California's Water Crisis. Why?

Having operated a nuclear plant for four years, I would like to add some counterbalance. Right now, virtually all nuclear plants are storing all there waste (spend fuel rods) locally since the national waste repository is not operating yet. One of the reasons it is not operating is the magnitude of difficulty proving tht it would be a foolproof waste repository. This problem is unsolved. The solution for the past thirty years is to let it pile up. These are some mighty big piles.

The more immediate problem is that nobody (and I mean nobody) wants to invest in a nuclear plant. When they run the ROI and risk numbers, they come up negative. When the same investors look at wind and solar, they see postive numbers. After the WPPSS debacle, it is unlikely that nuclear will see much, if any, resurgence. The money invested in power plants is not available for nuclear plants.

 

I would like to point out that a concentrated solar plant providing direct heat for distillation is getting lots of traction. The problem is finding land and companies to pursue it since the established ones are overwhelmed with work.
Specifically,
1) Southern Call has lots of sunshine. More so than even Florida.
2) Distillation does not need to be a 24 hour a day operation.
3) A few days of clouds is not a problem with sufficient storage
4) The process is highly cost effective.

Unfortunately, No plant can overcome wastefulness and the water would be more expensive than what nature could provide (if available).

Florida is experiencing the same problems. The aquifer is being pumped dry so there are discussions of getting water from rivers. (Steal it from the eco-system.) Tampa already has one distillation plant running....but building water plants is never going to overcome ridiculous, wasteful lifestyles (home and business).

 

Maybe someday, but I think that there are already many well-written and well-organized sources of information on the web.

Try this one:
World Nuclear Association

A great website with short scientific presentations on a gazillion different nuclear energy subjects.

For example - their discussion on "Radioactive Wastes - Myths and Realities"
World Nuclear Association

 

San Diego has had a string of Republican Mayors (and City Council people) who got us where we are by following party doctrine. Mayor and City council is supposed to be non-partisan but that is NOT how it works in real life. The pension debacle is only one farce. The selling out of NTC for pennies on the dollar is another. Where's the public space? I don't need another Mall to shop at and the majority of that prime land is private houseing development, not a public park. The "redevelopment" of the downtown bayfront is going to be the same thing. The most the citizens of San Diego will get is a sidewalk. It isn't the Dems in the pockets of the redevelopers.

When the Mayor starts acting non-partisan I'll cease to refer to him as our Republican Mayor.

And he doesn't need to perpetuate the mental picture by continueing to refer to it as "toilet to tap". He chooses to because he's against it.

I notice his police and firemen buddies are exempt from the deal he cut to keep the pension mess off the ballot. Why keep it off the ballot? What's wrong with getting the voter's input?

 

Richard - we agree for once! Cheers.

Tim

 

I agree. Plus, it makes no sense to me that we are growing crops - particularly water intensive ones like rice - in the CA desert. In doing so, the residents of CA are effectively subsidizing food for the rest of the country.

 

What party is the San Diego City Council? I believe it is dominated by Dems. I think the problem there is more one of stupidity, rather than party affiliation.

 

Today the Mayor announced he wants us to cut back water use even more.

And....there's a plan to build yet another sports stadium in Downtown.

Priorities....priorities.....

 

i live in the Olympia, WA area, Lacey to be specific... coming off a record snowfall year (it snowed as late as the end of May!!) which means a lot of water (evidenced by record flooding just south of us last winter) in the system thru the dams from snow melt, runoff, etc...

AND the City of Lacey, rations water EVERY summer, including this one. now maybe we are lucky in that the water supply is primarily drawn from aquifers (underground rivers) and artesian wells (places where aquifers emerge at ground level after being filtered thru several hundred feet of sand, rock and dirt)

so do we ration because we have a water shortage??....no

so why do we do it??....

well, cali is a pretty damn good reason why... and over the past 30 years, there has been detected a decrease in the volume of water in the 2 major aquifers in the area due to explosive growth in the area, so issues are emerging. hopefully, nothing extremely serious for several decades to come...

and this fresno thing.... hard to believe a meterless water system.

 

And yet, Mayor Mo ("one of the water meters is for the Koi pond") was a democrate. And the current president of the city council Peters ("I need that million gals a year to maintain my rain forest") is a democrat.

"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."

 

Just as MINGOGLIA suggested that you were proud member of the group who are "very quick to always throw the political bomb whenever the opportunity arises," you are at it again!

It it wasn't any single party that got San Diego into financial trouble, it was a few corrupt politicians who are a disgrace to their party, long before the present mayor ever became involved in politics. Incidentally, the corruption bug equally infects members of all parties all across the country, and even more so around the world.

And what do pensions and specific community developments have to do with California's Water Crisis, anyhow? Or the environment, or the Prius? You are straying way off subject by blaming a whole slew of contemporary problems on a particular party.

Let's get back to making this a constructive forum, sharing our ideas and experiences about the environment and the Prius to make a positive contribution to society.

 

Did you pay attention? Instead of doing something about the water we're just being asked to conserve ANOTHER 10%.

Apparently water isn't as important as building a new stadium and a new council building, etc. (The new library is on permanent hold....again.)

It's a priority thing and water isn't a priority for the City except in the summer. Cuts is the universal solution, whether it's water or budget.

The only true Democrat on the council is Donna Frye.

The money that determines who is elected Mayor and to a degree City Council comes from developers. That's how they get the votes to hand them NTC while we're still waiting for a public library.....and something to be done about water. And sewer for that matter.

You can't ask people to cut back an extra 10% from the previous year EVERY YEAR. Eventually there isn't any to cut back anymore.

I DON'T HAVE A LAWN. I have brick. Front and back.

 

That's only registration.

They didn't legislate "Democrat". They were name only. We have plenty of them. Atkins is another. So glad she's term limited.

Don't forget how Mo got her free trip to Russia on the city's dime.

 

Is there some place I can go, a website perhaps, where I can get the list of true democrats?

 

I don't have a water meter.
Nanna, nannaaa, nann-ah :fear:

OK, before you people get all bent out of shape, let me clue you in on some realities:

All California municipalities are mandated to go to water meters.
Fresno: 80,000 Homes in Fresno to Get Water Meters
Sacramento area: http://www.sswd.org/capital_programs/water_meters.html

(For me, oh . . . probably 2020 according to the City of Sacramento. )

Now for some real truths: Cities like Sacramento and Fresno have some of the oldest WATER RIGHTS in California. Even if we go to a water meter program, it doesn't mean we will be charged more FOR OUR OWN WATER. Our rates will go up a little to pay for the meter retrofit program, but our rates will still be much less than others pay. And just because we save water doesn't mean it will then be shipped down south for those water grubbin' &*^#$*@! Our water savings will be used to help the environment, not to succumb to the water greed of So Cal.

In real estate the catch phrase is "Location, Location, Location." Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, etc. were stupid areas in which to build large cities . . . considering there was little water in which to support growth. Those growing cities had to go STEAL water from other areas and create ecological disasters. Mono Lake, Owens Valley, Yosemite National Park, the Delta, Trinity River, etc. etc.
Owens Valley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
California Water Wars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hetch Hetchy: Time to Redeem a Historic Mistake - Sierra Club
California’s Water Wars: Can We Save Fisheries and Solve Water Problems? : The Trout Underground Fly Fishing Blog

So when people like Godiva whine about us not having water meters, what that ilk is saying is, "YOU DON'T PAY ENOUGH FOR YOUR WATER, SO YOU WASTE IT. METER IT, PAY MORE, AND SEND WHAT WATER YOU SAVE OUR WAY."

NO FREAKIN' WAY! You live in an arid environment. Make due with what water you people have already stole from the Owens Valley, Mono Lake, Trinity River, etc, etc, etc, etc.

Conserve, conserve, conserve. Then give YOUR 'savings' back to where you stole it!!!! The environment would appreciate it.

 

So, why don't you run for mayor of San Diego and fix all those problems?

 

Who is going to vote for me?

I've done my time on the Area Planning Committee and the Redevelopment Board and the Neighborhood Association.

If I run for anything, it would be school board. But I'm not willing to go into debt even for that. I have no political connections. None of the local politcal parties know who I am.

I vote. Every election. And I go down to City Council on occasion to express my views. Not that it does any good. The city is basically being run by the staff. No one challenges them on anything they "recommend". I see the same thing happening with the school board now.

BTW I don't have a lawn, my planters are on drip with timers and are only on 6 months of the year. Low flow everything. I have a recycling washer. That's right. I can use the same tub of water for two different loads of laundry. I only do laundry twice a month. I bought extra clothes, sheets and towels to reduce the number of times I have to do laundry. And I'm now installing a small dishwasher because I read a dishwasher uses less water than hand washing. I don't run the faucet when I brush my teeth. I even have a dish under the dog's "lick-it spiggot" outside to catch his dribbles.

What am I supposed to do to cut my use 10%? Cut my bathing to once a week on Saturday night?