Comments on: Gravity Satellites Show a Huge Groundwater Loss in California

By: Dorian

Dorian — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:46:08 +0000

They’re not detecting water loss from aquifers, they’re detecting Californians migrating to Washington.

GO BACK TO CALIFORNIA, WE DON’T WANT YOU.

By: john raguso

john raguso — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:24:50 +0000

I guess we’ll have to wait until there is a water shortage disaster— people starting to die in the streets— before something begins to be done.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:30:27 +0000

Come on people…don’t dump all your hate on LA. Places like Atlanta are just as bad if not worse, and they were really hurting in their recent drought. Also, cities like San Antonio are suing places like Austin, trying to get to their water supplies, currently Austin’s reservoirs are very low. There are endless suburbs in those areas too with huge, wasteful green lawns. Don’t forget the pools in Phoenix or Vegas…

Things are changing in LA…more and more lawns are being landscaped with succulents native pants and rock gardens as well as giving up grass space. In fact, so much water use has decreased that old water pipes all over the city are bursting because they can’t handle the pressure.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:44:43 +0000

Marguerite is absolutely correct. There are a lot more rivers than those she named but none of them is the Colorado. The water supplies in the San Joaquin Valley (and the foothills, where I live) come from rivers sourced by snow melt. Not all of the water loss comes from usage in the Valley, either. The California Aqueduct funnels a lot of it to LA.

By: critters

critters — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:43:23 +0000

Something you all seem to be missing or forgetting is that ALL of California have suffered serious droughts in recent years. It is not just rain that falls in the valleys that provides groundwater. Summer melt from the snow in the mountains is the main contributor to water for the valleys. Currently, the snowpack is above average for water content in the Sierras, however, it is not even close to replenishing California’s water supply. We need several years of better than average snowfall to recover.

We must adapt to the changing climate. Unfortunately, the problem is not as simple to solve as raising the price of a hamburger or reducing the number of rice fields. Waste of water is widespread and the solution comes down to each individual being responsible for wise usage of this precious resource.

I’ve seen horrible wastage of water in the cities of CA. Lawns of businesses and homes are green and watered to the point of being sloppy-wet even in the late summer and early fall when water levels are the lowest. Despite decades of metering water, too many people still insist on washing their cars every weekend and not using low flow shower heads and think that all they have to worry about is a higher water bill at the end of the month.

Those of us on California farms and ranches that have to pull our water from wells (and even rivers and canals) let our lawns go dry, take sponge baths instead of showers, and if it’s yellow, let it mellow EVERY summer so that we have enough water to drink, and to be able to water the livestock for your hamburgers, grow the hay to feed those hamburgers (and your horses), and grow the grain that you eat in your bowl of healthy, organic cereal every morning. Our vehicles get washed in the winter rains and snows. For us, it’s not a matter of a higher water bill at the end of the month, it’s a matter of having any water at all when we turn on the faucet. And yes, there are still those farms and ranches that waste water. But we ALL have to be responsible for our water usage.

By: Marguerite Capp

Marguerite Capp — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:10:58 +0000

Since when does Colorado River water end up in the Central Valley? The Colorado River is used in Las Vegas and Los Angeles!!!! The farmers in the Central Valley get their water from the Sacramento River, the San Joaquin River, and the Tulare Lake when it overflows. If you want to give someone a bad time, give those folks in Vegas and LA a bad time about their swimming pools! And if you want to eat fruit and veges in the future, then you’d better support those farmers instead of the urbanites. Building huge houses in areas which go completely dry for 8 to 10 months out of the year is a really stupid idea.

By: frank

frank — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:01:40 +0000

Seems like we always take a scientific fact and try to make a political point of view known. Scientists try to do things to correct problems and to make the existence of man on this planet better. Maybe we need to recognize that as the earth changes we must change to accomodate it or we will ruin it.

By: draftedin68

draftedin68 — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:34:18 +0000

Rice, rice, rice!

I live in a part of California that is literally afloat in rice fields.

The acreage now used for rice was greatly increased a few years ago due to repeated droughts in S.E. Asia.

The sad facts are that even though rice is a HUGE water waster, most all of the rice is exported, the rice is federally price-supported and the water is subsidized.

Two years ago, our naturally soft water (from wells) began to reek.

I know – just a coincidence.

By: wcfloyd

wcfloyd — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:39:05 +0000

Oh No!!! California now has a gravity shortage! Wait til National Enquirer, Sac Bee & Mercury get hold of this!

By: Eliza Strickland

Eliza Strickland — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:16:56 +0000

Torres:

Yep, there were a couple of typos in that sentence. Thanks for catching them — I’ll fix them now.