Water.....

[MarcusBrody]

Water availability is one of the reasons that I'm not sure my long term future is in the town we live now. We live in Boulder City, NV -the town that was built to house the Hoover Dam workers - and a lot of our friends work for the Bureau of Reclamation (who are in charge of water management projects in the West). It never sounds optimistic talking to them.

Personally, when the unilateral cuts come, I hope that the Feds come down hard on California. They are the biggest users and the most unwilling to make any cuts that would affect their environmentally unsustainable agriculture. I'll pay more for my almonds.

[old goat]

It takes 6x more water to grow beef protein compared to almond protein.
If we really wanted to do something about excess water for agriculture we could stop eating meat.

[Timberridge]

It's suspected that Saturn's moon Enceladus may be over 90% water. We need to figure out how to get it here.

[mcphee]

^maybe its people need guns and we could trade

[MarcusBrody]

It takes 6x more water to grow beef protein compared to almond protein.
If we really wanted to do something about excess water for agriculture we could stop eating meat.

I did, over a decade ago now. I still eat a lot of almonds though.

[schuss]

It takes 6x more water to grow beef protein compared to almond protein.
If we really wanted to do something about excess water for agriculture we could stop eating meat.

This is why stuff like lab grown meat and whatnot are so important - they eliminate a huge source of waste in the food supply chain that's currently propped up by subsidies on water, farming and grazing.

[MontuckyFried]

It takes 6x more water to grow beef protein compared to almond protein.

That's definitely too simplistic a take. Perhaps that's the case for mass produced feedlot garbage beef, but for pasture raised, 100% grass fed beef, that absolutely changes the math.

For example, I currently have about a dozen head of cattle. ALL their water needs come from rain water that fills up the ponds. ALL their food needs come from the grasses grown there. Zero irrigation. We only slaughter about 1 or 2 a year and they pretty much breed and calve on their own. SUPER self-reliant. They've completely revitalized the soil and the land there.

Moral of the story? Buy local. Buy natural. Support your local hippy farmers.

Also, look into "Regenerative Agriculture." Might even be good for the climate vis a vis carbon sequestration. Will Harris of White Oak Pastures has been doing some great talks on the subject lately.

[LongShortLong]

Personally, when the unilateral cuts come, I hope that the Feds come down hard on California. They are the biggest users and the most unwilling to make any cuts that would affect their environmentally unsustainable agriculture. I'll pay more for my almonds.

Quiet now, that's imperial farmer socialism. Somebody's great great granddaddy diverted that river a long long time ago, so they deserve as much water as they want as long as they want, as do their heirs, and descendant corporations and shareholders. If growing alfalfa in the desert makes sense to them, then surely that's the most beneficial use of the water. Hands off!

[hawkgt]

Also, look into "Regenerative Agriculture." Might even be good for the climate vis a vis carbon sequestration. Will Harris of White Oak Pastures has been doing some great talks on the subject lately.

series Ive been following on the subject, pretty interesting

[MontuckyFried]

series Ive been following on the subject, pretty interesting

VERY cool. That's exactly what I'm talking about. It makes ALL the difference when it comes to not just water usage, but water retention (as your video points out) which would probably make one helluva big difference in regard to aquifers. Thanks for sharing the vid. Watching now.

[MarcusBrody]

VERY cool. That's exactly what I'm talking about. It makes ALL the difference when it comes to not just water usage, but water retention (as your video points out) which would probably make one helluva big difference in regard to aquifers. Thanks for sharing the vid. Watching now.

There was as NYT article about a Nevada ranching family who had spent decades fighting beavers flooding their land, but have recently made peace with the animals all in the name of water retention. It was really interesting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/06/c...e-beavers.html

[TBS]

There was this segment on the evening news tonight. Wall Street investment firms are buying up Colorado property just for water rights. I can’t see this playing out well. But it was good to see it in the news, maybe more people will pick up on the coming problems. Though I guess only geezers like me watch network evening news.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-yor...arce-resource/

Sounds like…Owens Valley redux?

“History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme”
—Mark Twain

[Skistack]

Quiet now, that's imperial farmer socialism. Somebody's great great granddaddy diverted that river a long long time ago, so they deserve as much water as they want as long as they want, as do their heirs, and descendant corporations and shareholders. If growing alfalfa in the desert makes sense to them, then surely that's the most beneficial use of the water. Hands off!

Imperial Valley farmers use more Colorado River water than Arizona and Nevada combined.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[PB]

It doesn't get much more 'merican than farming in the desert ......
Unless you're an oil-rich middle easterner.

[altasnob]

Or get the feds to build the Central Colorado Project (call it CCP)

That already exists:

https://www.denverwater.org/recreation/dillon-resevoir

Pumps water across the Continental Divide to Denver.

[dunfree]

It doesn't get much more 'merican than farming in the desert ......
Unless you're an oil-rich middle easterner.

china likes to grow things in xinjiang too, not just CPC rapist babies

[old goat]

That's definitely too simplistic a take. Perhaps that's the case for mass produced feedlot garbage beef, but for pasture raised, 100% grass fed beef, that absolutely changes the math.

For example, I currently have about a dozen head of cattle. ALL their water needs come from rain water that fills up the ponds. ALL their food needs come from the grasses grown there. Zero irrigation. We only slaughter about 1 or 2 a year and they pretty much breed and calve on their own. SUPER self-reliant. They've completely revitalized the soil and the land there.

Moral of the story? Buy local. Buy natural. Support your local hippy farmers.

Also, look into "Regenerative Agriculture." Might even be good for the climate vis a vis carbon sequestration. Will Harris of White Oak Pastures has been doing some great talks on the subject lately.

I congratulate you, but obviously that kind of animal husbandry and agriculture cannot feed the country, let alone the planet. There is a reason that early civilizations grew up in arid, hot regions along great rivers.

[PB]

So yer sayin' we need to "eliminate" 2/3rds of the world's population?

I'm in.

[Squirreljam]

This article, and the comments, post-dates some of the arguments here about recharging aquifers during storm-flow periods. That said it’s interesting and I don’t recall seeing the specific obstacle that’s the time it takes to get permits to let storm water flow into fallow fields.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/21/c...smid=url-share

gifted so past the paywall (I think; lmk if not)

[evdog]

They are the biggest users and the most unwilling to make any cuts that would affect their environmentally unsustainable agriculture. I'll pay more for my almonds.

Could save a ton of water just by switching from water intensive crops like almonds to other crops. And stop allowing the export of those crops overseas. They're basically exporting our water by doing so. I think someone linked to a story a few pages back about Saudi companies buying land to grow alfalfa and then shipping it overseas. The golf course grass can go too.



I've seen a few articles on SW Utah starting to move to take it's allocation from the Colorado.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/th...cfa87822&ei=84

Hart also said it’s Utah’s turn to grow, after the growth in California, Arizona and Nevada. “They’ve had their enormous growth spurts through the years and the water has been made available for them to do that. And now here we are,” he said. “I think our perspective, from the state of Utah, is we’re entitled to that, to our share, whatever that is,” he said.

[gravitylover]

So yer sayin' we need to "eliminate" 2/3rds of the world's population?

I'm in.

Me too! I know some people we can get rid of...

[skaredshtles]

Me too! I know some people we can get rid of...

You blokes are first.

[bodywhomper]

I believe it’s going to be a very strong political push to retain (or improve) water rights to Colorado river water in California.

[Bunion 2020]

Could save a ton of water just by switching from water intensive crops like almonds to other crops. And stop allowing the export of those crops overseas. They're basically exporting our water by doing so. I think someone linked to a story a few pages back about Saudi companies buying land to grow alfalfa and then shipping it overseas. The golf course grass can go too.

Well maybe if irrigation water was so expensive to use for irrigation that the end users would invest in drip irrigation system or other less wasteful methods.


Several golf courses around here are being used to treat effluents that have been treated to be able to be sprayed instead of being dumped in the rivers. Whether or not that is the best treatment remains to be seen. Golf courses in the desert? No fucking way.

[PB]

Golf courses - the new wetlands .