California Water Rationing: Is It Coming to a City or State Near You?

The California state water project has announced that beginning in the spring of 2014 they will no longer send water to local agencies. This move affects the drinking water of 25 million people and affects nearly one million acres of farmland.

This is an unprecedented act by the agency and officials have stated it is the only time in the agency’s 54-year history a move like this has been made.

The move affects 29 different agencies across the state, and it has been noted however that those affected do have other resources, such as federally run reservoirs and canals, but the state is in a severe drought and water is becoming scarcer by the day.

The governor of the state has asked everyone to reduce consumption by at least 20 percent. This drought is considered the worst in a century. Lack of a snow pack and little rain over the last three years has contributed significantly to the problem.

The governor was quoted as saying that “all options have to be on the table” when talking about the “toilet to tap” process and other ideas bandied about. The process would take flushed toilet water and filter it back into the drinking water supply. The governor was also quoted as saying, “it is ultimately the home, and every day this drought goes on, we’re going to have to tighten the screws on what people are doing” (Elex Michaelson, 2014).

Those annoying health nuts that insist people drink water everyday is obviously the problem, eight glasses a day indeed they must have not gotten the memo about cutting back. Maybe the politicians that have known of this for years are the problem. Could it be the rich elites that fill their Olympic sized swimming pools every day or the environmentalists that have contributed to the problem?

The population in California has grown about 59 percent since 1980 but no new dams or reservoirs have been added to the state’s water system since then. Projects have been started and money spent but for the most part this seems to be a way of spreading the wealth to those that already have wealth. Tax money has been supplied to real estate developments for landscaping projects designed to conserve water but do nothing for the collection and containment of water. In other words, tax money spent with no results.

Building new reservoirs and dams may have solved the problem before it became one but once again environmentalist have kept many projects from getting off the ground, so all of you that think you need eight glasses of water a day better get over it.

No one has talked about draining the millions of gallons of water in private and public swimming pools. This water could easily be filtered and put back into the water supply. Desalination of seawater is another option that only a handful are talking about and then there are the millions of gallons of water in lakes and streams that could be tapped into.

What Can You Do

If you depend on a municipality for your water supply unfortunately, there is not much you can do but to conserve and begin stockpiling water.  Stockpiling would not get you very far however unless you had the means and the storage space to collect enough to last for a year or more.

The problem is however, you believe you are the only one conserving. You walk outside and see the sprinklers running next-door or they are washing their car and you think, “Why should I if no one else will”.

In some areas it may be illegal to water lawns at certain times or, fill pools and so on, but then you have to take the time to call someone and then there is the fear of the code enforcer pointing to your house when they come out to write the citation. Therefore asking people to conserve on their own does not work well, but soon it may not be voluntary.

You can drill your own well in some cases, but the aquifers according to experts are low as well. You would have to drill deep and this is costly, but there does not appear to be any laws that prohibit you at this time from drilling your own well.

You have to assume that if the problem is not solved then the state of California will have to ration water and each household will only be allowed to consume so much a day, week or by the month. You may even be forced to collect it all at once and then the water to your home is shut off until it is time to draw your next ration. This maybe the extreme but what choices will the state have if the drought continues.

It is not just the fact it has not snowed as much in the mountains or the rains have not filled the reservoirs, it is also policies and politics.

Catastrophes do not always come on sudden. They can creep up on you like the water shortage in California. Much of it is denial by those in charge and then all of a sudden they pronounce disaster is upon us and it is up to the people to sacrifice because those in power will not be denied, government must continue at all cost.

It is important for Preppers and others to stay informed. You cannot wait until the authorities announce a crisis is looming, by then it is too late. Do threat assessments on a continual basis so you can see what may be headed your way. Knowing a head of time gives you options that you do not have once the problem is tossed on your doorstep.

To those that are sitting back and thinking that California is getting what they deserve better be doing their own threat assessments because you maybe next. Wars have been fought over water and a shortage in one state may mean resources from your state are on the list of options. Today it is water, what will it be tomorrow. Propane and oil for heating homes, natural gas, fuel for vehicles, the list goes on and on of the things that you can be denied in the blink of an eye.

Elex Michaelson, D. P. (2014, January). California drought: Gov. Jerry Brown stresses water conservation. Retrieved 2014, from http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/state&id=9412982

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