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ARE WE RUNNING OUT OF

WATER?

Comsuption

Production

Exclusive

Drain

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1905

The Colorado River is diverted to flow into the Imperial Valley to help irrigate farms

1928

One of the worst droughts begins and see an increase in water storage projects

1932

The Central Valley Project began construction to transport water from lake Shasta to Bakersfield in the southern San Joaquin Valley to support the Central Valley and its agricultural economy.

1933

The Central Valley Project Act was passed to help distribute water through a massive system of reservoirs and canals in efforts to create more farm land

1934

Construction starts on All-American Canal in Imperial Valley and on Parker Dam on the Colorado River

1940

Southern California’s Colorado River Aqueduct completed

1963

Arizona v. California lawsuit decided by U.S. Supreme Court, allocating 2.9 million acre-feet of the Colorado River’s water per year to Arizona

1965

The California State Water Project (SWP) began construction on a water storage and delivery system of reservoirs, aqueducts, power plants and pumping plants extending more than 700 miles. SWP was designed to deliver nearly 4.2 million acre-feet of water per year.

1972

California Legislature passes “Wild and Scenic Rivers Act” to preserve the north coast’s remaining free-flowing rivers from development.

1982

“Reclamation Reform Act” is passed and it raises the amount of land a farmer can own and still receive low-cost federal water from 160 acres to 960 acres. (Subsidizes water for farmers)

2001

The Klamath Project irrigation water crisis began; the Klamath Basin was being severely dried out but farmers irrigation so the water supply was cut off.

2005

Scientific surveys of the Delta and Suisun Marsh reveal ongoing, sweeping population crash of native pelagic fish.

2007

SWP pumping operations shut down to protect endangered Delta Smelt (Wanger Decision). DWR estimates that Delta levees are vulnerable to massive failure if major earthquake occurs.

2010

Water use per capita is down 51 gallons daily. This reflects substantial efforts to reduce water use through mandatory installation of water-saving technologies like low-flow toilets and shower heads.

2012

The five year agreement, Minute 319, will set stage for improved Colorado River water supply reliability between the United States and Mexico

2013

Californians drained about 41 trillion gallons of groundwater from the Central Valley between 1920 and 2013.

As the below-ground aquifers are drained, the land sinks to partially fill the space left by the removed water. One farmer in the Central Valley reported his land sank more than 18 inches.

2019

It will take at least 50 years for the Central Valley’s aquifers to naturally refill and California now is pumping water that is 20,000 years old.

WHO ARE WE?

If you live in California, you have probably heard, "We're running out of water," or "We're in a drought, don't take too long of showers." It seems like we're always in a constant state to conserve the water that we use. Well is that true, Are we really running out of water?

This site will help you conclude that! Our main focus is to bring together all the statistics about the California water supply, where it comes from who it goes to and then where does it go from there. Feel free to add your findings to the blog section of the website.

WHERE DO WE STAND?

From all the research and studies consulted, the position on 'are we running out of water' and 'who is the culprit' has been concluded that we are wasting water to an extreme rate to the point where in generations to come we will have little water because we have drained all the natural water supply. But at the current moment, no we are not running out of water. However, each drought that comes and goes is getting stronger, so we need to act now to continue to conserve and recycle water.

And through this research, we have concluded that the agriculture industry, specifically the meat industry, is draining our natural water sites because it takes an extreme amount of water to raise an animal alone, along with the up keep and butchering of that animal. So we can see how it is not just the over production of vegetables to feed the ever growing population, but the growing meat industry.

“Alone we can do so little
together we can do so much.”

~HELEN KELLER

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