It Is Time To Supplement Our Sources of Water
California State Water Resources Control Board Votes To End Water Diversions For Over 5,700 Farmers
This headline from the California Globe reveals the downstream (pun intended) effects of drought and poor water management.
“The California State Water Resources Control Board unanimously voted 5-0 on Tuesday to stop water diversions for thousands of Californians in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed on Tuesday.”
This means thousands of farmers will be cut off from surface water supplies. “5,700 water right holders, including farmers and landowners, would no longer be able to divert water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin River watersheds for agricultural use.” That means a good portion of the San Joaquin Valley, one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, will suffer a significant drop in agricultural production. The result? Less food availability and higher prices.
“Failure to comply will result in penalties as high as $1,000 per day, as well as up to $2,500 for each acre-foot of water diverted without expressed permission. While enforcement will be mainly targeted at those that disrupt water flow, they can be applied to anyone.”
As California and much of the US West struggle with systemic drought, it raises the question of planning and management of the region’s water resources. After all, this is not a new problem. Drought has been a hallmark of the Western US for hundreds of years. Therefore, this is not another argument about Climate Change. Rather, it is a wake-up call to consider all of possibilities and solutions that can alleviate the situation. It is time to take advantage of advances in technology to supplement the sources of fresh water in drought stressed regions of the planet.
As I have pointed out before, the fact is, there is plenty of water available, even in California. The U.S. National Groundwater Association estimates that there are 22,600,000 cubic kilometers of groundwater in the upper two kilometers of the earth’s crust. Each cubic kilometer is about 264 billion gallons. The world uses just 3,717 cubic kilometers of water per year. So, we have enough water in the ground to supply Earth for over 6,000 years at today’s global consumption rates. Even if we tapped just 10% of this water source, it would supply enough water for 600 years! Tapping less than two tenths of one percent of this water annually could provide nearly 17 gallons (64 liters) of additional fresh water per day to every man, woman, and child on the planet.
Using advanced technology to locate vast amounts of fresh underground water is now available to help solve the global water crisis. At AquaterreX, we have a unique combination of software algorithms, instrumentation, and other methods to locate these massive supplemental sources of water.
We don’t have to continue the “boom or bust” cycle of drought around the world. We can solve this problem with better freshwater management practices and tapping the vast ocean of fresh water right beneath our feet.
James D’Arezzo
Chairman and CEO
AquaterreX
Read the full article from the California Globe here: https://californiaglobe.com/section-2/california-state-water-resources-control-board-votes-to-end-water-diversions-for-over-5700-farmers/