OT: California Dreamin': Density is the Future.

[HenryA]

Originally Posted by verticaldoug

The hard stuff hasn't even started yet. I wonder where on the California coast, they will be able to build a desalination plant.

Nuke plants and desalination or bust.
Probably bust.

But the weather is nice……

[woodworker]

Already one (desal plant) in Carlsbad. There will have to be others, combined with environmental mitigation measures. On the other hand, the one nuke plant in the area, at San Onofre, has now been shut down.

[joosttx]

At this moment of this intellectual stimulating thread, might I suggest everyone to reread "Cadillac Desert"

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by joosttx

At this moment of this intellectual stimulating thread, might I suggest everyone to reread "Cadillac Desert"

Everyone who lives west of the Mississippi should have to read that to understand how we got where we are.

[bicycletricycle]

Originally Posted by .RJ

You could but density forces a lot of constraints that a lot of folks living in suburbs/exurbs/rural areas wont necessarily do on their own, or is not even practical.

Perhaps you are right. It isn’t all upside though. It also prevents people from having a relationship with the natural world or seeing the impact people seem so keen on preventing.

Even small things like being on well water, having a septic tank, having trees, seeing wildlife, being close to a creek and seeing it overflow or go dry. You start to pay attention and you start to care. Hard to do in a city, I have lived both ways.

[woodworker]

Originally Posted by joosttx

At this moment of this intellectual stimulating thread, might I suggest everyone to reread "Cadillac Desert"

Will have to check it out. Thanks.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

Perhaps you are right. It isn’t all upside though. It also prevents people from having a relationship with the natural world or seeing the impact people seem so keen on preventing.

Even small things like being on well water, having a septic tank, having trees, seeing wildlife, being close to a creek and seeing it overflow or go dry. You start to pay attention and you start to care. Hard to do in a city, I have lived both ways.

Agree with you 100%, its one thing I hate being crowded in here.

[sailorboy]

Originally Posted by joosttx

At this moment of this intellectual stimulating thread, might I suggest everyone to reread "Cadillac Desert"

One of the scariest books I've ever read. Almost as bad as The Uninhabitable Earth which is more current. Make it a dark weekend and go back-to-back!

[robin3mj]

Originally Posted by joosttx

At this moment of this intellectual stimulating thread, might I suggest everyone to reread "Cadillac Desert"

Once the loan originators and the home insurance underwriters read it, the bottom is going to fall out right-quick.

I think this’ll happen in south Florida before the southwest but it’s coming for both, regardless.

[MikeD]

80% of the water use in California is used by agriculture. Even small efficiency gains in water use there can generate a lot of extra water.

[Mike V]

It's 91%

Originally Posted by MikeD

80% of the water use in California is used by agriculture. Even small efficiency gains in water use there can generate a lot of extra water.

[verticaldoug]

I recently did a southwest road trip to see my parents after 20 mo. in Phoenix. I flew into Las Vegas to meet daughter 1, take PCR and drive HWY 93 thru the Mojave.

After visiting parents, we drove to LA on HWY 10.

The bathtub ring on Lake Mead really sets a tone on the drought. The large wind farms and solar fields along 93 were really impressive.

Ironnically, HWY 93 from Kingman to Wickenberg looks great because of the monsoons and the Joshua Trees are really spectacular along the road.

Finally, after driving on Hwy 10 from Phoenix and viewing the dust devils for a while, you cross the Colorado at Ehrenberg. You can pull of the HWY and drive down to the river which is quite pretty.

But the whole area south of the HWY on the California side is just irrigated farmland.

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.4630...7i16384!8i8192

versus what it should look like-



How long can it last?

[Elefantino]

Originally Posted by sailorboy

One of the scariest books I've ever read. Almost as bad as The Uninhabitable Earth which is more current. Make it a dark weekend and go back-to-back!

And then watch "Chinatown" to be really depressed.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by sailorboy

One of the scariest books I've ever read. Almost as bad as The Uninhabitable Earth which is more current. Make it a dark weekend and go back-to-back!

The real scary part is that was written almost 20 years ago.

[paredown]

A question about water resources for California residents--are the storm drains and waste sewers still connected, run into the same waste treatment plants and then get dumped out to sea?

Or have there been programs for returning gray water or ground water through groundwater reclamation sites?

(I ask because we are still running almost everything into the Hudson, even though we have a sole source aquifer for drinking water that suffers in dry years, while our population is growing like crazy. (We do have one operational gray water treatment site--but a few years ago they tried to ram through a desal plant, on the Hudson, just below the Indian Point nuclear generating plant.)