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California governor Jerry Brown wants drought water restrictions to be permanent

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Mistake

Mistake

Member
So is anything being done about poland spring pumping what they want for an easy one time fine of $500? Or are they just going to forget about it?
 
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FrenchMovieTheme

Member
Madness said:
Where did I state it wasn't a good thing? I stated that unless he targets the real wastage of water especially by the agricultural and tourist/golf/resort industries you are not going to achieve much if at all. You could ban lawn watering and car washing altogether and yet more than 80% of the water would still be wasted on the agricultural industry. So unless the governor is willing to take on the big business and agriculture industries (he isn't), nothing will change. California will still keep using tens of trillions of gallons of water they are rapidly running out of.

It reminds me of the ban of pesticides for home use in BC. A lot of people cheered when weed n feed products were banned in Canada. Until they realized that homeowner use of pesticides is nothing compared to the agricultural and industrial industry. All those studies about pesticide runoff to streams, dead animals etc. They had less to do with Johnny Homeowner sprinkling weed killer on his lawn and more to do with idiotic farmers spraying pesticides by thr thousands of gallons over hundreds of acres, companies using weed killing products in golf courses and resort areas known to animals etc. But nope the ban for commercial use never happened, but now Canadians have to either smuggle weed killer from the US or use concentrated hand spraying products that are costly, time consuming and work a fraction as good.
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But conserving any water is better than nothing. It's a small (hopefully first of many) step but a step
 
G

Giant Panda

Member
Condom said:
'Economic liberals'

Always a great source of empathy for the human cause
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CHC said:
You guys heard it here first - if you don't want to pay, get the fuck outta there!

Seriously man get real.
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My proposal would only hurt people who are currently wasting water, so I have to ask then, why are those who waste water deserving of my sympathy? Correctly pricing water is best way to reduce water wastage. Isn't that what you both want?
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
I don't understand why they can't just pass am agricultural water restriction bill that is rolled out slowly over a decade, maybe reducing the gallon per acreage maximum by like 2% annually each year for the next decade or something. Wouldnt that allow for plenty of time for farmers to gradually adjust their crop and for market forces to slowly adjust prices accordingly?
 
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gcubed

Member
If I didn't have to drive by hundreds or thousands of acres of green golf courses all summer, I wouldn't be as annoyed.

I think they really need to reassess water prices. Make them very progressive, where you get a base amount per house then it very very rapidly ramps up from there. No need to water shame anymore as I'll happily take tens of thousands a month from idiot rich people who want to keep their estates green in order to build better solutions for everyone else
 
C

CHC

Member
Giant Panda said:
My proposal would only hurt people who are currently wasting water, so I have to ask then, why are those who waste water deserving of my sympathy? Correctly pricing water is best way to reduce water wastage. Isn't that what you both want?
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All it would really do is make it so the well-off / middle class consume the same amount and cause the price to steadily increase.

I definitely agree that your heart is in the right place I just don't think price adjustment can fix everything in a situation like this, especially in a place as economically diverse as California.
 
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Fenderputty

Banned
claviertekky said:
Hopefully the next step is a ban on dairy in California.

Cows are drinking up a lot of water.

Whenever you drive through Central California, you'll notice how green it is out there.

Sprinklers are on all the time over there.



Plenty of almond trees, grapes, and cattle along the I-5.
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We grow rice. Fucking rice. But yeah force me to re-landscape for 1000's so I don't have a perma yellow lawn.

Edit: if a golf course is green, chances are they use reclaimed water.
 
S

ScatheZombie

Member
Rayis said:
It's actually news to me that California is getting out of the drought, good for Cali
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They aren't getting out of the drought. This year is an El Nino, which should normally mean an excess of water, but it's only barely coming back to pre-drought normal year levels - and really only for northern California, southern Cali is still pretty fucked. That's still drought conditions considering the circumstances. People really need to start realizing that California isn't in a drought at all - it's seeing the first tangible effects of climate change. It's not "bound to come to an end", this is just the way things are now and will be for a long time.

border said:
Isn't like 80% of the state's water going to agricultural use? I don't know how much these little nitpicky things are going to help. No sprinkler use after rain?
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Yes, but farmers have been under harsher restrictions than residents. Hence the 24% drop in state-wide water usage, when maybe 2% of that is attributed to residential water savings. But the news doesn't cover the agricultural restrictions and your typical resident doesn't care. "So what if a local farmer is forced to lose +30% of his yearly revenue, I can't water my lawn after it rains! This is bullshit!"
 
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Fenderputty

Banned
ScatheZombie said:
Yes, but farmers have been under harsher restrictions than residents. Hence the 24% drop in state-wide water usage, when maybe 2% of that is attributed to residential water savings. But the news doesn't cover the agricultural restrictions and your typical resident doesn't care. "So what if a local farmer is forced to lose +30% of his yearly revenue, I can't water my lawn after it rains! This is bullshit!"
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Get rid of commercial AG in California.
 
U

uncelestial

Member
I'm all for this if he also tells Nestle (and anyone else bottling water in California) to get rekt.
http://time.com/4072913/nestle-lawsuit-drought-california/

Note: He will not. I'm not very impressed by Jerry Brown on this, as a Californian. They are pumping water illegally by the millions of gallons so environmental groups are resorting to lawsuits. Meanwhile he makes big public stances lecturing the public about lawn care when 80% of CA's water use is agricultural and who knows what other percentage is industrial (such as bottling).

Saving any water we can is a good thing, I'm for the restrictions, but this dude could have a lot more impact if he started looking into waste in the, oh, 90% of the rest of our water use.
 
S

ScatheZombie

Member
Fenderputty said:
Get rid of commercial AG in California.
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That would be a really, really bad idea when you realize just how much food California produces. The country would be better off getting rid of all of Colorado and shipping their water to Cali. Which is kinda what already happens anyway.
 
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Frankfurter

Member
ScatheZombie said:
That would be a really, really bad idea when you realize just how much food California produces. The country would be better off getting rid of all of Colorado and shipping their water to Cali. Which is kinda what already happens anyway.
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It's ultimately gonna have to happen, though. California for the most part is a desert, which gets watered. And there just isn't a sufficient water supply for the long (or even the medium) run.
 
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