Preparing for Lack of Water World

[CountryGent]

If one has been following the trends in the west concerning water, it may be alarming and prompt change in life plans and/or preps. (There is another thread on the topic, but I didn't want to derail someone else's. And this one is to focus on specific preparations, rather general discussion.)

• "Millions of drinking wells around the world may soon be at risk of running dry. Overpumping, drought and the steady influence of climate change are depleting groundwater resources all over the globe, according to new research. As much as 20% of the world's groundwater wells may be facing imminent failure, potentially depriving billions of people of fresh water." — Harvey, C. (2021, April 27). "Millions of groundwater wells could run dry. "Scientific American. Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/millions-of-groundwater-wells-could-run-dry/.
• "The western United States is suffering from perhaps the most widespread and severe drought in recent history. As of early July, more than 98 percent of the American West was suffering from drought, with more than 80 percent in severe drought or worse. Extreme heat has struck several times since June, breaking records throughout the region and putting more than 20 million people under heat warnings from Canada to Mexico. Portland, Oregon broke a new record high of 115 degrees Fahrenheit; Seattle set a new record high of 108." — "Dying from the heat." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. (2021, July 16). Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://thebulletin.org/2021/07/dying-from-the-heat/
• "Along the Oregon-California border in the Klamath Basin, taps are running dry. Federal officials decided not to divert water from a lake to farmers and ranchers after a year with little rain or snow. From Jefferson Public Radio, April Ehrlich reports that now businesses and homes are competing for precious little groundwater ..." — Ehrlich, A. (2021, August 27). Wells are running dry after farms and homes in Oregon compete for water. NPR. Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://www.npr.org/2021/08/27/1031...hern-oregon-farms-and-homes-compete-for-water.
• "Aquifers provide us freshwater that makes up for surface water lost from drought-depleted lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. We are drawing down these hidden, mostly nonrenewable groundwater supplies at unsustainable rates in the western United States and in several dry regions globally, threatening our future." — Dimick, D. (2021, May 3). "If you think the water crisis can't get worse, wait until the aquifers are drained." National Geographic. Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...ter-california-drought-aquifers-hidden-crisis.

Queries:

• The trends in mind, what are you, or will you, do on an individual or family level to meet this challenge?
• What practical steps, preparations, and equipment acquisitions do you have in mind?
• Are there any books or other literature you have found helpful?
• If implemented or planning systems to capture, store, and purify large amounts of water, what is being used and how is it going? On the other hand, what didn't work?
• If a relocation from your present location is something you have planned or are contemplating, how much does the water situation factor in to the planning?
• With the possibility of migrations and social unrest due to the aforementioned, how do you plan on addressing said? How do you see it shaking out?

Thanks for sharing.

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[41mag]

I had a buddy decades back who became a 'professional' bull rider over his late teen years. He was always being hit with inevitable inquiry of 'what if the bull flings you off & stomps on your face'.

He was in general denial of 'anything really bad' happening as his prior rides over a decade of his teen years had never resulted in more than minor injury.

One week he didn't show up for work. He finally hobbled in 4 days late, on crutches, with his purple leg hanging from his gym shorts. Ugliest purple/swelling/goobered up I'd ever seen.

His story was he hung on long enough to win the 3rd place belt buckle, then was flung off & the bull hoof mashed his thigh & ran down to his arch before he passed out. The reflection & attention to actual agony was touching for a few moments. Someone asked whether he was giving them up now. His response was "well.....maybe for THIS season".....

We are all riding the bull and in denial about our water crisis.
Personally I've been fretting about it since the 60s. The best answer I've come up with, is that I've grown old enough to realize all my efforts to preserve, recycle etc, have not been measurably effective. I've done all the prep I can do. I'll have to yee-haw & hang on when they open the gate for the remaining timed portion of this little bull ride.

My watershed originates in the slopes of the Cascade Range. I don't know how long I'll be able to crawl over to the
nearest river & lick a wet rock before the wildfires come. 30 years ago I helped a buddy build a large pond for his tree farm. It's still there & so are his trees.

In an early part of my efforts, I worked in 1967 building Hells Canyon Dam. After years of attending multi-user meetings & use-permit discussions, the dam/no dam question was settled. It's still there & so is Hells Canyon. And a 21 mile long reservoir. Etc.

 

[Soli]

How to personally prepare?

Don't be surprised if water costs money. It does now, but so little 99% don't notice. Be prepared for your water bill to equal your food bill. Not a prediction... just what to say about something costing money?

Live where it's wet.

Other than those two I got nuthin.

 

[Member 34319]

I think it's interesting folks are willing to move to deserts to avoid politics they don't like. Might be a worthy prep to not move to a desert. I moved from a desert to a place that calls, what I thought were rivers, creeks.

 

[Tony617]

I wonder how long before we start building desalination plants?

 

[oremike]

I have a AAS in water conservation so I'm aware. IMHO there is basically the same amount of water globally. Most of it is in the seas, then in the atmosphere. Lastly in or on the ground. Ground water get depleted, Ice caps melt, rain that does fall at a rate more than the absorption rates all run back into the oceans. The seas rise, and flood low land areas, OMG global warming. About 10,000 years ago the world warmed up enough to melt most of the last ice age, and it's kept getting warm. This didn't happen in a day it had been in a warming trend for about 10,000 years. Eventually this ball of mud will webble-wabble farther away from the Sun and things will cool down again. Maybe in 60,000 years or so to the coldest part of the next ice age. Now water resources miss management is a totally different subject and tends to be the elephant in the room no-one talks about. I recommend reading Cadillac Desert for starters.

 

[2ndtimer]

I think it's interesting folks are willing to move to deserts to avoid politics they don't like. Might be a worthy prep to not move to a desert. I moved from a desert to a place that calls, what I thought were rivers, creeks.

But if the Cascadia earthquake doomsayers are correct, most of the wet area west of the mountains will be completely under water. Salt water!

 

[Member 34319]

But if the Cascadia earthquake doomsayers are correct, most of the wet area west of the mountains will be completely under water. Salt water!

Waterfront property is always more valuable.

 

[GWS]

But if the Cascadia earthquake doomsayers are correct, most of the wet area west of the mountains will be completely under water. Salt water!

Talk to engineers and geologists instead of doomsayers.
There have been numerous Cascadia events in the 9.0+ scale of power and this area isn't under water from any of them
Will there be widespread destruction? Hell, yes, but no biblical flooding The coast will be trashed , how bad depends on the strength of the quake and the number and size of tsunamis generated. I'm fearing a lot of coastal communities may be washed away, possibly the Long Beach peninsula will be gone or else a chain of islands, but the waters will recede. According to one geologist I hears that since the Pacific plate goes under the North American plate there may be uplift on the coast. I don't know myself what to expect but history at least shows that these areas that were hit by tsunamis dried out fairly fast.

As for water shortages, I'm not too worried about it here in Vancouver, but I do wonder if down south water may get rationed as in turned on in a neighborhood or city for say, 3 hours a day, then shut off the rest of the time. I have no idea how that would/could affect fire services. Maybe they get a lot more tankers that they can fill up independently. Who knows?

Maybe they will start by penalizing "excessive" water use. Something they can do easily enough for anyone on a meter.

 

[BrentN]

For me, 2 things; 1) I don't get too excited about the .gov sponsored chicken littles' predictions because; a) their track record on predictions sucks, and b) they don't give me concrete information, I have to look it up on my own. And when I do that, I find myself much calmer than they would like me to be. 2) It would be foolish to discount the importance of potable water, a close second to breathable air as far as necessity goes. I have a healthy year round creek at the back of my property, with basically no civilization upstream, so pollution is less of a concern and filtering/boiling the creek water is a viable option. Having this option is on the short list of qualifiers for if or when I move.

 

[CountryGent]

I realize it is off-topic, but since it was invoked, a couple book I found interesting and helpful on Cascadia events are:

• Living with Earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest: A Survivor's Guide, by Prof. Robert S. Yeats (Oregon State University Press, 2004)
• Full Rip 9.0: The Next Earthquake in the Pacific Northwest, by Sandi Doughton (Sasquatch Books, 2014)

And I have a longer bibliography here. But I digress; just couldn't help passing along something that might help folks. Back to our regularly scheduled program.

 

[BrentN]

I wonder how long before we start building desalination plants?

You mean to tell me this wasn't included in the infrastructure bill?! Smart countries, such as Dubai, do this. We just spent $1.2 trillion to drive through the same potholes and over the same crumbling bridges. But hey, ODOT is planning on getting 1 billion of this money (1/1000 of a trillion, lol), hopefully they spend it on new propaganda reader boards along our dilapidated roads.

 

[Stomper]

 

[BrentN]

I realize it is off-topic, but since it was invoked, a couple book I found interesting and helpful on Cascadia events are:

• Living with Earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest: A Survivor's Guide, by Prof. Robert S. Yeats (Oregon State University Press, 2004)
• Full Rip 9.0: The Next Earthquake in the Pacific Northwest, by Sandi Doughton (Sasquatch Books, 2014)

View attachment 1066337

And I have a longer bibliography here. But I digress; just couldn't help passing along something that might help folks. Back to our regularly scheduled program.

I see it as related. A severe enough event would cripple or destroy our water infrastructure. Bad news.

 

[3MTA3]

Water viability is a high priority for our next move. The area we are most interested in has a stable aquifer, low population, and new water source is glacial. Planetary heating trend is likely to stop, regardless of climate alarmists, as we move towards a solar minimum.

Worked with actual environmental scientists in a previous career. The PhD in the office next to mine did the Chernobyl risk analysis for the NRC, for example. They had a pretty low opinion of climate scientists as they rely on research grants for work that used as a tool by politicians. The conflict of interest pretty much has the same result as pissing in the punch.

The truth is that before man existed, during Man's time, and after Man's existence the sun drives the Earth's temperature. Man's impact is as significant as the pubic hair of the flea to your dog regardless of what politicians tell you.

Huge populations living in deserts (SoCal Inland Empire for example) depleting aquifers is the real danger, not cow farts or two stroke motors. I'm a lot more worried about the end of our brief warm period in the current ice age than I am about warming.

Honestly I'd split to North Central Florida if I could talk the Mrs into it. High water table that isn't going anywhere, long growing season, and a ton of other factors. I'd miss the mountains like crazy and unfond of gators, etc., but it's doable.

 

[CountryGent]

You mean to tell me this wasn't included in the infrastructure bill?!

There is some desalinization references in the bill, though I haven't had a chance to really study it.

Water viability is a high priority for our next move.

It is a factor in our calculations too.

 

[WillametteWill]

Huge populations living in deserts (SoCal Inland Empire for example) depleting aquifers is the real danger,

Yup, my old hometown. The water under my town (as an adult) was owned by the town next door (where I grew up as a kid). Our water came hundreds of miles from the Colorado and cost a fortune. A significant consideration for our relocation was having a well and not a million people sucking from it. With any future moves even more thought will be given for collection methods and storage.

 

[kylej24]

Stockpile water, do not let big corporations buy out your local water rights, and most important...

Do not, my friends, become addicted to water! It will take hold of you and you will resent its absence.

 

[Provincial]

As I have said many times elsewhere:

Do an internet search for "Water Culture." The results are scary. Water is necessary for life itself. If someone controls you access to water, it gives them the power of life and death.

 

[EHJ]

This is nearly 20 years old - and eerily prophetic and detailed.
It's been a plan for quite awhile.

Who Owns Water?

Privatization must be stopped, and water declared the common property of all.

www.thenation.com

Water Lords

There are ten major corporate players now delivering freshwater services for profit. The two biggest are both from France–Vivendi Universal and Suez–considered to be the General Motors and Ford of the global water industry. Between them, they deliver private water and wastewater services to more than 200 million customers in 150 countries and are in a race, along with others such as Bouygues Saur, RWE-Thames Water and Bechtel-United Utilities, to expand to every corner of the globe. In the United States, Vivendi operates through its subsidiary, USFilter; Suez via its subsidiary, United Water; and RWE by way of American Water Works.

They are aided by the World Bank and the IMF, which are increasingly forcing Third World countries to abandon their public water delivery systems and contract with the water giants in order to be eligible for debt relief. The performance of these companies in Europe and the developing world has been well documented: huge profits, higher prices for water, cutoffs to customers who cannot pay, no transparency in their dealings, reduced water quality, bribery and corruption.

3 guesses who the underlying encumbrance is for a majority of western states water puc's ?

Average small household water bill in Portland now is nearly $100 bucks a month.