing through the generators from the upper lakes to the 2 lower "holding" lakes. In the night-time when power demand is low, electric power being generated elsewhere on the grid from fossil-fuel and nuclear sources is used to pump the water back to the upper lakes for use the following day.

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