Comments by Twister | San Diego Reader

The nefarious nut

Lies, damn lies, and statistics again. Does *Mother Jones* reveal how "she" came up with "her" figures? Not that I doubt "her" or mistrust her; I just don't believe any figures, even my own, without revealing my sources and calculations. Intellectual/scholastic discipline. So here I go, with my own guesses based on studies in the distant past--I look forward to DISCIPLINED corrections. The evapotranspiration demand (ETo) rate for the Central Valley is in the realm of 4-5 acre-feet per acre. But let's give them 6 acre-feet per acre, even though I'd bet that they may use two or three times that much on alfalfa. One can't conflate alfalfa stats with almond stats, but since alfalfa is highly fertilized, it is likely to "require" more water than nut trees. But just for the hullofit, let's look at just the 70,000 acres x 6 = 420,000 acre-feet of water, or somewhere in the vicinity of 18 trillion gallons per year. Shasta reservoir has a capacity of about 4,552,000 acre-feet, so that works out to a little over nine percent--call it ten percent in round figures. 18 trillion gallons is enough for about 330,000 individuals for one year--IF they are really pinching their water useage down to about 150 gpd/capita. Looks like a mere 3,300,000 people could empty Shasta Reservoir in one year. So have a look at these figures and figure out what I did wrong, and work out the numbers for the entire service area of the Central Valley Water Project. We need each other to keep each other up to standard. In other words, let's work together to check out the drought and water supply/needs/demands "equation." "Mother" can't be wrong.
— April 15, 2015 9:52 p.m.

Reduce water…and continue building? Huh?

1. In one more year, the reservoirs will be DRY! 2. Get out your water bills for one year/seasonal cycle. Add up the twelve bills' HCF. Divide by your property's square feet. Divide by 2. That should be about how many feet of water is used for irrigation in one year. Find your location on this CIMIS map http://www.cimis.water.ca.gov/App_Themes/images/e… See how your use and the ETo for your location compare (you may have to adjust for acre-feet per acre [43,560 sq. ft.]). If your number is bigger, you are using that much more water than you need to. If it is smaller, congratulations! The CIMIS figures are how much water is required to irrigate grass and keep it green. Report your results here. Ask, say, the Honorable Mayor and Council, the department heads, professional sports fields, golf courses, etc. to do the same. Let's not take the hyperbolic bait dished out by generalizing politicians. The poison and the antidote are both in the details, but not the little ones like hanging out laundry and buying priuses or drinking beer instead of water at restaurants. We need to know how actual *use* compares to actual supply, and how much is actual *waste.* Back to the CIMIS map and project development's actual use, and when, under the worst projections and the best projections, when there will not be enough water for actual needs. The big wasters are not just agriculture, cities are a large component too. Look for an economic collapse in a year, more or less. And all the King's money and all the King's bureaucrats, will not be able to put it back together again. NOBODY has done the arithmetic, forget the math! THAT should be a firing offense.
— April 15, 2015 12:03 a.m.

Reduce water…and continue building? Huh?

Mission "Valley" is not a valley, it's a river-plain--every place there's Holocene sedimentary deposits. The San Diego River used to run year 'round and had a steelhead run.
— April 14, 2015 11:45 p.m.

But will there be enough water for One Paseo?

1. In one more year, the reservoirs will be DRY! 2. Get out your water bills for one year/seasonal cycle. Add up the twelve bills' HCF. Divide by your property's square feet. Divide by 2. That should be about how many feet of water is used for irrigation in one year. Find your location on this CIMIS map http://www.cimis.water.ca.gov/App_Themes/images/e… See how your use and the ETo for your location compare (you may have to adjust for acre-feet per acre [43,560 sq. ft.]). If your number is bigger, you are using that much more water than you need to. If it is smaller, congratulations! The CIMIS figures are how much water is required to irrigate grass and keep it green. Report your results here. Ask, say, the Honorable Mayor and Council, the department heads, professional sports fields, golf courses, etc. to do the same. Ask, say, the Honorable Mayor and Council, the department heads, etc. to do the same.
— April 14, 2015 11:36 p.m.