Groundwater pumping by farmers should be regulated by the state of California. If civilians in the state are being required to cut water usage back by twenty-five percent (Dimick, 2015), then the farmers should have to as well. The drought is a serious issue for California and a large portion of the Western part of the United States. That whole region of the country should be doing as much as they can to preserve their water resources until the drought (hopefully) ends. Otherwise, this could turn into a major issue for the entire country, not just that state. The state needs to take this issue more seriously and not only think about the water they are consuming but also how it is affecting the climate. “NASA scientists predict that rapidly …show more content…
Also stated in the article, this is the first time a restriction on water usage has been mandated by the state. The state is in a crisis of need for water. That being said, I was curious about the average water intake, so I decided to look up how much water the average American Family uses per day. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) the average American family uses 300-400 gallons of water per day. If people are expected to cut their use by twenty-five percent, that means each family will only be required to use seventy-five gallons less than they normally would. That is not a lot at all. Which is why farmers should be doing their part, and be required to regulate their groundwater pumping in the state of California. Furthermore, according to the National Geographic article, the majority of the water used in California is used for agriculture by farmers. It does not seem right to me that the people who are using the most water do not have to follow the new regulations. Additionally, the farmers are pumping groundwater to make up for the lack of surface water (Dimick, 2015). If farmers want to do this, they should have to keep detailed records of exactly how much water they pump each time. Otherwise, the state could run into bigger problems if the farmers completely deplete the groundwater resource as well. Again, this means the farmers would have to be
In the article of the week The Wrong Way to “Think about California Water” by Michael Hiltzik, Hiltzik explains why we are thinking about California's water the wrong way. He gives several reasons why we are thinking about California's drought the wrong way that seem to significant , but my family can cut back on water usage using these same principles. First, even when he said that water bottles are not the significant causes of water usage they still are a portion of that water usage. A way we could save water is to finish all that water, drink only when we're thirsty, and give any leftover water to the plants, making it a double win. Another way we could save water is to use more drought resistant plants, or fake plants.
This article touches base on one of numerous ongoing issues in California right now, drought. The author travels to a few of the various counties that are feeling this drought the greatest. Meanwhile, he also interviews a few farmers on the issues, to get their opinion on the drought. “Generally, farms established before 1914 get their water allotment before farms with lower-priority rights.” (Richtel, page 6).
In the article “California Drought: Governor Jerry Brown Issues Water Rules” for the Cable News Network, Ray Sanchez explains how Governor Jerry Brown is taking drastic measures to reduce California’s water usage. To do that, he has established many rules and restrictions on the people of California, as well as its businesses and farms. Governor Brown states that this drought needs extraordinary actions, as it has shown in the Sierra Nevada Mountains which has lost snow and are now covered with dry and brown grass. I agree with Sanchez and Governor Brown about imposing these rules and restriction on the people of California because these restrictions are going to help guide California out of the drought or at least help maintain and not let this drought get any worse than it already is. I agree with the author because in the article he provides good support to show why these rules need to be enacted upon
Water is the most important resource in the world. Without water, we would not be able to thrive. Water is essential for farming, businesses, and the general public. Florida, Georgia, and Alabama have been in a two-decade long argument over water use because it has been negatively impacting states’ communities. In the article, How the Florida-Georgia Water Fight Could Affect Atlanta, Molly Samuel discusses the water sources that are being fought over and the impacts these water sources have on the communities.
Article of the Week Response “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water” is an argumentative piece of writing that was written by Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times. This article stresses mostly about the mere fact of how people waste water; especially in California. The major drought is causing people to use more water than we actually need to use normally. We don’t need to use as much water as we do
( Document F) Since the government has not raised the prices, I feel that the citizens aren't aware of how much water they truly consume. If they raided the price, I feel that Citizens would be more cautious about using water. I also feel that the government should put a limit on how much water a citizen can use. If they cap at a certain amount everyone would have enough water to
Everywhere throughout the planet there are unfathomable pockets of water underground in aquifers – surface water from downpour, rivers and lakes that has progressively streamed down through the greater part of the soil, silt and shakes to shape underground stores – and you can drill for these pockets of water the same route as you would drill for oil. California as of now gets 33% of its water supply from underground aquifers, from precipitation that fell in CA over 10,000 years back! The issue is that there is no organizing in California with regards to groundwater drilling , and it 's essentially the Wild West (truly). A few organizations simply pump as much as they need, with no regulation and the aquifers are getting to be drain. California
Roye explains this principle stating, “The law grants landowners complete autonomy to take as much groundwater as they please,” (Roye, 12). This means an individual could sell Nestlé or another water corporation its property, for a hearty profit, and the water company would now own the sole rights to that water
Now, as all you may know I am a strong activist for the care of our Earth and environment. A lot of the recent environmental problems in our great nation that I just could not ignore. One of the first problems is the West Coast Drought, we need to find ways to save our water. The first way is for our Farmers to use less water when watering crops in the West. It will just be for sometime before we are stable with water over there.
The cause of all this is the unregulated pumping of groundwater out of aquifers by California 's farmers in the Central Valley. As water is drawn out of these reservoirs, their structural integrity fails and they consequently collapse, causing the land above to sink. Once the aquifers collapse, their maximum capacity is reduced, so they cannot be fully refilled during wet periods. Less water will be stored and pumped, which is a major concern for drought years in the future.
The water issue in California is growing every day, especially in a time of drought. However, we are thinking about the water usage in California all wrong. As stated in Michael Hiltzik ‘s article, “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water”. California 's revenue is greatly dependent on agriculture, which is the biggest water consumer. Although, this is all the media focuses on as the cause of water depletion, especially California 's almond crops.
California needs to listen to the people in this town and find another way to preserve this water . Our state is putting these people through a horrible time and this town may not even be suitable for living and people who have lived there for almost 50 to 60 years will have to move out of the house they most likely we would want to be deceased in . They are putting little children trough things adults can 't even handle for a day ! Farming will become obsolete and this town will have to receive packages from other cities or towns just for food or vegetables . In conclusion this is horrible and California should not revoke our privileges and preserve their water a totally
Due to a shortage of water in California, the governor has proposed a diversion system to move water from the Northern California to Southern California. As for this will probably help since there is more farming, and more climate changes in Northern California. This will make a big bad and good difference. First, it will be a bad situation because then the farmers will not have the water they need for their crops, animals, etc.
The 2012 State Water Plan was adopted by the Board on December 15, 2011, and sent to the Governor on January 5, 2012. It offers an honest assessment of the current landscape and offers a variety of solutions for dealing with the problem, focusing mainly on conservation and efficiency, but also on building new reservoirs, tapping additional sources of water underground and treating waste water. Its main message is that in serious drought conditions, Texas does not and will not have enough water to meet the needs of its people, its businesses, and its agricultural enterprises. Some of the water in the new plan is expected to come from conservation by municipal customers and farmers. Most of the water will come from what the plan calls “other surface water,” which would involve better connecting existing surface water supplies and building off-channel reservoirs.
Did you know that 1.4 trillion gallons were flushed into San Francisco Bay, in 2008 just to save the Delta Smelt? There have been restrictions on water. For this reason, farmers are not getting enough water to use for their crops. In my opinion, the water should be kept for the farmers to use.