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Post by gakaren on Feb 12, 2015 17:19:28 GMT -5
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 12, 2015 18:14:32 GMT -5
Yikes
I should be dead by then, but oh my goodness. What will the next generation do? I really want "them" to figure out how to pipe water from the areas that get over saturated. It's not that they don't know how. It's that they need to put $$ and politics aside and do it.
We are entering the 5th year of drought in NM though the drought monitor states "drought conditions are slowly improving".
We've gone from most of the state being in 4."extreme drought" to 5."exceptional drought" to most now in 1."abnormally dry" to 2."moderate drought" to 3."severe drought" .
We'll see what this year brings.
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Post by farmerkevin on Feb 12, 2015 18:17:52 GMT -5
Uh oh. This could be bad :(
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Post by Latitude33 on Feb 12, 2015 21:32:14 GMT -5
Uh oh. This could be bad :( Or perhaps going from bad to worse. FK did your place handle the Santa Anas ok? Lat
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Post by farmerkevin on Feb 13, 2015 0:00:57 GMT -5
Uh oh. This could be bad :( Or perhaps going from bad to worse. FK did your place handle the Santa Anas ok? Lat Yeah. Turned the drip system on to help the trees from drying out. Made sure the smaller trees and shrubs were secure. I have a rain collection system going (current capacity is 660 gallons). Yes it has been that full. I pledged to only use the rainwater on my food producing plants. I'm not sure where I'll be in 50 years. I MAY just have a 20,000 gallon cistern ;)
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Feb 13, 2015 13:50:51 GMT -5
Hearing the reports of 7 + ft. of snow in Massachusetts and the difficulty of movement given the obstacles it's created, and well as possible disposal methods, I've been wondering why some enterprising entrepreneur doesn't rent a fleet of refrigerated trucks and create a transit system to move the excess snow from New England out to the dryer West.
C-130s are used for firefighting, so obviously there's a mechanism of adapting them for water transport. What about C-17's adaptability for water transport, even if they are military transports now?
This isn't just a random thought - there's clearly an imbalance of snow in one area and a shortage of water in another. Seems to me there's a resource imbalance that someone needs to address.
Are there any similar efforts under way or under consideration? It seems a shame for all the Massachusetts snow to be discarded when it could be used for watering, even if some filtering is necessary.
Anyone with more knowledge than I of this possibility?
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Post by gakaren on Feb 13, 2015 14:29:24 GMT -5
Hearing the reports of 7 + ft. of snow in Massachusetts and the difficulty of movement given the obstacles it's created, and well as possible disposal methods, I've been wondering why some enterprising entrepreneur doesn't rent a fleet of refrigerated trucks and create a transit system to move the excess snow from New England out to the dryer West.
C-130s are used for firefighting, so obviously there's a mechanism of adapting them for water transport. What about C-17's adaptability for water transport, even if they are military transports now?
This isn't just a random thought - there's clearly an imbalance of snow in one area and a shortage of water in another. Seems to me there's a resource imbalance that someone needs to address.
Are there any similar efforts under way or under consideration? It seems a shame for all the Massachusetts snow to be discarded when it could be used for watering, even if some filtering is necessary.
Anyone with more knowledge than I of this possibility? COSTS!!!!!! Just like desalination plants are EXPENSIVE and then you have the problem of what to do with all the salt removed from the water. And I have often wondered what would happen if we used too much ocean water and took those levels down????
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Post by Latitude33 on Feb 13, 2015 20:04:23 GMT -5
Locally water issues go beyond climate. Many of the aquifers were polluted in the 50's and 60's. Rainwater that does come is only now being considered for capture and recharge. Most of the flood control/stormwater systems are deigned to take rainfall out to sea. Peoples gots to rethink this here environment.
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Post by octave on Feb 13, 2015 20:21:35 GMT -5
The thing with long-term predictions, those who heard it won't be here to validate it. At least I won't.
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Post by gakaren on Feb 14, 2015 13:30:14 GMT -5
The thing with long-term predictions, those who heard it won't be here to validate it. At least I won't. Me either, but it does point out that we need to change our thinking & planning NOW so that our grandchildren are able to still live & thrive.
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 14, 2015 13:39:35 GMT -5
Absolutely- the thinking and planning needs to change now. It is our responsibility to future generations.
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Feb 14, 2015 14:37:15 GMT -5
It's time for long range planning then. First the US will have to relocate their bread baskets, the central plains were always on the dry side so there is no way irrigation will be able to keep up. The same with the central valley in Cali. We can keep people in southern California if we invest heavily in desalination plants and reverse osmosis plants for recycling sewage. Both will require a lot of power. That could come from a few sources. First 4th generation nuclear plants that actually use previously burned fuel rods from existing plants and drastically reduce their half life. This reduces existing nuclear waste, is a CO2 free method of power generation, and is already designed. The electricity could power the high speed trains if they ever get built. Second the desert(or soon to be desert) areas could have Sterling Cycle power generation thermal power plants installed. These need only a small amount of water to clean the mirrors once a month or so. That will require new electric lines to be run. Photovoltaic panels could be used on roof tops but won't provide enough power by them selves to support any industry including desalination plants. Last if sewage treatment plants were converted to an anaerobic they could provide methane(think natural gas) for a small percentage of energy. These same measures would need to apply to Arizona, most of New Mexico, and west Texas. People nation wide would have to adduct to a more locally produced diet. That means no tomatoes in January, that is why they invented ketchup. Last people would need to move to where water will be in order to reduce the burden on drought stricken areas. This would all need decades of preparation.
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stuckinsouthdakota
Sprout
SDSU Extension 4-H Youth Program Advisor for Pennington County, Black Hills of South Dakota; Zone 4
Posts: 36
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Post by stuckinsouthdakota on Feb 16, 2015 15:40:46 GMT -5
I feel that there will be wars over water in the future...
the haves and have nots will battle for water rights.
not just here but throughout the world, if we don't destroy each other first.
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Post by Veggie Gal on Feb 18, 2015 17:14:27 GMT -5
Stuck, wars over water are already going on in Northern California. Big commercial growers are using up the ground water with big deep wells and the small growers or gardeners have smaller wells and they are going dry.
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 18, 2015 18:13:20 GMT -5
There have been water "wars" in New Mexico for generations. Sometimes through the legal system . Sometimes taking matters into their own hands in the villages. (has anyone seen "The Milagro Beanfield Wars"- great movie about this topic made in the 80's)
But dakota may be thinking about the possibility of large scale global wars for water unfolding in the future. Not a pretty picture.
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