Water Crisis - California Flashcards
Why is California in a water crisis?
3/4 of the population lives south of Sacramento but 3/4 of the rainfall occurs north of Sacramento.
65% of this precipitation is lost to evapotranspiration and high ocean air pressure stops storms reaching this location between November and March.
This has caused droughts such as from 2011 to 2017 which cost the Californian economy $10 billion.
Where does California get its water from?
30% from groundwater aquifers but rises by 60% in drought years.
Recharge of these aquifers has been less than extraction since 1999.
6 main water systems now distribute water from the 10 drainage basins that make up California.
This includes the State water project (29 dams and 5 HEP projects), the central valley project (22dams and provides drinking water for 2 million), and Colorado river water scheme (half of all southern California’s water including LA)
Conflicts/Controversies:
80% of their water is used for farming with 1.6 million hectares of land being flood irrigated which is extremely inefficient.
Due to the spatial imbalance of precipitation and water, there is conflict between the north who don’t want their water taken and the south who desperately need it.
Environmentalists concerned that wetlands are already drained, habitats altered and fish stocks depleted.
Why is groundwater becoming unsafe?
Industrial pollution and dirty agriculture has seeped into groundwater wells for decades with the most contaminated ones needing to be closed.
As droughts become more common these groundwater supplies are increasingly needed.
In 2016, treatment failures led to 20,000 people in Watts, a small community in inner city LA, to be drinking untreated water for 6 hours.
How have the citizens of Tulare County gotten water?
In 2016, bottled water was donated to hundreds in drought affected areas.
The Tule river that used to supply water has dried up so many local residents rely on private wells which are also slowly drying up..
How has Porterville been affected?
Porterville is one of the most affected locations with many of the 55,000 residents relying on private wells, having to pump water daily and transport it back home.
Water containers are common at the roadside and non-drinking water could be collected at the fire stations.
Aid programmes became increasingly important with in the first 6 months of 2016 drinking water programmes delivered to 2,000 households and Foodlink distributed 268,000 food packages.
Tulare County - Socio-economic costs:
Unemployment as Tulare County lies in the middle of California’s rich agricultural belt so less water and in turn a switch in to less agriculture and different crops means a large loss in jobs.
2014-15, 1500 less farm workers (19% drop)
2015 1/4 families are below to federal poverty level and reliant on food stamps.
Further impacts on local economy and school attendance.
The change in farming including increased use of machinery may be permanent even after the drought ends.
