Unbelievable pictures of California's vanishing lakes (before and after).......
I have only included the first set, many more at the link.....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2731091/California-s-vanishing-lakes-Before-photos-reveal-shocking-shriveling-effect-state-s-devastating-drought-decades.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
(not to mention my job...)
oh this gives me an idea. 
We are overpopulated, it's not like rocket surgery!
If I did, they'd probably be grown by now, and the second home requires that I sell the first one soon, but both have no lawns, only a few plants or plants that require no water.
And the point I'm really trying to make is based on a life experience around water issues, going literally back to the sixties when the Peripheral Canal was first proposed.
California is a state with a long history of public projects that favored rich developers. We have been spoiled to death by having abundant energy and water.
Thankfully, progressive legislation has curbed our electrical energy use (we still suck in the transport sector) but not nearly enough has been done to cure water use.
Living a life with a smaller energy, carbon, and water-use footprint is a choice right now, but it probably needs to become a matter of regulation.
Nothing free and desalination plants will used energy, require infrastructure, and (worst of all to me) allow schemes by developers to turn nice quiet stretches of coastline, like Cambria, CA, into new sprawling subdivisions.
I name Cambria because they've had a water shortage and thus a virtual building moratorium for decades, and it remains a pretty place.
So, between requiring water conservation and supporting other measures, we can still grow our economy and population without new technologies to support our bad habits.
I hope you see what I mean.
http://www.saveourh2o.org/
PS, new rules in my email today give me some hope:
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has adopted a resolution requiring us to notify you of four prohibited water uses established by the State Water Resources Control Board in July 2014 in response to severe drought conditions:
1. Do not apply potable water to outdoor landscapes in a manner that causes runoff onto adjacent property, non-irrigated areas, private and public walkways, roadways, parking lots, or structures.
2. Do not wash a motor vehicle with potable water using a water hose, unless that hose is fitted with a shut-off nozzle or another attachment that stops water from flowing when the hose is not immediately in use.
3. Do not use potable water on any driveways and sidewalks.
4. Do not use potable water in a fountain or other decorative water feature, unless the water is part of a recirculating system.
The CPUC also authorized us to use various tools to enforce these restrictions, including flow-restricting devices and discontinuance of service. Local enforcement agencies may also impose fines of up to $500. We prefer to avoid using these enforcement tools if at all possible; however, we will be required to take action if a customer repeatedly violates these restrictions.
Please visit www.calwater.com/drought for updated information about the prohibited water uses, other unauthorized water uses, and mandatory outdoor irrigation restrictions in our Water Conservation and Rationing Plan (Rule 14.1 in our tariff). We also encourage you to take advantage of conservation programs available to Cal Water customers and listed on our web site.
Please do not reply to this e-mail. If you need assistance, please contact us at www.calwater.com/contact-us
i fail to see how adding a second residence in another part of the state as a vacation home, no matter how efficient, is the key to saving water for most Californians.
Last edited Mon Aug 25, 2014, 07:40 PM - Edit history (1)
We need to treat water with greater respect, we eventually will outlaw washing cars and watering lawns with purified treated drinking water.
If we learn to use less water we won't need desal plants, which require a lot of energy and are not without their environmental impacts.
http://www.epa.gov/watersense/our_water/water_use_today.html
http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=757
You do understand that, right? Two homes or twenty two, they don't use water without me and I use what I use, period.
Also, I don't plan to keep both, I plan to sell and move now that my parents are both gone, I know you remember that.
And, in any event, my water usage is low whether I'm at one home or the other.
One home is on waterfront and uses no domestic water for landscaping, we can pump from the river if we want lawns but I don't.
I collect rain water and grey water for my tomatoes and succulents, and otherwise use native species that require no special watering.
The other place will be my only home once I downsize my crap and sell this place.
Much nicer at the ocean. On Thursday morning I looked up from my laptop and out the window, a humpback whale!
And I'm not wealthy. Hard work and savings, working multiple jobs. That's not "wealthy", that's more like "thrifty".
As written in other replies in this thread, people need to use less water per capita and then we'll have plenty for all.
We are water gluttons, but then Americans are gluttons in so many ways, using well beyond a fair share of energy, creating far more waste and GHG emissions than other developed countries, and it's the same with water use.
Why can't we cut back?
except perhaps self-awareness.
so that the golf course in Hillsborough can be watered.
teamwork.
namely, the Central Valley?
simple reading of the text and viewing of the photos readily indicate, even to people not from California, that it is Lake Oroville.
since he seems to think Lake Oroville is Lake Shasta.
I haven't been by Lake Oroville for many years, but it just happens that I passed through Shasta a few years ago and it was pretty damn low and we haven't had the rainfall and snowpack we have typically had.
It's presently not full, like most of our reservoirs, and something that most people don't appreciate is that, at full capacity, most of the volume of water is in the upper few feet of water; you don't measure volume by depth but if you want to think about it, being 148 feet below crest, a 15 story building, you have to admit
Shasta Lake is experiencing a near-historic low-water year following extreme drought conditions, and that's presenting challenges to boaters, fishermen, and others.
For example, the Sugarloaf Boat Ramp, located in Lakehead, became inoperable on August 21st.
The loss leaves the Jones Valley Boat Ramp and Centimudi Boat Ramp as the only remaining public launches facilities.
The Jones Valley Boat Ramp is currently co-located with the Jones Valley Marina. Anyone wanting to launch their boats there will need to pay their launch fee as they enter the fee area, and will need to utilize Jones Valley Marina's dock as the courtesy dock. The currently accessible ramp at Jones Valley (Ramp 3) is narrow, and the access route is long, but should accommodate most recreation boats.
For more information or updates on changing conditions, please contact the Shasta Lake Ranger Station at 530-275-1587.
http://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/low-water-levels-close-another-public-boat-launch-at-lake-shasta/
Thanks!
...about Lake Shasta.
It's pretty clear what you did and what you thought.
