Missed the mark in June for my water footprint. Here in Paradise we are supposed to use 36% less water than we did in 2013. We can see exactly how many gallons of water we used every single day since they went with fully digital meters here in 2013. Tomorrow is the last day of June. I see that as of today, we've used 34.75% less water than in June 2013. I'm pretty happy about that, though I "missed it by that much." Since we get to water on even days at my home because our address is an even number, we get to water once more tomorrow to end the month of June. I bet I'll have saved around 33% this June compared to June 2013 which makes me proud (I've really tried hard!).
This is actually pretty good news since we are having hotter temperatures than normal (well, this is the new normal with climate change). Triple digit heat for the next 10 days at least. Yesterday was 106.4, today it reached 104.6 (hey, kinda cool that...the last two digits reversed each other). Tomorrow is supposed to be 103, Weds. 105 and Thurs 101. Down in the valley (Chico) those same three days are supposed to be 107, 109 and 104. On top of the heat, the air is dry as a bone. The humidity is only 18%.
We know the ground is drier everywhere in California compared to normal. All this heat keeps drying things out more and more. So far around 12,000,000 trees have died in the forests due to lack of water. At least another 3-4 million are supposed to perish this year.
So lets talk about almonds again, shall we? Why not. California's water supply is at an all-time low. Mandatory water restrictions have been made for the first time for farmers. The profit on almonds is about 30% per year. Obviously you want to grow almonds (the profit on walnuts is even better). Do you know of anything you can invest in that gets you a 30% return on investment each year? Nope.
They keep planting more and more almond trees mostly in the western San Joaquin Valley which is about the worst place you could plant water-sucking plants. There are more almond trees now than ever. Since 2014 there have been 30,000 acres of new almond trees planted. This equates to millions of new almond trees planted this past year, a trend that is consistent with past years.
But lets look at this in more depth. Almond growers as a whole have been working at using less water. Overall, almond growers use 33% less water than they did only 15 years ago. The amount of water almond trees use each year is equal to what Los Angeles uses every five years. Almond trees must be ordered several years in advance of planting, so farmers that are planting them this year had planned to do so as long as five years ago when we weren't in such a terrible drought. Financially they basically have no choice but to plant now. Almonds are the single most lucrative fruit crop in California. In 2014 1,800,000,000 pound of almonds were grown making $6,500,000,000 for growers.
Water is a real problem. Salmon need it to spawn. They need it to be cold. Chinook salmon can't make it anymore. They keep water in Lake Shasta to release in late summer and early fall that is cooler. But it's gotten too warm. Last year 97% of Chinook salmon eggs died from warm water. That equates to millions upon millions of dead eggs. The Delta Smelt is now on the brink of extinction.
What do you want to kibitz about tonight?
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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