The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday in the noon hour.
QUESTION: Do you think it’s fair that Californians are asked to conserve water and energy at the same time politicians continue to approve thousands upon thousands of new housing developments throughout the state?
Talk about it….
57 comments
NO! One day people are going to wake up and start getting rid of these cheating politicians.I’m not going to conserve a thing.
We conserve here at our place and have for Years,….will not do more.
New Home construction projects, need solar and well water to be put in place.
Yeah,,…I know, totally unrealistic and impractical.
Roz—
Using well water wouldn’t be a long term solution.
California is using up our ground water supplies
faster than they can be replenished. The Central
Valley is sinking due to the depletion of the ground
water. Read about the huge problems this is causing.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/south-water-the-central-california-town-that-keeps-sinking
No we shouldn’t be forced! But due to the rising cost of water and my conscience, we use the recycled water to water the front and back yard and we use buckets while waiting for the shower to get warm.
Hexx no! …why should we conserve water at all? so they can approve additional housing with no available infrastructure to back it up and the impacts to existing infrastructure! water, power, impacts to traffic, schools, etc. This state is out of control politically and needs to be reigned in from top to bottom…
Vote out any politician that is not talking about plans to increase water storage. Starting with the recall election. Also, all new developments should have a fresh and grey water lines into the house and a sewer and grey water line out. This cost should be covered by the state/feds as ‘infrastructure.
WC—Creeker-
Your idea of grey water lines being run into newly
constructed homes really makes sense. It is an
abundant source that can be used for watering
all your greenery. A large number of municipalities
are already using partially treated water for their
irrigation needs. Many factories are using it in their
production processes. It would sure beat having to
haul the water from the Central San facility. I hope
all us Claycorders will take some action to help
get your idea implemented.
+1
Fair? It’s never been fair, money talks, always has.
I agree with your statement! This quote from Bill Gates tells it all, “Life’s not fair, get used to it!”
Logic dictates that water and power agencies should be required to do an environmental impact report of their utilities to show whether they can support the added housing numbers—during both normal and drought conditions.
…we are living in illogical times…
No more building should be allowed if there is not enough water. CCWD told the City of Concord that water was not an issue but now they admit that we need to conserve. WTHeck?
By force you mean raise the cost until it becomes prohibitive?
No supply and lots of demand.
They should absolutely not be approving new development until water and electrical issues are resolved. They also need to restrict immigration to “legal immigration only.” The quality of life in California has been severely diminished by politicians wholesale double cross of their taxpaying constituents.
The real drain on water is farming. Are we going to reduce how much is used to grow wine (our #1 cash crop), almonds and avocados (to name just a few). It would be hard on the farms but that’s where quite a bit of our water goes.
… and….. rice is still grown and will be! it uses an ENORMOUS amount of water… why would Cali grow rice? Why not grown it in an area that gets lots of rain – like the southeast??!!
Almonds do seem to come from California but not avocados. Strawberries, tomatoes, bananas and other produce have a label that reads that they are Mexico grown.
That had irked a long time me since the first drought I experienced long, long ago, until I realized what it would do to our economic picture with so many of our building tradespeople and everything else dependent on the construction industries furloughed. I don’t know the solution to that.
I will not conserve a drop and my top reasons why are this-
1) Golf courses
2) Water parks
3) Cannabis farms
4) Water to SoCal
5) I already use less water than most people also I have no kids so I’m not adding to this problem by bringing more humans on the planet.
Bottom line, suck it!
…. and filling and refilling of pools – public & private … most golf courses use reclaimed water now though – if those that don’t they should be forced to reclaimed water
Hard to believe you don’t have kids Jay.
@Same,
His bottom line provides a clue as to why.
“We” should not cut back our water use for this nonsense. Instead, track down these people who are demanding more housing, and mandate EBMUD turn off their water with a lock on their meter so their water can go to the new development.
Two other things. I am related to a developer, and the unfortunate news for you is he could care less about you or any lack of housing in California, he is only interested in making himself rich. The other bad news, that development of what is probably mini-mansions on a hillside with views will be populated by people who also do not care about you and it will not reduce state housing prices or the number of homeless.
Trump was right when he criticized California about 3 years ago during the deluge of rains, saying that California needed to dam it up rather than let years of water rush out the golden gate.
It’s crazy how Californians oppose new dams and reservoirs when there’s plenty of room for them in some very ugly valleys. Still our environmental-commies oppose putting dams there.
If we built some hydroelectric dams in California would be solving both the water crisis and the electrical crisis.
Our politicians are too stupid to see this.
…. and… how about de-salinization plants?!
I strongly agree with both of you.
No way…….First, water – build two or three more dams inland and then desalination plants on the coast…should take care of our water. The state currently dumps much of it water during wet seasons into the ocean
Second, energy – this one will cause a large number of fainting goats to run around waving their arms carrying on that the sky is falling…..Simple answer _NUCLEAR…now go ahead and faint but where the hell else are you going to get the energy? Solar. nope; Wind, not a chance and if the demented Biden and his caretakers get their way they will just continue eliminating our fossil fuels while our enemies have many sources.
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Newsom, Weiner, Chiu, etc… mandate that local governments EXEMPT and APPROVE new housing developments thru SB35, SB330, and other recently passed laws due to the alleged “housing crisis”!!
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EDUCATE YOURSELVES!!!
.
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California’s water infrastructure was built and designed for a state with half of the population it currently has.
CalFire has known since the 1970’s, AT LEAST, that fire suppression eventually leads to Mega-fires. And yet forest thinning and controlled burns continue to be rare.
How many natural gas and nuclear power plants have been shut down, while the population continues to grow and the state mandates electric cars?
Should you remain in California when people continue to vote for the people who create these untenable conditions?
Do not expect fair, particularly when it comes to the California government. We should not have to be told to conserve, on many levels, but with regard to the current question posed, no harm in asking us to conserve (mandating is a different story), nor is there harm in approving housing developments, in general. What a big problem is, is not ensuring sufficient infrastructure to support the additional housing.
People are always going to need a place to live, and not building more houses is only going to make the housing crisis worse. It’s already extremely difficult for a young family with good jobs to be able to afford to live around here.
The big problem is that so much of the water that we do have is being sent to areas that get less than 15″ of rainfall a year to irrigate cotton, rice, alfalfa, and almonds. This costs taxpayers billions every year, it’s probably the most absurd government giveaway that there is.
We have already dammed up pretty much every dammable canyon and river that we can. Where else can we build dams? Auburn Dam would have been on top of an earthquake fault. Maybe building Sites Reservoir, and raising the height of some of our existing dams are the only feasible options we have left.
If we really want to do something, it’s going to require radically rethinking water rights and possibly buying out these farmers who were promised generations ago unlimited water to grow their crops in a desert. Maybe allow their land to flood out during wet years to help replenish the water table?
Shorter showers and not flushing the toilet isn’t going to make a bit of difference.
During a drought years ago when my kids were small, I spent quite a bit of effort collecting water while it was warming up for baths/showers/dish washing and then bailing bath water to water my plants. During this time we took a trip which included a stop in Palm Springs. In mid afternoon, sprinklers were on watering the lush landscaping in the middle of the street with water running down into the gutters. Needless to say, it made me angry and that was the end of my bathtub bailing. Now we are being asked to conserve again. Next step, the water company will say they have to raise our rates because they didn’t make enough money because people saved too much water. Its funny, with all of the extra billions Newsom has “found,” why is there no talk of dams or desalination plants since we are in the midst of yet ANOTHER drought. Oh …. because it is better to bribe the population with all of the free money and social programs right before his recall election. What we need is a governor with some common sense. It seems it is easier to blame everything on global warming rather than do something to mitigate the water situation during drought years. And, no, we shouldn’t be building more housing if there is not enough water to support them.
Gremlin—
Palm Springs uses recycled waste water on all of it’s
public golf courses, public facilities landscaping, parks
and school landscaping.
https://dwa.org/about-us/water-supply/recycled-water/
Gremlin-
California has 11 desalination plants in operation
with another 10 proposed. (See below).
https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2020/09/tale-coastlines-desalination-china-california/
The policians are already having us subsidize high density housing near the bart stations to pay other people’s lower rents during a period of drought. Now they want us cut back on water when we voted to pay extra to increase Los Vesqueros reservoir capacity so we wouldn’t have to conserve during low water years. They can’t have it both ways……
I thought the population of California was decreasing for the first time in history?
If that’s true it should not matter if housing is new or old, as long as the overall population of the state is decreasing…. it should only mean more people are buying new houses…. right?
How else could it work?
@Dr Jelly…the population of producers (i.e., taxpayers) is decreasing. Still more coming in…perhaps not from other states but other countries, and perhaps not according to, say, immigration laws…
Not that I doubt you Jeff, but here is a link to my info which says CA population decreased by 182,000 people last year.
https://tinyurl.com/csm6mkk9
If you could provide a link to your info I’d appreciate it.
It would be vital info in my quest for the truth.
Throw The Book…
What the heck. We are in a Tesla sitting in the back seat with the auto-pilot on going down the street at 80 mph.
I am seriously believing that Democracy and rational thinking are two different things.
All of these signs point to a tired and failed society that will disappear ultimately. A new paradigm will take its place and who knows what that will be like. My wish is for logic, wisdom, fellowship, and freedom with a dose of a good economy and of course rain.
The stuff that dreams are made of…
Of course, it’s not fair.
We no longer live in a democracy.
We no longer have control over our elected representatives.
We can’t even vote them out any longer.
Welcome to what you voted for.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure CA is still allowing water bottle companies to take nearly half a billion gallons of water a year from CA and this is not just private well owners. Their permits are 2k or less a year and that’s all they pay. Why are we still allowing this??? I’m guessing someone is getting paid…Nestle aka Arrowhead is a BIG one that bottles CA water and was recently caught taking WAY more than they were supposed to from CA.
Make ’em pour it back in.
Most of our probles stem from this one thing. It is all about me, me, me, me. Our leaders do not care about the future, they live in the moment, get what I can and waste, waste fuel, waste food and waste water, hey it will not affect me right now and who gives a rip about our future generations. That is it plain and simple in a nut shell. If you are one of those in the above mentioned, shame on you.
And that is because it’s about their desire for power – they don’t give a $hit about their constituents. If they claim otherwise, they’re lying.
maybe gavin can bribe some more native and lazy people, so this won’t matter
#RecallGavinNewsom
No, because it doesn’t make sense….more building permits…then I have to cut back my water use and no plan in sight accept Grusome wants to be president.
The policians are already having us subsidize high density housing near the bart stations to help pay other people’s lower rents not to mention new power and water consumption. Now they want us cut back on water when we voted to pay extra to increase capacity to los vaqueros reservoir to avoid conserving water during a drought year. They can’t have it both ways…..
There is plenty of water. This is another man made HOAX to push an agenda. It’s part of the overall demoraliziation process. Your country has been infiltrated from within by communists. They told you what they were planning for decades. Next will be 2-3 years of dire economics. Then we will welcome the takeover. They are taking our freedoms and our country without firing a single shot. Time to put your big boy pants on and vote for real solutions not just fluffy grease balls
Keep building. Maybe one day there will be enough pain to change the way the people of this state vote.
Government is the problem.
No more building. But since they continue to approve new homes/apartments, I’ll continue to water my lawn and keeping it green.
No new developments until AFTER the water infrastructure is upgraded.
I’m tired of being told to conserve water, then told there’s a rate increase because of lower than expected income to the water district.
It’s a scam by the (lying) politicians…..ALL of them!
Stop building if there is really a drought. The politicians are just pandering to the entitlement crowd and liberals as usual who keep them in office and pay them off, while the law abiding citizenry who work their behinds off are over taxed to support all these losers who do not want to work because they are allowed to stay home and collect unemployment. There are tons of jobs out there which becomes more evident everyday.
Cut the EDD bleed now.
Government sucks and we continue to let them stay in office. If you voted for these liberals shame on you. Hope your pocketbook is stinging and empty as it is for the rest of us. I am tired of being forced to support these causes, homeless, illegals, generational welfare receipients, people who don’t care to work or just don’t want to work.
All these issues can be corrected instead of constantly throwing good money after bad.
big fat NO
It’s the definition of political shortsightedness, “Housing is too expensive, we just need to build more housing!” while we have water shortages, rolling blackouts for energy and BART and our freeways can’t support more traffic. There needs to be intelligent planning instead of each city just doing whatever they want all willy nilly.
I’ve posted this flowchart before. It’s from LLNL.
https://bit.ly/3z7Qm3t
Residents use less that 10% of California’s water, The majority goes to industry and agriculture.
What dey doin’, dawg?
A city allowing more housing construction is about as close as you can get to a legalized Ponzi scheme. A town somewhere east of Pittsburg allowed smaller square footage homes built on almost postage stamp sized lots. Perhaps thinking more new houses, means increased property TAX revenue.
For just about every parcel, a city needs to provide services, usually at a fixed to rising cost. Increases of public employee wages, benefits, retirements and medical benefits. Along with increasing costs of materials or equipment needed.
Can stay ahead, most of the time, except when one of those pesky economic downturn things happens along. That’s when a city discovers smaller, “affordable” housing and smaller lot sizes means they don’t have same cushion as cities who encouraged and maintained larger lot sizes along with larger square footage homes.
Especially when property tax bills are adjusted down to reflect loss in value resulting from the downturn. City with larger lots and houses has a bigger cushion of revenue and doesn’t end up laying off sworn law enforcement officers coming out other side of downturn none the worse for wear.
Guess it boils down to, how smart are the people running your city?
Do they bother to consider long term consequences of their decisions and votes cast while in charge of running a city. Or are they distracted, thinking of higher political office . . . that is when they’re not looking admiringly into a mirror.
Life is not fair.
Get over it.
leftie/dems only plan:
stay in power
kick the problems down the road
repeat
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