What would you do if you lost access to running water? That is what the small town of Porterville, Ca is currently experiencing. Water is an essential part of life, a place without water becomes inhabitable. The drought in California is not affecting everybody the in the same way but it has become a bigger problem the longer it lasts. Finding a solution to such a big problem is not an easy task. If you approach the problem from only one direction you might miss something vital. Limiting water to everybody seems to be a simple solution, but if that happens there are many problems that appear because of that. In the book Think Like a Freak, by Levitt and Dubner they explain why looking at a problem from a different angle will yield unexpected results. Although there is no simple solutions, there are ways to fix the drought and to be better prepared for the next inevitable one. One of the main consumers of water are farmers, they account for 80 percent of water usage in California (Skelton). The problem with cutting water to farmers is money; the amount of money that California farmers generate is around 46.4 billion (Fox). Cutting water to farmers will cause unemployment to increase and a decrease in the amount of taxable income. Along with the loss of money and jobs an increase in the price for produce will be expected. Many of the smaller farmers will not be able to make ends meet with the increase price of water. Sure many of the mega farms will get by without a huge
In the his brief but effectual article “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water”, the author Michael Hiltzik presents to the reader “a guide to the wrong ways to think about California water, and the glimmer of a better way”(Hiltzik). In the short piece, Hiltzik argues that the current debate on how California should be spending its meager allowance of water during the current drought is being thoroughly misguided. Hiltzik writes that people should stop criticizing businesses that consume “large” amounts of water, rather, the water already being used should be utilized more efficiently and effectively. “The only lasting solutions include creating a better-functioning water market with transparent pricing and transfers, so that water
My opinion is that California should not regulate groundwater because of farmers and financially. A Farmer would need more water for their crops, animals , accordingly themselves. That is a large amount of water , I do not think that is fair because what would happen if the farmers ran out of water ;they would have to use other residents water. Farmers would have to buy less pickups,employing less people, moreover buying less tractors.In source 1 it says that “the Farmers feel very disconnected with the
California has been in a terrible drought, if we keep doing this it’s just going to get worse. The State of California should have groundwater regulations. Hydrologists are showing charts of how the water keeps lowering over time. Having regulations on groundwater not only will save money, it will save time, and it will help the
What do you think would happen if your town ran out of water? In the town of East Porterville they have not had water in 5 months. Life is really bad for them. They can not do basic stuff that involves using water. I do think that California should control phreatic water.
people are willing to embrace the monster or freak label, even in order to humanize
The farmers need water for their crops and I don’t think that they want to grow less crops, also the people that don’t get a lot of water or anyone that does should get the water.
The first reason that California should regulate water usage is that due to the farmers are using an enormous amount of water, normal people are having trouble showering or using the bathroom. I quote section 2 “when she needs to go, i just take her outside”. No one should live like that. A man from California said that he needs to drive about 4 hours to his sister’s house just
One more efficient way people could conserve would be by having their house inspected for leaks as they account for 16% of our water supply If farmers cut back by just 5% it would be equal to the 25% that the cities in California are required to conserve. The main goal of the city-wide water restrictions
Water is a precious resource. It is the lifeblood of every living thing on Earth. California is in the midst of a water crisis. Combined with a three (plus) year drought and many people moving into the state there is not enough water to support the crops the farmers need to grow. There is also a tiny little fish that is causing a mess in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Delta water pumps were turned off to prevent the extinction of the tiny little fish. Some farmers have to let their fields sit idle for the fall and spring planting season. This is causing a lot of problems in California. The pumps need to be turned back on. The needs of the people should come before that of a fish.
California has just come out of it’s 5th year of drought. In the last 5 years California has had record high temperatures and record low rain and snow. Even though they say the drought is over our groundwater levels are still down because of overpumping. Overpumping has been happening for 50 to 70 years. To me that is a really long time to overuse our water. Groundwater pumping is taking water from the ground. Most of the people using groundwater are farmers so their crops can grow in dry conditions (drought). Groundwater pumping is taking away from future water reserves which is the water we have to use during a drought. If we keep pumping groundwater out of the ground and don’t put it back in to replace it then it is a very bad use of a very valuable resource. California is lucky that state lawmakers are now beginning to try and regulate how groundwater is monitored and managed. The point of doing this is to try to find a better way to use our valuable resource.Fresh water is one of the basic needs of all living things.California needs to limit the amount of groundwater used by recycling wastewater and
From a wider scope of things, water usage is important for more reasons than solely the drought in California. As the world’s population nears 7.4 billion people, more people are born each day compared to how many pass away. Looking at the world’s total volume of water, only 2.5% of it is drinkable fresh water. Furthermore, 70% of that freshwater is frozen. With an every increase population like the one we have today, it is likely that water will become the most important resource to mankind. The problem lies in the way the fresh water is
Currently California is facing a water shortage. The issue has been addressed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in February. He called for all state agencies to find the way to help in the statewide water shortage. This is California’s third consecutive year of drought and last spring and summer was the worst of the season because it had the lowest amount of water recorded and California’s reservoirs were at their lowest point as well which did not help in the water shortage. Many agencies have been acquired to find possible solutions to the water shortage, the Department of Water Resources has been directed to find solutions to the problem as well as asking people to conserve water.
Overall, California should pass laws to manage the misuse of aquifers to be able to get the drought situation under control. This four year drought should have created some laws by the California government after this long. The citizens are suffering and need water, and the only way they’re going to get it is by California creating
California has been experiencing a drought over the past 3 years. The state has tried to keep water usage down in many ways. Encouraging people to take shorter showers and creating a law that enables people to water their grass a certain amount on certain days would be a couple examples. The California legislature is now proposing another law to help the severity of the drought: groundwater regulation. By regulating how much water a certain person should get, we are reducing the likelihood of the drought getting worse than it already is. The California legislature should definitely pass the law to regulate groundwater.
In a discussion on the California drought, one controversial issue has been that if the people in California should be worried about relocating somewhere else. One the one hand, the drought not only affects the people, but animals, and crops too. On the other hand, some hope that the government will intervene and try to do something to prevent this disaster from escalating so people don’t have to move out of the area. The government should intervene and help find a solution to the problem so people, animals, and agricultural can continue to survive.