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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.
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.