Next Big problem For the U.S. Economy
Longest drought in recorded history for the Area they say! California produces a lot of crops. Maybe drip irrigation is the solution. https://www.resources.org/archives/economic-impacts-drought-us-agriculture/
serf
While drought isn’t new to the West, where millions of people live, grow crops and raise livestock in desert conditions that require massive amounts of water, global warming is exacerbating the problem -- shrinking snowpack in the Rocky Mountains and extending the fire season on the West Coast. That means ranching and farming may become costlier and less sustainable, with some operations forced to move to wetter regions. Western cities will face tighter water-use restrictions, rekindling political battles over increasingly scarce resources. And the threat of catastrophic fires will increase, with big areas of West Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma at risk. It could be especially brutal in California, which is set to endure another potentially hellish year of blazes that force evacuations, destroy homes and end lives.
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Drip irrigation will work instead of rainfall, but that water has to come from somewhere. The alluvial plain west of the Sierras that forms the rich farm belt from Redding, through Sacramento, and down towards Fresno has shown a significant decrease in the water table through the last decade.
Maybe instead of stricter gun laws, the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia should concentrate on swimming pool control.
Cant believe for the likes of me there can be a bigger problem for the US economy than current POTUS and his DEMOCRAT congress.
i have all ya want 3.00 a gal
Agree with chief 100%
Do without water for a while or pay the new high price for produce,nuts,cattle crops coming out of The Southwest and it may sink in better for you.Old slow Joe Biden is here stay and Unless Trump can show fraud in a court of law then what else can be done?Already had a riot in January? Republican Pence as vice president verified the votes. Blame him.
The Day zero may be coming like in South Africa.
serf
https://grist.org/agriculture/u-s-southwest-already-parched-sees-virtual-water-drain-abroad/
For decades, a significant portion of alfalfa grown here and elsewhere in the western United States — as much as 17 percent in 2017 — has been loaded onto trucks, driven hundreds of miles to ports on the west coast, and shipped around the world, mainly to China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. A little over five years ago, one company decided it made more sense to own the land, and the water that came with it, outright.
The company, a Saudi Arabian dairy firm called Almarai, purchased 1,790 acres in the Palo Verde Valley to secure a supply of alfalfa for its dairy cows. Soon after, Saudi Arabia began phasing out domestic alfalfa production to preserve its water supplies, which were dwindling after years of overuse for agriculture. The purchase made headlines as critics including local politicians and environmentalists questioned whether it was fair for a foreign entity to use up valuable groundwater resources for products that wouldn’t ultimately benefit Americans.
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https://time.com/cape-town-south-africa-water-crisis/
I’m sure I can handle 6.6 gallons of water a day. I’m already down to two showers a week, and my daughter would go down to once a month if I let her. I’ve sacrificed a corner of my terrace to make way for my back-ordered water tanks. Once they arrive, I will start praying for rain and interspersing my bucket baths with baby-wipe top-ups. I’ll be cooking my meals on the grill and eating with my fingers. The toilets? Until now, I’ve been using my shower water to flush. But once the taps run dry, we won’t even have that. So I reopen my Internet browser and again type dry composting toilets. With any luck, they won’t have sold out.