California Drought Before/After: Is this for real?

a reply to: FlySolo

i live right here, i can see lake oroville from my property. yes there are a lot of growers of cannibis up there, however none of them use water out of the lake. its not the best, and if you were caught taking water out of it, you would get into loads of trouble. they either have wells, or they pay water trucks to truck it up to their property 2000-4000 gallons at a time. the growers probably do use 200-300 gallons a day, but they have been there for 40 years and the lake was never this bad, and they are paying WAY more for their water than any of you (literally 150-300 dollars a week, A WEEK, unless you spend thousands to dig a new well, or spend thousands to get on the county water system, which is pointless at this time because the wells are drying up, at which point the county will have to pay to have water trucked up to you.) the 320 gallons is an average. most individuals dont use that much daily, but if you add up all the water used to feed us, that went into growing that food, that went into making our products, etc etc, it adds up quick. im telling you guys right now, be thankful you have water on demand, because literally before i lived there, i never once in my life worried about water. if you are caught taking water up there without permission (sometimes even with it) you will get a huge fine or go to jail. its no joke up there. most of the water in california is going to agriculture. which takes a HUGE amount of water every single day. those pictures are 100% accurate. that lake looks exactly like that. the concrete bridge is so sad. it makes me sad to drive over it every time, knowing the water is supposed to be so much higher. its super sad, and super scary, and will take at least a couple of years to get back to normal. yeah theres a lot of growers up there, but that lake is being drained by southern california and the valley, and the HUGE MASSIVE amount of ag that happens there (hence the name, the bread basket of america) not orovillians or butte county. oroville itself kinda sucks, but berry creek next to it is beautiful. its a really awesome place, its sad that the south is jacking all the water. also look up lake folsom. that ones really bad too. anyways, yes this is 100% real, straight up. be thankful you have water on demand. and, its not the cannibis growers, its the ag growers. cannibis growers grow maybe 20-30 plants each, ag grow THOUSANDS ALL YEAR ROUND. this is one reason why some want to sever california into 6 states, the south robs the north or their resources.

a reply to: FlySolo

Man if those pictures don't paint a scary sight!!!
As far as the water usage, I don't know about other Americans, but we don't pay for our water here and DO NOT use even 25 gallons in a day. More like ten MAX!!! Most days next to None!!!

if your growing in a 5 gallon bucket your wasting your time. our plants (totally legal btw, NOTHING illegal) are in 200 gallon pots and need roughly 10 gallons of water a day, for 30 plants. 2 days water 1 day off. now that does add up to a lot of water, compared to normal usage (unless you have a normal REGULAR garden) but that is NOTHING compared to what is needed by a single orchard, or a single field of any ag product. its not the cannabis, and if you spent even 2 seconds in the valley you would see literally endless fields of plants of all kinds with signs every mile that read "no water no jobs". the only people who are destroying the environment with cannabis, are industrial growers, who are only trying to make money, and dont care for the law, at all. they need to be shut down. period. personal growers, who grow for themselves, dont want to get shut down, they love their plants, they put a lot of time and money and love into them, too much for them to be shut down because they were stupid enough to break a law. im not trying to brag or teach about growing marijuana, or anything along those lines, just bringing my perspective, sense i live next to the lake in the post, and know MANY growers there, the water in that lake doesnt go to the people of oroville it goes mostly to the south. and in case you were wondering, its the north that is known for their cannabis growth, not southern california. speaking for experience, from living in california my whole life, from growing all kinds of things my whole life, from traveling, from being apart of ag my whole life, cannabis IS NOT the problem, big ag is the problem. federal enviornmental laws are the problem. pointless regulations getting in the way of solutions is the problem. we had a drought, and big ag exacerbated it.

a reply to: SyxPak

you might not use the water itself, but what about the water that went into the food that you are eating, the water that went into the making of the products you use, the water in your vehicle, etc etc. its not just the direct use of water, its indirect use as well that adds up

I was curious about how much water my household uses because of the 350 average. I live in Phoenix, so it's obviously quite hot here during the summer.

We have a 26,000 gallon pool. We don't water the front or back yard. Another factor is if all I have to do is pee I always just go out in the backyard in the corner away from the house, because I read somewhere a while back that if every man in the US peed outside just once a month it would save some ridiculous amount of water that I can't recall. I have a 3 adults living here and 5 dogs who all obviously need water, as well as the large pool.

We used 7,000 gallons of water last month which averages out to a little over 225 gallons of water per day. That's with the pool, in the middle of the summer, so it's hard to believe people are using 350 gallons per day. Then again, I could see it if people just don't care about water usage. I try and use as little as I can.

ETA: Did a quick search and actually the USGS says each person uses about 80-100 gallons per day. Each person, not each household. Here's that information: water.usgs.gov...

originally posted by: knightsofcydonia
Think about how much cannabis is being cultivated. It's hard to think that isn't playing a role in this.

What a debbie downer!

How long before those trees die?

They have to go 10 meters deeper for water...

Did you know.. Egypt did once look like that !

a reply to: FlySolo
lake Shasta..nice website

Data as of Midnight: August 25, 2014
Current Storage: 1,391,647 AF
31% of Total Capacity
47% of Historical Avg. For This Date
(Total Capacity: 4,552,000 AF)
(Avg. Storage for Aug 25: 2,947,235 AF)

cdec.water.ca.gov...

a reply to: primoaurelius

Yes I agree with that. I was merely stating the actual usage in my home.
I also like the above post you wrote about the lake water usage. Very informative post!!

Well here is what the EPA says....

The average American family of four uses 400 gallons of water per day. On average, approximately 70 percent of that water is used indoors, with the bathroom being the largest consumer (a toilet alone can use 27 percent!).

Standard toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush, while older toilets can use as much as 3.5 to 7 gallons per flush.

Standard showerheads use 2.5 gallons per minute and also require energy to heat the water.

A bathroom faucet generally runs at 2 gallons per minute.

epa.gov

article.wn.com... Here is some more information concerning drought in CA. The video and article state there is 63 Trillion gallons of water gone from the aquifer. Most of it was used up by CA to grown crops. The rest just went into the Baja Of California. Because that is where the Colorado River empties into, if it has enough water.

a reply to: Ceeker63

i am in northern calif...we have 5 adults in our household... house,no pool we stopped watering our grass this year...the bill always has a comparison to the year before.

may last year 175 this year 199

june last year 175 this year 193

july last year 290 this year 175

this is for the WHOLE month of each month listed ,so, I don't know where they get this 300 gallons a day

Doesn't Kevin Costner and others have a machine that converts salt water into fresh drinkable water? Someone needs to step up and save Cali. They are beside a vast ocean of water.

a reply to: FlySolo

I guess it depends on the size of the household, and what they do. I found this data here - USGS - Water Science for Schools -

Bath: 36 gallons is a reasonable average
Shower: 2.5 gallons per minute Old showerheads may use 4 gal/min whereas newer low-flow showerheads use about 2.
Teeth brushing: 1 gallon Depends on if you let the water run while brushing
Hands/face washing: 1 gallon
Face/leg shaving: 1 gallon Depends on if you let the water run while shaving.
Dishwasher: 20 gallons/load New energy-efficient models may only use 4 gallons.
Dishwashing by hand: 4 gallons/minute With a low-flow faucet head, might be 2 gallon.
Clothes washing (machine): : 40 gallons/load (top loading) Front-loaders may use about 20 gallons/load. New models use less water than old models.
Toilet flush: 3 gallons for an older model. New energy-efficient toilets might only use 1-1.6 gallon/flush.
Glasses of water drunk: 8 oz. per glass (1/16th of a gallon)

So, if those numbers are correct, it seems possible.

a reply to: Bishop2199

Just water at night, less evaporation. ~$heopleNation

We have too much water here in Saskatchewan, farmers couldn't get on their fields and crops were planted late.

It looks like a good chunk of the canola crops won't be ready before the first frost, so they'll be lost.

Drought can also mean too much water as well.

anyways, found a little vid to cheer you guys up!

originally posted by: LadyGreenEyes
a reply to: FlySolo

I guess it depends on the size of the household, and what they do. I found this data here - USGS - Water Science for Schools -

Bath: 36 gallons is a reasonable average
Shower: 2.5 gallons per minute Old showerheads may use 4 gal/min whereas newer low-flow showerheads use about 2.
Teeth brushing: 1 gallon Depends on if you let the water run while brushing
Hands/face washing: 1 gallon
Face/leg shaving: 1 gallon Depends on if you let the water run while shaving.
Dishwasher: 20 gallons/load New energy-efficient models may only use 4 gallons.
Dishwashing by hand: 4 gallons/minute With a low-flow faucet head, might be 2 gallon.
Clothes washing (machine): : 40 gallons/load (top loading) Front-loaders may use about 20 gallons/load. New models use less water than old models.
Toilet flush: 3 gallons for an older model. New energy-efficient toilets might only use 1-1.6 gallon/flush.
Glasses of water drunk: 8 oz. per glass (1/16th of a gallon)

So, if those numbers are correct, it seems possible.

What? That's crazy. I can see that with a house of three though but individually, that's nuts. Bath's could be outlawed but women would revolt lol. If you're doing laundry every day, somethings wrong too. A gallon for women to shave their legs? I can live with that lol. Toilet, dishes, and brushing your teeth is probably where a lot of wastage goes. I'm going to monitor my water intake for a week and see exactly how much I use.

originally posted by: research100
a reply to: Ceeker63

i am in northern calif...we have 5 adults in our household... house,no pool we stopped watering our grass this year...the bill always has a comparison to the year before.

may last year 175 this year 199

june last year 175 this year 193

july last year 290 this year 175

this is for the WHOLE month of each month listed ,so, I don't know where they get this 300 gallons a day

I think you have to check the units on your water, it may be thousands. A 5 minute shower uses about 10 gallons of water. If you and your family shower daily that is 50 gallons a day and 1500 gallons a month. A washing machine uses 40 gallons per load. So you see it adds up quickly...

a reply to: FlySolo

From the USGS (United States Geologoical Survey):


Typical water use at home
Bath A full tub is about 36 gallons.
Shower 2-2.5 gallons per minute. Old shower heads use as much as 4 gallons per minute.
Teeth brushing 1 gallon, especially if water is turned off while brushing. Newer bath faucets use about 1 gallon per minute, whereas older models use over 2 gallons.
Hands/face washing 1 gallon
Face/leg shaving 1 gallon
Dishwasher 20 gallons/load, depending of efficiency of dishwasher
Dishwashing by hand: 4 gallons/minute for old faucets.. Newer kitchen faucets use about 1-2 gallons per minutes.
Clothes washer 25 gallons/load for newer washers. Older models use about 40 gallons per load.
Toilet flush 3 gallons for older models. Most all new toilets use 1.2-1.6 gallons per flush.
Glasses of water drunk 8 oz. per glass (did you remember to drink your 8 glasses of water today?)
Outdoor watering 2 gallons per minute

Sorry about the formating it was in a table - note that many of the amounts are PER MINUTE.

water.usgs.gov...

I'd say this list doesn't include everything. Doesn't mention cooking - I use around a gallon a day for cooking.

I think the 320 gallon a day is rather low in fact.

The pictures are accurate, the lakes are often low in CA - we've had regular droughts since I was a child but nothing like this.

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency - LOL):

The average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day at home. Roughly 70 percent of this use occurs indoors. Nationally, outdoor water use accounts for 30 percent of household use yet can be much higher in drier parts of the country and in more water-intensive landscapes. For example, the arid West has some of the highest per capita residential water use because of landscape irrigation.

www.epa.gov...

Here's a British source to look at it's in Cubic Metres and liters so conversion is necessary. They emphasize that is depends largely on how many people are in a household.

www.ccwater.org.uk...

Here's an informative page:

www.waterinfo.org...

That says:

The average American uses 176 gallons of water per day compared to 5 gallons of water the average African family uses each day. (www.water.org)

(it also says, on a side note)

Average amount of pesticides used per acre, per year, on golf courses: 18 pounds

And for all the 'we have plenty of water' crowd that doesn't understand that Saltwater won't help:

Three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered with water, yet 98 percent is salt water and not fit for consumption.
Less than one percent of all the water on Earth is freshwater available for human consumption.

originally posted by: FyreByrd

And for all the 'we have plenty of water' crowd that doesn't understand that Saltwater won't help:

Three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered with water, yet 98 percent is salt water and not fit for consumption.
Less than one percent of all the water on Earth is freshwater available for human consumption.

So something like this:

Would be completely useless in your opinion?