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Comment by jdavis703 | Hacker News Reader

How can we make this argument when rivers like the Colorado are barely a trickle by the time they reach the ocean? Even arid areas that seem fertile like the Southwest and the Central Valley are only fertile because we're diverting and pumping water unsustainably.

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Because most of the US does not have this problem. The Colorado River basin does, but it's worth noting that California's allocation is very high relative to the portion of the drainage basin within the state, and most of the state's allocation (>88%) is pumped out of the basin.

Top users of California's allocation of Colorado River water are [1]:

- the Irrigation Districts of the Imperial Valley (~61%) and its northwest extension the Coachella Valley (~8%);

- the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (~20%) [2];

- the Palo Verde Irrigation District (~8%). The Palo Verde Irrigation District is inside the Colorado River basin.

[1] https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/4200Rpts/DecreeRpt/2018... [2] http://www.mwdh2o.com/AboutYourWater/Sources%20Of%20Supply/P...

At the very least, you'd think that California could make much more use of desalination, and greatly reduce the amount of damage they do to the CRB.

A "water grid" sounds appealing, especially given the uncertainty of climate change. But you have to consider that water is used so much by human that you need pipes on much larger scale than you need with petroleum (the water needed for agriculture dwarfs that needed for cities - it can be easier to move the farms to the water than the water to farms). And water is quite heavy given the amount being moved, so you much more energy than you need for petroleum. Just remember that to move a river across a mountain you need the more than energy of a vast series of dams on the other side - since a some proportion is lost to friction.

Nee gig for Musk’s Boring Company? Drilling water pipelines right through the mountains.

On the Colorado we’re not even taking the easy wins like “store all the water in one big reservoir during drought to prevent evaporation”.

What do you mean? It seems like you described Lake Meade -- the reservoir created by the hoover dam.

I think they mean Lake Meade is so low different turbines have been added to the Hoover Dam to generate electricity even at low water levels.

No, I meant that we shouldn’t be storing water at the Glen Canyon Dam, since two large shallow lakes have more surface area. And on this scale, evaporation actually matters—consider the shade balls used in California reservoirs. But for some reason, upstream folk think that if the let the water go they will never see it again. This is not the way legal allotments work. But it’s the same reason people prefer dams to underground storage, because seeing things feels reassuring, despite it being less efficient.

StoppIng unsustainable use, would be one part of how to fix it.

So much of is either for making a semi-desert region into one of the most productive agricultural lands on earth and another fraction goes on to quench the thirst of the L.A. Basin.

I guess we could cap either per person use or cap the pop in L.A.

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