Large-scale water pipelines have often been shot down because they are extremely costly to build and to operate. It takes enormous amounts of energy to pump water through pipes. Such projects implicitly assume that existing water systems will remain the same for some time to come; that is, the locations of supply and demand will […]
Archives for 2015
Water Loans
I saw an ad in a magazine for a bank touting that they had helped a small city in a third-world country build water treatment facilities. The intention of the ad was clearly to show the bank as a positive contributor to society with a philanthropic mindset. But the text of the ad revealed that […]
Think Small to Conserve Big
Often when reading about the drought I wish that individuals were empowered to do more. There are the standard tips to conserve water – turn off the faucet when brushing teeth, run the dishwasher less, etc. – but I already do all these things. They feel minor and ineffective, and it’s difficult to know how […]
Groundwater Depletion
During the drought, California has increasingly turned to groundwater to fill the deficit. Up until last year, groundwater was unregulated in CA – if anyone owned land and drilled a borehole, they could use as much of the water they found as they liked. It made sense during a time of abundance and made it […]
Water Rights in California Influenced by Gold Rush
California’s laws about water rights is an interestingly mixed system, largely influenced by the gold rush era. The eastern seaboard primarily uses a riparian system based on English common law, in which a person owning land with water flowing through it, may use a correlative portion of that water. But with the influx of gold […]