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I think we're going to hit a stage where if we don't restrict industrial pumping from these reservoirs they are going to just run dry. Having grass in deserts, unlimited housing in deserts, and growing food in places where it just wasn't made for without sucking billions of gallons of water from other places just doesn't make sense.

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Deserts are excellent places for agriculture for the same reason they are good for solar power. There is an abundant amount of solar energy, the growing season is long and consistent, there are few pests, and reversing desertification has numerous environmental benefits.

The problem is an engineering problem: We need to build more reservoirs, encourage rainwater harvesting, convert agriculture to more efficient irrigation, and build out desalination. The Earth has no shortage of H2O, in fact it’s one of the most abundant things on the planet.

Solar and growing food aren't exactly apple to apples. One has no moving parts and doesn't require moving a natural resource for it to work. Maybe if you argued about hydroponics in the area using solar to power the lights inside the building and AC, but growing food in a desert where water is scarce by taking it in insane volumes from another place just doesn't make sense to me.

>growing food in a desert where water is scarce by taking it in insane volumes from another place just doesn't make sense to me

The central valley project has arguably been one of the most impressive things humanity has ever done. It turned 3 million acres of desert into farmland, which has provided us with almost 100 years of food and also produces over 5 Twh of electricity per year.

It may already be too late. The rate of subsidence in the growing regions of California is astonishing[1]--nearly a foot per year in some places. Some aquifers can take a long, long time to recharge (the rate differs per aquifer) and some aquifers can be damaged by compaction and never recharge[2].

[1] https://www.usgs.gov/centers/ca-water-ls

[2] https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/aquifer-compaction

Yeah. Not a lot of sympathy, there's plenty of water to go around, stop trying to grow corn in a desert.

Good luck: https://youtu.be/rWpui1P9cAY

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