California's drought is in its fourth year and it's a big problem. Farmers are restricted in how much surface water they can use, but they are free to drill water from underground. A cotton farmer has drilled five wells, each the vertical length of two Empire State Buildings.
Agriculture is being hit hard, so there's lots of tapping those water aquifers underground. But, big as they are, they are shrinking and people are plenty concerned and looking for solutions.
One is to cut back on less profitable crops like cotton and corn, and switch to tomatoes, vineyards, orchards, which give a higher return for their investment of resources.
Another is to figure out some way to easily trade or sell water rights, so that water can "flow"to places of greatest need. It involves water basins, streams and rivers, irrigation districts, and very old laws dating back to the nineteenth century gold rush.
In short, it's complicated.
from
Bloomberg
No comments:
Post a Comment