California Water and Water Resources

Question 1

what is referred to as california water dilemma

Answer 1

Dry seasons (each year) and drought
• Floods (too much water in spring)
• 75% of water is in north of state, 75% of demand in south
SOLUTION: Largest water works project in human history (lots of jobs for civil engineers!)

Question 2

there are 2 projects historically developed in cali what are they? What do they each do?

Answer 2

Central valley project
>• Largest public works project in the U.S. (initiated by FDR) •Six major dams (Shasta is largest in state, 2nd largest by mass in U.S.) •3,000 miles of canals

State water project
> Oroville Dam •Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers •600 mile canal •3000 ft lift station (Tehachapi Mtns)

Question 3

appx how much water is used for what in california.

Answer 3

California
– 85% agriculture
– 10% residential
– 5% industrial

Question 4

name 2 reasons why it is unrealistic to expect people to use no more than 50 liters of water a day.

Answer 4

There is a lot of water that is used in the production of foods here. Other countries may be able to limit the amount of beef intake due to the inability to obtain but it is difficult to stop people from buying the foods they like which need a lot of water to make.

Question 5

name three impacts of water scarcity

Answer 5

Insufficient water for growing food,
Economic losses
Social panic > political instability

Question 6

It is often said of no 2kwh of electricity have the same environmental effect. Can this be said for water?

Answer 6

It can be. In LCA, we can specify if water is imported, recycled, groundwater, miles transported which will all give different environmental impacts.

Question 7

Define Blue Green and Gray water

Answer 7

Blue water footprint: Volume of surface and groundwater consumed as a result of the production of a good or service. Consumption refers to the volume of freshwater used and then evaporated or incorporated into a product.

Green water footprint: The amount of rainwater needed (evaporated or used directly) to create a product.

Grey water footprint: This type of footprint of a product is an indicator of freshwater pollution that can be associated with the production of a product over the supply chain.