water shortages

Anonymous-0 · Jun 10, 2011

i understand that the US is a big place with different climates but you always hear about watershortages on the most part anybody who replied to my post seems to have lots of water. My question is the water shortages in question is it a real concern or just a politacle thing im not trying to offend anyone by that question im just interested in how you guys feel about that since you guys are the real down to earth americans

paul · Jun 10, 2011

The southwest portion on the USA is short on water, as well as parts of the West - Colorado mostly. They don't have much surface water, and they don't have much well water available. They have laws that don'tr allw you to collect rainwater off your roof in some locations.

Up here in my part of Minnesota, we have too much water, and the clay soil keeps it around forever. Our deep wells tend to be 250 feet or so, and we are hitting water that filtered through the ground for 100 years or so.

--->Paul

Ken 46 · Jun 10, 2011

Come to Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado, Oklahoma Panhandle, and the Texas panhandle--- tis drier than a popcorn f*&^.
Some weather guys say drier than in the dirty thirtys.
Don't know that as I am only 64 - in the 5o's it was dry - and I just remeber pieces of that

DeltaRed · Jun 10, 2011

Paul is right.In some locales(yes even here)Denver and the large metro areas are trying to steal our agricultureal water.in some places they have succeded.LasAngeles is coming east to Colorado to "work on"RioGrande(the RG starts in Co.) and colorado rivers.LA has dryed up a lot of the California landscape.a good book to read is "Cadillac Desert",because it cronicles the LA water grabs(Owens river valley and Owens lake)The Arkansaw and Platte rivers have been reduced to mud flats at the Co/Ks state line because of the irrigation "withdrawls".Here in the west,water is more valuable than gold.

ericlb · Jun 10, 2011

were critical here our last rain was last october, many wells are going dry no new wells are allowed to be drilled , its a dry year, coupled by overbuilt town up the valley,, now many wildfires burning, not a good situation at all

RMinVa · Jun 10, 2011

I've never been out west but can tell you the
water shortage is real. We just went through 10
out of 12 years of drought up the east coast and
inland past the the blue ridge mountains. In 2006
we had 2 river dry up and lots of small streams
didn't run for years. I live in central Va. and we
have a pipe line from Lake Gaston to the east
coast to supply water to them. About 600,000 gal.
a day.

Water is the next boom like oil is now. Very
quietly folks from other states as well as our own
are buying all the water rights that are for sale.
Water will be sold in the future like a commodity.

And yes it gets political but not the way you may
think. When water is being pumped across state
lines to supply large cities the fight begins and
runs for years. It's a matter of who gets water
and from where. The highway I live on up until the
early 80's no well was deeper than 130ft. Now none
are less than 300 ft. Then when the deeper wells
are drilled you sometimes see 3-4 homes near that
had good wells go dry all at the same time.

There may be war over water sooner than we think.

Old Roy · Jun 11, 2011

Wellllllll Since ya brought it up
15 min worth listning to

MarkB_MI · Jun 11, 2011

Google "Ogallala Aquifer". I can tell you that in my lifetime, I've seen a dramatic change in the rivers of eastern Colorado, directly attributable to heavy irrigation.

A good book on the subject is "Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner.

buickanddeere · Jun 11, 2011

I'm purchasing my retirement winter property in the south east. Near fresh water but on a hill.

gitrib · Jun 11, 2011

Lets be honest. There is so much water on this planet. it is not a consumable resource. It is not used up by farmers. Water is redistributed by man. It is either in lakes,streams,Coulds, Pipes and resovoirs. The shortage of water is a problem of mankind and city greed. Think about how much water is held in pipes both usable and sewage water. Look at the huge lakes that store water to generate electiciy. It is all a matter of distribution.
gitrib

MarkB_MI · Jun 11, 2011

Gitrib, you need to check your facts. In most parts of the country, municipal water consumption pales compares to agriculture. Let's take California, for example. Agriculture accounts for 80 percent of the state's water consumption. Don't forget that many cities, including Denver and Los Angeles, actually recycle their sewage.

As for there being a limitless supply of water, most of the earth's water is unusable salt water. Much of the remainder (such as the Great Lakes and other large inland lakes) is at relatively low elevations from where it can't be easily transported to where it's needed. Most of the world, including the western US, relies heavily on glacier runoff. Glaciers are rapidly disappearing because of (dare I say it and get poofed) GLOBAL WARMING. It's a fact.

The difference between truth and BS is that the truth is still true whether you choose to believe it or not.

water shortages

Anonymous-0

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paul

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Ken 46

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DeltaRed

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ericlb

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RMinVa

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Old Roy

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MarkB_MI

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buickanddeere

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gitrib

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MarkB_MI

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