California Drought and Extreme Weather
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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/california-drought_n_6401b93be4b08223f12de06d
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tremendous rains and snowfall since late last year have freed half of California from drought, but low groundwater levels remain a persistent problem, U.S. Drought Monitor data showed Thursday.
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Article reporting on the replenishment of water reservoirs in California:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/california-reservoir-levels-drought-rain-17816212.php
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It's a good break, sort of, but what about next year? Serious stuff - so much off our food supply depends on the central valley. Seems like we should move on from almonds, which take tremendous amounts of water.
@Mik said in California Drought and Extreme Weather:
It's a good break, sort of, but what about next year? Serious stuff - so much off our food supply depends on the central valley. Seems like we should move on from almonds, which take tremendous amounts of water.
It's an economic argument. Almond takes more water to grow, but also brings in more money -- money that can then be used to import other food/crops that can be grown more economically elsewhere. When the market adjusts to a point where other water efficient food/crops become more economically valuable than almonds, the farmers will switch. Otherwise we will have to resort to non-free market mechanisms like government subsidies or appealing to the goodness of the farmers' hearts to forego higher profits for some other measures of common good.