Regulating Groundwater In California

Improved Essays
California's groundwater is almost completely depleted. Now, instead of making rules and trying to preserve and replenish the amount we have left, we are just sitting back letting farmers/growers take as much water as they want as well as how much they need. With minimal rules and no fees, farmers are now using 1000-1200 feet well drillers, “Many people are concerned because we don't know how much groundwater we have left” state's expert Nathan Halverson. In order to conserve and replenish our groundwater, California needs to regulate the use of groundwater, harvest stormwater, and desalinate. California's efforts on making laws about groundwater have failed, and they have not made regulations regarding the amount of groundwater that farmers …show more content…
Groundwater is very important to not just our Earth, but California especially. This is because we do not have nearly the amount of surface water that we use to have. I stated previously, farmers free with no charge are using very deep well drillers and absorbing tons and tons of our groundwater. A big fear of ours is that we are going to run out, we really don't know how much groundwater we have left. Also, farmers are using way more than half of the water and are leaving very little for the rest of the state's population. “The agriculture industry uses 80% of the state's water for their needs, that is only leaving 20% for the rest of the state's population”, states Nathan Halverson. California's groundwater levels are concerning, and as a state we need to make rules regulating the …show more content…
A lot of times people think of it as nothing and continue to allow it to be wasted. Imagine how much water gets wasted getting evaporated, and just going into runoffs. In some parts of California, rain is common. It's unfortunate to know that a lot of times rainwater is wasted and not saved or at least used for some kind of purpose. Rainwater could be saved and put in the underground holders, or cleaned and turned into fresh drinking water. Think of all of times it rains super hard, imagine it as gallons and gallons of water pouring from the sky, to just be wasted.“About 40% of the rain water gets evaporated, and about 10% runs off”, states the Blue Barrel Company. That is half of the rainwater that could have been used as a water source. Another thing that is concerning is, rainwater could fill up our drains, and when flooding happens it could become a disaster. “Collecting rainwater could prevent a lot of accidents from occurring. If we have full gutters, and our rain holding drains fill up too much that could cause excessive amounts of rainwater to flood our streets and ruin a lot of our stuff. Rainwater may not be the cleanest when it first falls, however, I think we should be thankful for that water a realize with a little cleaning that water could be perfectly

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Deadbeat Dams Summary

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages

    After I read the book “Deadbeat Dams”, I agree with the sentiment and the arguments of the author. But as a book, it comes across more as a rant than an objective discussion of the issues. Dan Beard's publication has a great title and is filled with an insider's critical views of the national political process that results in the mismanagement of our nation's water resources. Some of the information he shared is not new - the tree rings and over allocation of water has been known for decades the same as backing up water over sand stone and evaporation. He touches on some subjects such as downstream salt issues without discussing why we have built a plant to remove salt from water for Mexico.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Ukiah Valley Groundwater Basin is found in Mendocino County, in Northern California’s wine country on the Russian River Watershed (Figure 1). From the CASGEM Groundwater Basin Prioritization Process, the Ukiah Valley Groundwater basin was classified as medium priority (Resources 2014). Consequently, a GSA structure has been proposed in which it will consist of 6 members representing different stakeholders, and it will also contain a technical advisory committee. Following the formation of the GSA, the next step is to create a GSP, but before the GSP can be constructed a groundwater budget was developed to characterize the groundwater basin. The results from the groundwater budget will provide the foundation for the water management projects that follow and will provide an initial direction on how the GSA will advance in developing monitoring protocols and integrated water resources management strategies to achieve and maintain groundwater sustainability in the Ukiah Valley Groundwater Basin in order to comply with SGMA expectations.…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Ukiah Valley Groundwater Basin is located in the North Coast hydrologic region in Mendocino County, California. In 2009, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) launched the California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM) Program to monitor groundwater basins (groundwater table elevations) throughout California. DWR developed the CASGEM Groundwater Basin Prioritization process to classify groundwater basins and sub-basins as high, medium, low, or very low priority by using the following criteria: overlying population, projected growth of overlying population, the number public supply wells, the number of total wells, overlying irrigated acreage, reliance on groundwater as the primary source of water, and any impacts the groundwater basin has experienced from overdraft, subsidence, saline intrusion, and or other water quality degradation problems.…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What would happen if California were to run out of water completely, just because the government did not do anything to stop it from happening? Farmers and regular citizens are drilling the ground in search of groundwater. Currently there are no laws restricting or monitoring the amount of groundwater we can use, and without these laws we could run out of water. In order to conserve and save water legislation needs create regulations to monitor and control both citizens and farmers use of groundwater. Due to a lack of regulations regarding groundwater farmers are drilling the ground and taking other people's water.…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With the aquifer beneath the Coachella Valley continuing to decline in levels, why should residents have to limit their water consumption when the average Palm Springs golf course uses the same amount of water in one day that a family of four does in five years? The ugly politics surrounding the use of water, and who got to use the water,…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The solutions needed have already far surpassed the precautions they've already taken. Analysts have suggested that water cuts become mandatory not only for civilians but for big businesses as well. Capturing and managing stormwater has become a major concern due to the amount lost to bays oceans and lakes. Old infrastructure accounts for 10 to 15% of the state's water loss as well. Increased water efficiency and water reuse and stormwater capture will become a main focus to helping this incident occurring in California.…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Did you know California is entering its sixth year of a bad drought . Currently in California we are having a drought , which is why we have to regulate groundwaters . Personally , I believe they should not regulate groundwater for many reasons . For example , limiting groundwater is interfering with people's income and people’s actions in their daily lives . To begin , about 95% of California is in a drought , which is why the state limits people’s water usage .…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    and there land,they shouldn’t be force to minimize or pay to use their groundwater. They shouldn't be stopped using groundwater because it will affect the consumer prices. In source 1 Belluomini said “City folks just don't understand that they’re biting the hand that feeds them I’m afraid”. If city people don't let farmers use their wells then they won't harvest half of the food they use too. Groundwater are farmers number one use,when they farm,so it will have an affect on the crops if they stop using it.…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Experts say there is an effective way to help California deal with its long-running drought. However, there is one big problem with their solution — the “yuck factor.” For a fourth straight year, California's drought has been shrinking the state's water supply. In response, water managers are pushing for something known as direct potable reuse.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout this article, the unusual drought that has taken over California for the past four years is investigated. The article details the causes and effects of the drought on foods, companies, and households while also presenting possible solutions to the constantly growing issue. This drought has been deemed one of the worst, if not the worst, dry spells in the past 1,200 years and it will not soon be forgotten because of its lasting effects on California. In April of last year, Governor Jerry Brown issued the very first mandatory statewide water rationing for cities. Unlike the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, California’s drought was not the fault of humans; nature is to blame for it.…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    More water is imported to substitute for the lack of rainfall due to the hot weather. This water comes from other places, such as the Colorado River and rivers in Northern California. The importation will not last forever and Southern California must start thinking about creating more desalination plants to convert our plentiful ocean water to usable water. This would tremendously help with the drought, but would cost the state millions. The people wold have to vote to produce these plants because it would be people’s tax dollars that allow and pay for the…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    4. In addition to their water crisis the states infrastructure has long been since allowed to decay and the American society of civil engineers estimates that over the next 20 years California 's drinking water infrastructure will require a 44.5 billion dollar investment while there wastewater infrastructure will demand 22.9 billion dollars to remain functional. 5. California 's water comes a married of places such as aquifers, groundwater, reservoirs, dams and irrigation systems where 80% of that water goes towards agriculture and 20% to urban/residential use.…

    • 1382 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The deeper the aquifer, the less ability it has to refill with a portion of them lacking the capability to refill ever "potentially changing how and where we can live and grow food, among other things" (Dimick pg. 3). A report from Stanford University reveals that 60 percent of the water needs from California are coming from Aquifers during years of drought and approximately 40 percent during non-drought years (Dimick pg. 4). Aquifers can predominantly be slowly replenished excluding the occasions these resources are drained. In the instances where the aquifers are drained, they can collapse and cause many ground collapsing events. Brian Howard describes how the water table, level of ground water, has dramatically deteriorated from 500 feet to 1000 feet in Central Valley, and the rate for drilling the wells is at a costly rate of 300,000 dollars per well.(Dimick pg 4).…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Would you go without a shower for more than a week?California is in a drought and everyone needs a well but not everyone can get a well. I think California should have laws. “Officials say at least 1,300 people have lost their water in and around East Porterville, nearly three hours” (Source2). ““The crippling drought is expected to cost the state $2.2bn in 2014 and put more than 17,000 farm workers out of a job” (Source2).They need the law because farmers are taking water from other people. “Scientists are already sounding alarm bells about pumping too much groundwater” (Source3).If they keep taking ground water it can cause a sinkhole.…

    • 190 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Imagine having to take your kid outside to use the bathroom! In California the is a drought and there are no laws to keep it from happening. I realized there should be laws for well water control. If our own selves had laws, then there would be less of a drought, then we do right now. “The county has also arranged emergency deliveries of 15,552 gallons of bottled drinking water to residents, with help from local charities, and commercial water deliveries to low income households.…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays