Water wars begin in California

water-wars-begin-in-california

Now in its third year of record-breaking drought conditions, the water-deprived state of California is reportedly beefing up its law enforcement to crack down on so-called water "abusers" who use too much. In Los Angeles, a full-time "water cop," with three more on the way, now patrols the streets daily looking for violators, according to the Los Angeles Daily News (LADN), an indication of the escalating water wars taking place in the West.

More than 75 percent of California's water stock is currently devoted to agriculture, with the remaining 25 percent nourishing residents, feeding lawns and washing cars. But with an ever-growing population and increasing demand, clean water is increasingly becoming a rarity in the Golden State. Because of this, drought restrictions have been enacted in many areas that restrict when and how much water can be used for secondary purposes, rules that many residents continually flout.

In years past, the state was able to get away with relatively loose enforcement of these water rules, given the caveat that at least some people would abide by them out of principle, conserving just enough of this precious resource to get by. But as drought conditions continue to break record levels, and with an underperforming El Nino season expected this fall, stricter enforcement of water restrictions is necessary, claims the state.

"Everything has changed with the drought," said Rick Silva, the one-man enforcement arm of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's (LADWP) Water Conservation Unit, about the situation. Silva currently patrols neighborhoods alone, looking for potential water violators, and he is expecting three more people to join him in the coming months.

"We're upping our enforcement. We're getting more staff. And we're going to start issuing more tickets."

California residents who use 'too much' water face sharp fines

For now, Silva is focusing primarily on educating Californians about the drought, issuing verbal warnings and constructive criticisms, in most cases, rather than monetary fines. But that could soon change as the water wars mount, and particularly as water usage increases in many parts of the state despite the continued drought.

All along the California coast, for instance, where most of the state's wealthy people live, water usage has jumped by about 8 percent. And in Los Angeles, where water conservation efforts have been largely successful due to strong citizen support, water usage has curiously jumped 5 percent over the past year, even though officers have more aggressively issued fines of up to $600 for violations.

"For us, it's not about being heavy-handed," stressed Silva to LADN. "It's about education, eliciting a change. People know it's a drought: If they know better, they'll comply."

California farmers threatened as authorities divert scarce freshwater directly into ocean

It is not just California's urban dwellers that are having to change their water usage habits, though. Many California farmers face devastation due to heavy restrictions that stem not only from the drought but also from water management requirements that threaten to leave some of them with zero access to water this year.

"This year is a whole new level of crazy," stated Ara Azhderian from the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, to The Fresno Bee.

Azhderian's group represents farmers who are slated to be cut off from the water supply altogether due to state-mandated restrictions that require freshwater to be diverted from farms into the ocean. The purpose of this, say some environmentalists, is to protect native fish species from devastation. But the cost will be a loss of water for 3 million acres of California farmland and 25 million California residents.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.dailynews.com
http://www.fresnobee.com
http://www.latimes.com
http://science.naturalnews.com

Source: Natural News
Written by Ethan A. Huff

Featured image: Effect of the Drought on Uvas Reservoir by Don DeBold (CC – Flickr)

Share:

Commenting rules and guidelines

We value the thoughts and opinions of our readers and welcome healthy discussions on our website. In order to maintain a respectful and positive community, we ask that all commenters follow these rules:

  • Treat others with kindness and respect.
  • Stay on topic and contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way.
  • Do not use abusive or hateful language.
  • Do not spam or promote unrelated products or services.
  • Do not post any personal information or content that is illegal, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these rules. By commenting on our website, you agree to abide by these guidelines. Thank you for helping to create a positive and welcoming environment for all.

12 Comments

  1. Over the past several years President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have been quietly putting in place the legal structure to open the floodgates for massive fresh water exports from CANADA to the USA and Mexico.

    The recently announced go-ahead for the massive Site C Dam and reservoir in Northern British Columbia is part of the plan which is a revised version of the NAWAPA.

    We discuss a these plans and more about the Canadian effort to supply fresh water to the United States and Mexico on the Water War Crimes web site http://www.waterwrcrimes.com

  2. {The author wrote} "More than 75 percent of California's water stock is currently devoted to agriculture, with the remaining 25 percent nourishing residents, feeding lawns and washing cars".

    The author is guilty of wildly over-stating residential water use, as the number #2 and #3 water uses are power plant cooling and industrial/business use. Total residential water use not including the water used to produce food crops is only 5-7% of total water use across the US.

    Every golf course in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area uses over 1 million gallons of water per day, which is 3 acre feet. Is that water use residential, agricultural, or none of the above?

    Recent studies have shown that every gallon of gasoline, diesel fuel, or jet fuel requires between 10 and 13 gallons of water to produce, as does every cubic foot of natural gas used too. So how do we classify water used to produce fuel, as residential or agricultural?

    Just saying, and if you think that the water wars in California are bad, you should see the water wars going on right now between Texas and New Mexico, and between Texas and Mexico too.

    The great Texas and New Mexico water war has four different Federal court cases going and Texas would love to start a shooting war with northern Mexico over water too, a water use growth trend that we can largely blame the fracking industry and the NAFTA treaty for too.

    Worse yet, the loser of those Federal court cases between Texas and New Mexico will very likely be left without a livable water supply, which is a much bigger story in my opinion than is some human interest story about LA's poor lonely water cop too.

  3. Sheeples,look again to the WWO who controls ALL the water in the world yes ALL. The California farmers
    will be devastated by this and that is precisely what they want,can anyone say food shortage? IF THEY
    could regulate how much saliva you make they would,
    OH yeah I forgot when we are all starving and dying of thirst it will not matter anyways…..

  4. Let's just say this is all about money. Municipal govts. are cash strapped because of all the tax dollars generated by fewer and fewer natural born residents/taxpayers,diverted to pay for more and more "guests", flocking into states like California. This is just a money grab.

  5. biggest wastes of water IMO:
    fracking
    cooling nuclear plants
    industrial waste dumping into water systems
    cooling NSA computer systems
    watering gmo crops
    lawns
    swimming pools

  6. Honest question. Where does the water go? Are aliens stealing it? If so, then we have a great concern.

    Otherwise, water molecules always stay on the Earth, contained by our gravitational pull. A drought in one place means excess water in another region correct?

    I live in the northwest and we are receiving more water than usual. I see that California has a strange high pressure zone that keeps pushing their water up to us.

  7. HEY CALIFORNIA: TIME TO SMELL THE SEPTIC TANK. THE ELITES WANT YOU GONE. THEY ARE DESTROYING THE ECONOMY IN CA, THEY ARE MANIPULATING THE WEATHER SO THAT THE RAIN DOES NOT FALL, AND WHEN ENOUGH WHITES HAVE BEEN REPLACED BY HISPANICS, THEN THEY WILL LET IT RAIN. CALIFORNIA IS BANKRUPT AND JERRY BROWN DOES NOT HAVE A CLUE HOW TO FIX IT, ARNOLD WAS CHOSEN BY THE ELITES BECAUSE THEY KNEW HE WOULD MAKE THE ECONOMY AND DEFICIT WORSE, AND HE DID. I WAS BORN IN THE BAY AREA AND LIVED IN LA FOR 32 YEARS UNTIL I HAD ENOUGH OF THE CORPORATEOCRACY AT SLAVE T AND T. NOW I LIVE IN A STATE THAT IS GETTING TONS OF RAIN. HAARP IS ALL ABOUT MOVING THE JET STREAM SO THAT THEY CAN CONTROL THE WEATHER. THEY WILL MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR PEOPLE TO LIVE IN CA, THAT IS THE PLAN. WAKE UP AND MOVE OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES….CA WILL FALL TO THE CHINESE, THEY HAVE BEEN PROMISED THIS BY HILLARY IN RETURN FOR BUYING OUR WORTHLESS TREASURIES. EITHER THAT OR IT WILL BE COMPLETELY CONTAMINATED BY RADIATION. SORRY BUT THE PARTY IS OVER, NOTHING LEFT BUT DIRTY ASHTRAYS AND EMPTY BEER BOTTLES AND NO WATER TO CLEAN IT UP WITH….REMOVE THE ELITES FROM GOVERNMENT AND START OVER, NO MORE FREEMASONS, THEY ARE A SCOURGE UPON OUR SOCIETY, THEY WORSHIP LUCIFER AND WANT TO CONTROL THE WORLD WITH THEIR ONE WORLD ORDER.

  8. Thats a big Ocean, and it has lots of water.
    Cutting the farmer off is like cutting your nose off to spite your face. When this country goes hungary, because the water is going to the ocean. lets see how the EPA takes care of the people. I can see not wasting any water, but to stop food production is plain nuts.
    Also the fish are going to die anyway , because of the Radiation coming from Japan. They already are. I don't think the EPA has any brains to think with. They only are in it for the money, not concern of the world.

    What are they going to do next year?

    1. >Also the fish are going to die anyway , because of the Radiation coming from Japan.

      Do you realize how much radiation that would take? As it crosses the Pacific, it disperses and massively weakens. If Fukushima radiation is killing fish in California, all of Japan would be uninhabitable.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *