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Trust me as time goes on water rights will become more of an issue.
That is why I can’t understand why they shot down the desalination plant and want to pump groundwater when the weather patterns don’t support this over the long term. It doesn’t make good engineering sense!
I think the world’s water issues can be solved if we are able to source unlimited energy. With that you can treat and pipe almost any amount of water needed for farmers, residents and industry.
California unfortunately has really high cost for energy thus access to water production is limited.
But thanks for the comment. I am fascinated to read and learn how different municipalities are tackling the coming water crisis when groundwater starts to dry up.
Most people focus on California being "liberal". When it comes to many things the deeper issue is disfunction and corruption as well.
You have political forces pushing against building new water storage and allowing more water to go to sea. The consequence is more ground pumping.
The number of new wells drilled in the last ten years around my area is insane. The smart farmers know it is just a matter of time until the state stops the new drilling of wells. Restricting pumping is next.
These local water district guys have been predicting this for years and buying land in the valley to build reservoirs to resupply the ground water acquifers.
There are just so many conflicts and governance action that produces bad incentives. We have had good rain years and water tables are up but droughts are a natural part of the climate cycles here. Have been for centuries. The population of the state and the farming can't grow without changes.
I agree. Cheap energy is something that makes many things easier. Most of the state has been in denial about energy. Believing solar and wind are enough. It's not. Nuclear is the best hope for California.
They still haven't given up on shutting down the existing plants but they keep delaying it. It will never happen. My question is how much longer will they delay building new plants.
This sounds so familiar. Here in California's central valley we deal with water supply issues and have for centuries. Its very complex and is an interesting topic to me in regards to property rights.
Specifically when one propetry owner can drill a well next to another's property and suck up the water that their neighbor's well is able to pump.
I do believe proper applications of property rights can resolve the conflict but it's not simple and when governments set up schemes where the cost of the resource is almost free or there isn't a protection of the rights of one well owner against another straw sucking up the water it gets messy.
Politics around water muddy the issue further. I am just a small home owner and purchase my water from a water district (private not for profit), I don't have a well. But because I want to better understand the issue and understand the many sides in the competition for this resource I've started attending the public meetings held by my local water district.
Its been interesting and the people that serve as representatives to the farmers in my area do not have an easy job. They seem to me at least to be trying to represent the interests of people who are very divided in how water rights should be handled. These people are elected in a private election to their positions and represent the members interests to state regulators.
I do not envy them. Water is life here and many of these farmers have been severely impacted by state wide water policies. That said, from what I know many of the farming practices of the past cannot be maintained.
Time preference becomes very clear to me here. Due to economic challenges many farms take on debt. Foat money printing incentivizes short term over long term thinking. Farming is very risky and as it becomes harder with the water issues and state regulations many small farms exit. Sell their land to larger farms. These farmers have more clout and can push policy to benefit their farms.
One policy decision may benefit a farm one mile west but hurt a farm one mile east. It's wild how complex it all is. I can't help but wonder what the impact would be if their was an actual market for water. I have no doubt some farms would fail. Or at least shrink. The reason being they are beneficiaries of government putting its hands on the scales. Others would benefit though.
Most importantly though it appears to me that there isn't political will to do what needs to be done. Regulate water usage by allowing market prices to freely float. The temptation to use politics to benefit special interests (which is really at work in all political systems) is just too strong.
Cities full of voters often get cheaper water than a market system would allow. But also farmers likely are not paying enough for water. If they were we would not have a shortage. It's my theory that the problem of water scarcity is the fact that a market system and specifically a price system is not allowed to regulate supply.
And besides the role of government being a central problem, the lax defense of water/resource rights is the root issue.
At this point though I am sure I still don't know what I don't know. But the issue is much more complex than most in my area want to admit.