The depleted Almaden Reservoir near San Jose, California, in February 2014.
The Golden Brown States fourth year of drought has brought massive land sinkage, aka subsidence, caused by continued and deeper drilling of ground water by farmers. The subsidence has been observed for a while, but it is getting worse as more water is pumped out of the ground.
Not only is the subsidence another warning about the limited water supply, but the land sinkage also disturbs the proper functioning of water infrastructure around the state. For example, canals were designed with a precise degree of slope to move water by gravity, and the subsidence has disrupted that.
Around 80 percent of state water use goes for agriculture. Nevertheless, when drought comes, citizen users are exhorted to cut back severely. Responsible Californians have heard the message: in August, cities reduced their water use by nearly 27 percent, slightly better than Gov. Jerry Browns mandate in April of a 25 percent cutback.
California is an environmentally overpopulated state at 38.8 million, a sustainability problem exacerbated by unrestricted illegal immigration which has added millions of uninvited residents. Gov. Brown believes himself to be a model environmentalist, but when he visited Mexico (population 120 million) in August 2014, he invited all of them to come to California. The big picture is that the road map of elites to create easy economic expansion via immigration-fueled population growth is not quite the trouble-free path they imagine. California is once again the bad example of the many problems caused by excessive immigration, Nature bats last, as they say.
We Californians are hopeful, however, because of the El Nino conditions which promise a rainy winter.
The bad news is that big rains could also cause flooding because of the subsidence and its damage to water control infrastructure like the delta levees in the central part of the state. The levees near Sacramento have long been identified as dangerously weak anyway, but the land sinkage has worsened their stability.
(AP caption) This July 23, 2015, photo provided by the California Department of Water Resources shows the Russell Avenue bridge over the Delta Mendota Canal in Firebaugh. The drought has caused the bridge to subside until theres almost no space between the bottom of the bridge decking and the canal water surface. A NASA scientist says in a report released Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015, that parts of Californias Central Valley are sinking faster than ever as groundwater is being pumped during the states historic drought.
The PBS Newshour had a report on the California subsidence problem on Wednesday:
Poster Comment:
California agribusiness does not think about the future when they import illegal aliens, no surprise they would show the same attitude when it comes to pumping groundwater and depleting aquifers, often to the point of collapse.