4th year of the drought. Scientists’ predictions that this could go on for years. 80% of California’s water goes to agriculture. How will California’s wine industry survive?
El Niño not materializing?
Go deeper on the 12’s and 13’s
For emergencies at home, we stock up on batteries, water, food…syrah?
All signs point to yes but it’s not guaranteed until we’re knee-deep in it, so it’s a tough call. It’s a retroactive call.
Some scientists have come to the conclusion that California has been in a “wet period” for the last 50+ years and we are headed back to a more “normal” dry climate. Scary to think that way but there are alternatives for water. 2/3 of the earths surface is covered in water and California has a big body of water adjacent to it. Yes there are drawbacks but always an alternative.
Saline, saline…over the ocean blue.
While I was touring the Valle de Guadalupe in the Baja a couple years ago, the bulk of the wineries were literally using ocean waters to irrigate their crops. A few of the more progressive ones were working with companies that were filtering the ocean water with state of the art new equipment for irrigation and other common uses.
And, I hear San Diego is working on the same thing - It’s just a matter of time before California will effectively be able to use this huge resource.
Long term there are solutions:
- Recycle domestic waste water
- Desalinate ocean water.
These need large investments. There are numerous examples where they have been implemented successfully.
It just needs an adjustment in how things are done.
In the Middle East entire countries survive with virtually zero water for years.
The New York Times had an interesting feature this week on how Israel deals with its lack of water resources:
Aided by the Sea, Israel Overcomes an Old Foe: Drought
(I’m not sure if that link requires a subscription. If it does, you can get 10 articles a month for free if you go to www.nytimes.com.)
Lots of potential options, but we’d rather have a bullet train than reservoirs and desalinization plants.
Even if desalination proves feasible for drinking water for cities along the coast, I don’t see it as economically feasible for producing water for agriculture, esp. any significant distance from the coast. At least, not with current technology.
Bruce
One of our local weather guys who writes for the paper said he gets asked a lot about where to retire outside of MN. He said with changing climates and less water in the west he recommends keeping the house in MN ( we have tons of water) and renting a place in AZ, FL, CO or CA in the winter. We’ve thought about Denver as a possible but he particularly singled out CO for future water shortages.
I seem to remember Roy Piper recently saying that the water shortage is not acute in the northern part of the state. (Roy, please excuse me if I am misreprenting what you said.) If this is true, it would seem that wine country would have greater concern with the political players than with nature, at least at this time.
It’s less acute in the north, but still bad.
I heard Steve Edmunds talk a few weeks ago about the intense stress on his vines, and some of those are the Sierra Foothills east of Sacramento, which is in the north.
I am all in favor of california tax peyers investing in their agricultural infrastructure.
The lack of climate knowledge on this board (and in wine generally) is astounding. Folks can expound on the minuta of clones and soils but have absolutely no clue about climatology. Is this a flaw with oenology programs or something?
Care to be specific?
My understanding is that, though the water shortage is not ‘acute’ in NorCal, they are certainly still feeling the affects of it.
One of the hardest hit areas is Paso - with all of the growth they’ve experienced over the past decades not only in planting but with tourism, that area will feel it hardest earliest IMHO.
Cheers . . .