...California’s Water Problem Introduction: Water Sources in California In her book entitled Managing Water: Avoiding Crisis in California, the ecologist and historian Dorothy Green describes the complicated and intricate California water system (University of California Press, October 9, 2007). Green’s description and analysis becomes more important to the people of California with every week that passes/ This is because California is now in the fourth year of drought in which no rain, snow, or hail has fallen (“California Drought”, CA.gov. Online at: http://ca.gov/drought/). In her work on the topic, Dorothy Green describes very carefully the system by which the rain, snow, and hail that fall in northern California move downwards in a flow of water that serves the entire state thanks to the power of gravity. The river systems of California include Colorado River and the Sacramento River. These great river systems move the water southwards, (to Los Angeles) and westwards (to San Francisco), respectively. In addition to these well known rivers to the system of rivers in California includes more than thirty rivers including the Klamath, the American, the Tolumne, the Merced, the Yuba, the Kern, the Russian, the Tule, and right here in Los Angeles the Los Angeles River which runs right through the industrial section of downtown Los Angeles in a cement channel : In addition to the river systems of California, Green describes a network of dam release channels, canals...
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...Three years ago, I moved to California from the state of Washington. I soon learned an extreme drought gripped California. This idea seemed unfathomable to me at the time. For the past ten years, I lived in a place where water was readily available due to an ample supply of water from the local aquifer. Where I lived, people always watered their yards and could take long showers without shame. In California, the opposite was true; along with avoiding watering yards and taking short showers, crops were also having trouble from the insufficient supply of usable water and the declining supply of drinkable water. My family attempted to use less water over the next two years. Near the end of the second year, an entire week of abundant rainfall brought...
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...Gonzalez Instructor: Dr. John Freytag Oceanography 101 November 4, 2015 San Francisco Bay Delta Issues 1.) Environmental problems and societal/political issues that impact delta: • Water Quality: Delta water can raise health problems (if used for drinking water) • Striped Bass: Decline in striped bass because of water (decline) • Decline of fish: Specifically Delta Smelt because of water supply and toxic algae (affects fish) • Clam infestation: removing food from water (that fish need) • Pollution: Toxic water (drinking water, fish population, toxic algae • Cut water deliveries: Causes ecological crisis • Long fin Smelt: Considered for protection because of decline of reproduction (specially no spawn of long fin smelt) • Water officials...
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...All California residents are familiar with the statewide drought that began in 2012. Effects of it can be seen in day-to-day life in decreased rainfall, billboards and laws encouraging conservation, front lawns being replaced with drought resistant landscapes and little reason to take a ski trip during the winter months due to lack of snowfall. Water recharge has decreased due to the decline in precipitation in the past two and a half years, leaving California with a huge need to properly manage its water. According to Nature, consequences of the long-term drought are increased seasonal wild fires and destruction to ecosystems throughout California. Southern California felt the negative effects of dry vegetation during the series of fires...
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...California Water Crisis California is the third largest state in the United States and the nation’s leading agricultural producer and has been for the last 60 years. Located on the west coast, its agriculture provides millions of jobs and generates close to $27.6 billion dollars in sales annually. With California being the leader in agricultural production, a lot of water is a necessity and the biggest user of water in California is, you got it, the agriculture industry. Before 1922, 6 of the 7 states, including California, which are visited by the Colorado River, signed the Colorado River Compact. This was an agreement among the states governing the allocation of the water rights to the river’s water. California’s rapid growth in population and agriculture began to cause concern for other Colorado River Basin states who feared that California would established priority rights to the river water. The Imperial Valley, located in Southern California, was already relying heavily on the Colorado River for significantly agricultural development (www.usbr.com 2012). For years, California has had their fair share of problems regarding the amount of water that had supposed to been allocated to them or surplus water that the other states never used. In the 1930’s, Southern California’s rights to the river water were thought to be settled and solidified when several agencies signed water delivery contracts with the Secretary of the Interior. The contracts stated the priorities...
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...Water Crisis Impact in California Monica Mois Essentials of College Writing/COMM/215 October 6, 2014 Carolyn Geiser Water Crisis Impact in California Due to the lack of rain in the past few years, and particularly in the last few months, California faces severe drought. This is the worst drought in more than one hundred years. The impact of California drought affects community, agriculture, organic ranchers, and dairy farmers. Because of these facts, the United States must rethink the way it uses water. Californians alone are asked to reduce their water usage by twenty percent to prevent water waste. Communities, Agriculture, Organic Ranchers and Dairy Farmers Many communities in California struggle with shortage of drinking water. One example is “the small community of Cameron Creek Colony in Tulare County is struggling due to severe drought. About ten percent of its residents have no access to water because their wells have run dry. Others have only intermittent access” (USDA, 2014). In other communities, residents are urged to avoid wasting water. The Waterboards.ca.gov (2014) website has a list of emergency water conservation regulations stating that every citizen is prohibited to use potable water to wash sidewalks and driveway, to use hoses with no shut off nozzles to wash their cars, water the lawn more than two times a week, and reduce the amount of watering time for each station using an automatic sprinkler system. Residents could face...
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...What if California’s drought continued? Not only the people in California would care, but as a whole, the United States would; California is one of the main sources where food grows. I predict that all the animals from fishes to bears would have to migrate to find a new home because of lack of food and fresh water in the area. As the scientists find a solution to the problem, Californians would try their best to continue to spare the water. Furthermore, water would become more expensive. Due to high demand and low supplies, utilities bill will shoot up to prevent water from being wasted. The laws on business restaurant might even change, by saying water can now be sold rather giving out of free; California may become the most expensive place...
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...Zidian Lyu 998054799 GEL 001, SECTION 04 Seventh Draft The Problems and Solutions for Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta Introduction The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (SSRD) is formed at the confluence of the south-flowing Sacramento River and the north-flowing San Joaquin River (Fig.1). The estuary encompasses 1,600 square miles, drains over 40 percent of the State of California, and provides habitat and stop-over ground to numerous species of fish and wildlife. (Association of California Water Agencies, 2014) Because of its special geographical position, about two-thirds of salmon that migrate into California pass through the Delta, as do nearly half the migrating waterfowl and shorebirds (Association of California Water Agencies, 2014). Besides, due to the world's largest man-made plumbing job, the estuary provides 7.2 million acre-feet of water a year for export, irrigates 4.5 million acres of farmland, and provides drinking water for 20 million Californians (Association of California Water Agencies, 2014). For these reasons, the SSRD becomes the most important estuary on the west coast. Climate change and man-made modifications to the delta have resulted in many environmental and ecological problems. Problems such as agricultural irrigation, urban water usage, land use and control can threaten citizens’ lives and prosperity. Solutions to mitigate this ecological disaster mainly focus on the divisions between environmental and economic interest. To achieve...
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...percent of the state of California was in extreme drought. As California entered its fourth year of record-breaking drought, it was met with extremely parched landscapes. CBS News reports reveal that, “According to an aerial survey conducted by the U.S. Forest Service in April, about 12 million trees have died in California forestlands in the past year because of extreme drought.” Dead trees along with plant life in severe condition are seen throughout the Los Padres National Forest. These dead trees add another element to the hazards of the drought by threatening the dry landscape with the possibility of intense wildfires. On January 17, Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the state of California. This...
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...California's Water Crisis The state of California has dealt with many problems, one of the most major ones being the drought. California has dealt with droughts for many years now. The current drought isn’t the first,it's one of many. Myself along with many hope it is the last. Do the people in California have what it takes to solve the problem? California gets most of their water supply from the aqueduct,colorado river, sacramento, and from water conservation. The Los Angeles Aqueduct receives water from the Eastern Sierra Nevada. The aqueduct now gets the supply from basins and snow covered mountains within the state. This water comes from far distances just to get to anyones place. The colorado river provides water for the upper part of calfornia. The state gets water from sacramento, the surface water found their is about 85 percent and groundwater is about 15 percent. Thirty to forty percent of ground water is used by the state(aceplumbing). The most significant droughts recorded are from 1929-1934, 1976-1977, 1987-1992, 2011-present (California Department of Water Resources). According to the article the year 2014,overlapping the driest calendar year, ended September 30 the states 3rd driest in 119 years of record. The weather has a lot to do with the drought. The state has been struggling for a very long time. There has been a few ideas to try and fix the issue but those ideas are not enough because obviously the drought keeps...
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...The Colorado River is the major water route in the Southwest, a region that is drier than the deserts of North Africa. In recent years, a once “inhospitable desert has become a playground, and the Colorado River has become a plumbing system” (Colorado River Report, 2001). This statement means that people have made so many changes to the natural environment around the Colorado River bed that the area no longer resembles the original habitat of the area. These changes have affected the animal life as well as the natural environment of the area. Another change in the environment is a change in the river itself as it now serves as a plumbing system. These changes are relating to the ways that people have changed the habitat around the river. The more people that use and change the land, the more the river changes. The Colorado Task Force identified a number of problems. In response to the changes in the Colorado River, the Sierra Club created the Colorado River Task Force to identify and solve problems associated with overdevelopment as well as over-usage of the river area. One problem is to restore the Colorado River delta (Colorado River Report, 2001). The delta is home to many endangered species. Part of the restoration process is to stop dumping hazardous chemicals into the Delta (Colorado River Report, 2001).Another problem is the water quality in the Colorado River basins. The total maximum daily loads wanted to provide the states to recognize the need for some portion of...
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...Roberts English 1A-Final 22 May 2015 California’s Water Restrictions Throughout the last four years California has been suffering from major drought issues; this year conditions have hit an ultimate low. With that being said, Gov. Jerry Brown has passed mandatory water restrictions to the residents of California. David Siders, writer for the Sacramento Bee, researched if Californians agreed or not with the water restriction mandates. Within his research, he found through a new Field Poll that almost two-thirds of Californians were in support for the ordered water restrictions (Siders). Through this poll, it was learned that both Northern and Southern California residents are agreeing that there is a problem with water consumption in our state and something needs to change (Siders). With the polls showing nine out of ten residents expressing that the conditions are at least somewhat serious, this proves that California understands what is wrong, but are they ready to make the changes (Siders)? As a resident of California, I am completely aware of what our state has ahead of us. If our water consumption does not change, I can see that we will run out of water within the next couple of years. What Gov. Jerry Brown is doing for our state is greatly appreciated and one of the few things we can do that help with our current problem. Though I am aware with our current drought problem, I do not find myself restricting as much water as I should be and I have a feeling that others feel...
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...Antonio Vesselinov Professor Phillip Larson Intro to Geography 101 (Section 1) 11/5/14 Hydrology and Water Supply Issues It’s used to drink, shower, clean, grow food, wash cars, and cook food, but it’s are running out. Northern states do not have the same water supply issues that the southwestern states have, but that does not mean they do not exist. Water is a precious resource that is vital for an organism to survive and creates an habitable environment compared to other planets. However, though earth possesses water there isn’t enough to fulfill the needs of everyone. A large percentage of water on earth is salt water and cannot be used the same way as fresh water. In the southwest region of America there are 30 million people...
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...Recently, California is facing one of the most severe droughts on record. Many governors, large companies managers, and citizens start spending and investing a lot of money on draining groundwaters every year when there is a drought. This does not solve the problem of drought, but causing groundwater being withdrawn faster than it can replenish. Water conservation and water management are keys to address these issues. By enforcing laws and regulations, there will be a great improvement in water conservation and will help sustaining water resources. Severe drought has brought several disaster to all residents in California by drying out soils, reducing stream flows, decreasing tree growth and biomass, and reducing crop yields. Mohamed El-Ashry of the World Resources Institute estimates that 65% to 75% of the water throughout the world is wasted through evaporation, leaks and others. Therefore, water tracking is needed to reduce these leaks and would at least save 15% of these water from being wasted. According to water resource expert Sandra Postel, “By heavily subsidizing water, governments give out the false message that it is abundant and can afford to be wasted – even as rivers are drying up, aquifers and are being depleted, fisheries are...
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... The ports of California were not only used for cargo ships, they were and still have strong military presence. In 1914, the Navy formed its Pacific Fleet in San Diego. By the 1920s, San Diego had become home to major the naval and military bases. The army took home to a series of forts in the San Francisco Bay Area. Los Angeles had become a port for military ship repair. The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 shook up the United States, but it was the following year that California’s fear grew. On February 23, 1942, the Japanese navy submarine fired shots at oil tanks located in Elwood off the coast of Santa Barbara. In addition, two cargo ships were sunk. California had already been experiencing conflict with Japanese immigrants....
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