Thirst Turns to Desperation in Rural California

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Maverick

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Washington State - between 2 mountains and a river
If this isn't a reason to prep then I don't know what is! We should all take lessens from this and apply what we have learned and continue to learn from the folks right in the middle of the California drought. If we have not learned from history then how about the present.

"...she has not had running water for more than five months — nor is there any tap water in her near future — because of a punishing and relentless drought in California. In the Gallegos household and more than 500 others in Tulare County, residents cannot flush a toilet, fill a drinking glass, wash dishes or clothes, or even rinse their hands without reaching for a bottle or bucket."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/us/california-drought-tulare-county.html
 
Long term solution is to move the mobile home. Really, there isn't another choice. If the water isn't there, it isn't there.

I went without running water for 2 months while we fixed our issue. It sucks (and we had to schlepp water to the barn to keep enough for horses). So I get it. But that was a solvable problem. This is not.

Short term, she needs a LOT more water storage. Long term though, she needs to move.
 
The accessibility of water in 20th century California is not the norm for that area, the 19th and 18th centuries have been dryer, the USGS have said that California is reverting back to its norm and that is dry, a good number of these small towns if not the whole state have been built on a mirage.
 
Long term solution is to move the mobile home. Really, there isn't another choice. If the water isn't there, it isn't there.

I went without running water for 2 months while we fixed our issue. It sucks (and we had to schlepp water to the barn to keep enough for horses). So I get it. But that was a solvable problem. This is not.

Short term, she needs a LOT more water storage. Long term though, she needs to move.
I agree, abandonment is a good option. After all, home is where you make it. Water is just too important to stay in an area that dosent have it. If you're in an area that isn't safe, or dosent have the resources to survive in, then start making steps towards changing your situation. I keep hearing about a huge problem in the south west with water running out in the not too distant future. Waiting until that happens may be too late to try to sell any property. I think part of prepping involves assessing any threat, and acting accordingly to minimize or eliminate it.
 
Yep, if my home had wheels, I'd be moving along by this point.
 
yeah thats so true brent..even in the part of texas i live in has it's droughts.i saw ponds and lakes dry up because of it.and theres a creek 1 tenth of a mile from me,in which its spring feed by a underground spring.but yet even that can dry up..then there's the water table thats underneath this property.
 
water isn't a problem in the mild south west of England climate, our normal weather is rain, rain and more rain.

Same here, but occasionally, we do have an issue, if a couple of years are off. Problem here, is when that happens, the farmers pump so much out, that it weakens the whole deal, and then sinkholes happen. This usually only happens in the winter, when they try and freeze the crops, oddly enough to protect them. Small farms are fine, but the huge big mega ones....I'd never live near one. They simply drain the aquifer.
 
Same here, but occasionally, we do have an issue, if a couple of years are off. Problem here, is when that happens, the farmers pump so much out, that it weakens the whole deal, and then sinkholes happen. This usually only happens in the winter, when they try and freeze the crops, oddly enough to protect them. Small farms are fine, but the huge big mega ones....I'd never live near one. They simply drain the aquifer.
I remember when Ormond Beach had so much pumped out that the saltwater intrusion made what was left undrinkable. They went twenty five miles inland with a large pipe to get fresh water. Theres an interesting series on tv called water wars, it shows alot of real problems and shows what is going to happen at current water use rates around the world. None of the scenarios for the future are pretty.
 
I remember when Ormond Beach had so much pumped out that the saltwater intrusion made what was left undrinkable. They went twenty five miles inland with a large pipe to get fresh water. Theres an interesting series on tv called water wars, it shows alot of real problems and shows what is going to happen at current water use rates around the world. None of the scenarios for the future are pretty.
California had a chance to build a de-salination ( don't think I spelled that right) plant right after the war, they have the largest bodie of water in the world right off their coast. But the elected not to, and every governing body after another passed the problem on to the next, and now southern California is in a very tight spot, going dry!
 
I don't know much about California, except that Californians have ruined their State.
A couple weeks ago I got notice from the Forest Service that they were going to be doing "controlled" burns around two sides of my property. I think they plan to burn around 5,000 acres on the east and north of me. They asked permission to cross my place to access the Forest Service land in order to cut a fire break. I gave them permission as long as they stage a couple tankers on my place and have a fire helicopter on standby. So far we've had so much rain that nothing will burn. My concern is that it'll dry out soon and their controlled burn will get out of hand. That happens a lot with the FS.
 
I remember seeing a TV news program about 70 or 80 native Americans living in the desert on a small reservation. They were living in a bunch of ratty trailers and chip board shacks. They had a drought and ran out of water, so instead of the Feds moving them into public housing in some livable location, the Fed paid for a super deep well to be drilled that cost over a million dollars so they could stay there in the middle of no where. Makes no sense.
 
I remember seeing a TV news program about 70 or 80 native Americans living in the desert on a small reservation. They were living in a bunch of ratty trailers and chip board shacks. They had a drought and ran out of water, so instead of the Feds moving them into public housing in some livable location, the Fed paid for a super deep well to be drilled that cost over a million dollars so they could stay there in the middle of no where. Makes no sense.
We did kind of steal their land and killed most of them though, maybe drilling a well isn’t too bad....
 
Q: How do you turn the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River into a desert?
A: Drain the lake so you can convert it into farmland and then divert all the rivers feeding the lake elsewhere and then build cities that need all that water.

Look it up, Tulare County was once Tulare Lake.

CALIFORNIA...
iu
 
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Q: How do you turn the largest lake west of the Mississippi River into a desert?
A: Drain the lake so you can convert it into farmland and then divert all the rivers feeding the lake elsewhere and then build cities that need all that water.

Look it up, Tulare County was once Tulare Lake.

CALIFORNIA...
iu
As wisely said by Forrest Gump, stupid is as stupid does.
 

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