Sunday, April 05, 2015

How Many People Will Have To Migrate Out Of California When All The Water Disappears?

How Many People Will Have To Migrate Out Of California When All The Water Disappears? | Zero Hedge:
The drought in California is getting a lot worse. 
As you read this, snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada mountains are the lowest that have ever been recorded
That means that there won’t be much water for California farmers and California cities once again this year. 
To make up the difference in recent years, water has been pumped out of the ground like crazy.
In fact, California has been losing more than 12 million acre-feet of groundwater a year since 2011, and wells all over the state are going dry.  
Once the groundwater is all gone, what are people going to do? 
100 years ago, the population of the state of California was 3 million, and during the 20th century we built lots of beautiful new cities in an area that was previously a desert. Scientists tell us that the 20th century was the wettest century in 1000 years for that area of the country, but now weather patterns are reverting back to normal.  
Today, the state of California is turning back into a desert but it now has a population of 38 million people.  
This is not sustainable in the long-term.  
So when the water runs out, where are they going to go?
...California farmers rely on that water.  Last year, farmers had to let hundreds of thousands of acres lie fallow because of the scarcity of water, and it is being projected that this year will be even worse
More than 400,000 acres of farmland were fallowed last year because of scarce water. Credible sources have estimated that figure could double this year.
Fortunately, many farmers have been able to rely on groundwater in recent years, but now wells are running dry all over the state. 
Here is more from NPR

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