@Craig Swanson has been posting about Australia going through the same thing. For some reason, I thought all the polar ice caps melting would cause the opposite effect. People can live through many disasters, but a long term water shortage isn't one of them.
Bess..sadly the melting of polar ice caps is having the opposite affect. Instead of it melting into groundwater and then being harvested, it is obvious a major proportion of it is pouring into the ocean. So billions of lires of pure water are going to waste. Scientists have to find a way to harvest the water before it flows away. I recall reading about an idea to cut huge chunks of ice and float it to where it can be melted and its precious cargo harvested. Do it ..time to procrastinate and sit on your thumbs is ebbing away.. like those polar ice caps.
This is identical to what Sydney faces. But the forecast till doom is for next May unless our major dam does not have tonnes more rainwater added. Our long term forecast is for very little summer and autumn rain.
Happened in the South of England in the 90s. Hoses pipes where banned asked not to flush toilets after a piss, went on for a couple years Dams were down to 40% Then it rained and it has not stopped since. Roads flooded yesterday. With weather it WILL change
California has too many people for the natural resources of the state. That's sad because no one wants Californians to move their state, bring their wacko liberal politics with them.
I didn't know that! One of the best things about the internet has been people finding out that all over the globe, we all face the same challenges. I grew up only being aware of what was happening in the US.
Rain is forecast Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Sydney. The first in almost a month. Hope it is one of those electric storm drenchings that are so common..normally.. this time of year and falls over Warragamba (dam catchment). This wont spoil our Christmas festivities much as these storms come and go quite fast. Little good only against the wildfires still burning our state tho. They urgently need prolonged rain to be extinguished. How ironic is this. While Greater Sydney is at the mercy of our strictest water restrictions.. namely no hose use.. our brave firerys are using tonnes of the valuable H20 battling these mega blazes..further depleting our reserves.
I think it's safe to say, we are all going to be facing a spike in food cost this upcoming year. The demand will be the same, but the supply will be so much less.
Where are America's major food bowls @Bess Barber? Whenever Australia faces a severe dry spell.. food prices go thru the roof as they do when we have wildfires..same as when we have floods. Pretty fair to say Australia almost always has rising food prices
When I went shopping Saturday I had to pay $2.49/lb for tomatoes. My highest in the summer was $2 at a local farm stand.
As time goes on I think we here in the USA are going to face water shortages all over from time to time. I think it is more critical than we imagine. Some day fresh water will be our most precious resource.
This really grinds my gears. Sydney is a real chance of running dry and I read about this lunacy. A new recycled wastewater pipe built under Sydney's CBD and designed to drought-proof our capital city.. remains empty months after completion..thanks to bureaucratic red tape. The mayor's plan for the city's own grey water pipeline has been dashed by govt regulators placing a premium charge on business reusing recycled wastewater. This is madness. Not certain how many other nations do this but Australia currently uses drinking grade water to flush our toilets and water our lawns and gardens. With our dams at their lowest levels ever and less rain to produce stormwater runoff for harvesting.. this pipeline is the water lifeline Sydney so badly needs. Yet we are pi**ing it down the gurgler literally. This is me now getting on my soapbox @Milla Jonas.
Australia's dry spring/summer has seen some of the hottest temperatures on record. The Bureau of Meteorology says this trend is likely to continue as the earth continues to get warmer, and it carries with it a pressing concern: a water crisis. As lakes and rivers start to dry up, those living in the rural interior of our massive island continent are already finding themselves rationing water just to survive, according to a report in the New York Times — and Australia's water crisis likely to only get worse. Australia's rural communities are already preparing themselves for Day Zero..the moment when water is turned off entirely. Unlike cities on the coast of the country, which can convert seawater into serviceable drinking water, there are not alternatives available for cities sitting in the middle of Australia watching water sources run dry. As fires continue to burn, towns have to make a choice between allowing citizens to continue accessing rations of their water reserves or using it to douse approaching flames. The situation is untenable at best and could leave large portions of the country completely uninhabitable. According to a report from the Guardian earlier this year, Australia's longest river, the Murray, has been severely affected by this sudden lack of rainwater — shrinking to just 910 gigalitres (GL) entering the system in the past 12 months when its annual average is 5,000 GL. Similarly, Macquarie River has seen a massive drop off in water inflow, going from 1,448 GL annually to just 97 GL in the past two years.
This thread is about California's water problems, which can more reasonably be attributed to its high population density, stupid state leadership policies, and the fact that much of the state would be a desert in its natural state. I suspect that much the same is true of Australia, although perhaps not the problems of overpopulation.