California Irrigation System

As we all understand, the Earth has many landmarks and it is these physical features that create an abundant and organized system within which we thrive. One of the most abundant natural resources on the planet is water and the importance of this element is as crucial as any other. For the fortunate few who get to utilize it, this amazing reserve provides us with our necessity for daily consumption as well as our ability to grow just about anything we please. Common irrigation practices are essential for gathering water into a contained area to grow crops that would not typically survive in areas without heavy rainfall. As a matter of fact, “irrigation is an ancient practice that originated along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Iraq” and is now the result of an estimated 40 percent of all crops grown around the world (Water Encyclopedia). This tactic has provided many different cultures with numerous varieties of crops as well as growth in crop yield which in turn dramatically advances human civilization. As we develop into a more progressive society, the tools and systems used to grow our crops also become more intelligent as well as sustainable

The issue of building desalination plants has been a hot topic of Californians in the past couple decades because researchers knew that our available surface and groundwater supplies are becoming scarce. This problem is important because California is home to a large population of people as well as extensive agricultural and industrial productions that need vast amounts of water. With the reduction in available ground and fresh water brings other problems that need to be addressed. Many farmers are having to impose stricter management policies in regards to how they use the water the pay so much for. Crops sensitive to the amount of water they receive or do not receive can be destroyed in a short amount of time if neglected of water. With the amount of fresh water accumulated by both snow melt of California’s mountains as well as ground water retrieved from wells and pumps being depleted faster than we can recharge those sources, farmers face further impacts. An article by Robert Glennon, “Unquenchable: Americas water crisis and what to do about it” says “In the summer of 2009, California is facing mandatory water rationing. Many farmers may be entirely cut off, costing the economy more than $1 billion and putting more

The state of California is in the decision of regulating water or not, and farmers are fighting against the regulation of water, while citizens are with the law for limiting the water they use. Based on the citizen’s point of view they want to limit the water they use every day because they wouldn’t like to have no water for months. In my opinion, I support farmers’ decision, I believe there should not be regulation of groundwater. Groundwater is the most important source that we have, and citizens are scared of losing our main source. However, groundwater is more useful for farmers because thanks to that they are able to do their plantation and be able to keep our food fresh.

This is the process of blasting water and chemicals into the earth to force oil through sandstone to gush to the surface. Fracking was starting near Los Angeles where over 300,000 people live. California has the largest source of shale oil deposits and are hard to recover without the process of fracking. The escalation of fracking is a big concern to californians because the process uses vast quantities of water, one of the state's ost scarcest and more precious resources. The most controversial form of fracking-high volume horizontal fracturing-can require millions of gallons of water to frack a single well. Fracking in vertical, or conventional wells can use up to hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. Both types of fracking involve using plenty of chemicals raising the concern of possible contamination of drinking water sources and underground hotspots filled with water. Inglewood Oil Field which has been operating since 1920s is sprawled across 1,000 acres of land. Inglewood Field is the nation's largest urban ils field. Its boundaries are lied with neighborhoods whose resident, more than two-thirds of them have been complaining about the pollution created by

Individuals who are unaware of how much water agriculture requires in crop production In California is almost mind boggling to wrap your mind around. What could be the main causes to help prevent further crisis in California or fix the four year water drought? California is the supplier of almonds for over 80% of the demand for this crop globally. Almond cultivation uses roughly 1.1 trillion gallons of California’s water supply, that’s roughly around one gallon of water for

(Hasan and Özay 2002, 73-74). As Albiac (2008) reports, development of pipe network distribution and drip irrigation methods in other countries led the farmers to have remarkable irrigation efficiency in drought (143). Such technologies have already been used in China, but they are not widely spread in China’s agriculture. One investigation in China on rice paddy irrigation systems development was performed and it revealed that using the fry-foot paddy irrigation (when no water flooded the field) instead of flooding irrigation (when the rice field is completely flooded) significantly (40-60%) reduces water consumption (Xiaoping, Qiangsheng and Bin 2004, 351). Furthermore, drip irrigation method was applied in arid Northern China and it raised the water usage efficiency (Du et al 2007). However, introduction of new irrigation technologies faced some difficulties in China. As Hodstedt (2010) noticed in his article, the water saved by these technologies such as drip irrigation systems was simply spent on more food production and, therefore, did not reduce the water shortage. Also, as he reported, this caused two other environmental problems. Firstly, the water, which was the supply for underground water and aquifers as it was lost by deep percolation and leakage, became unavailable after the water-saving technologies were introduced and this strengthened the aquifers depleting along with its overpumping. Secondly, after

Numerous studies have been conducted on the benefits and cost of oil and gas industry in California. According to California Policy Center, California is the nation’s third largest producer of crude oil and has significant potential to increase its production by 50 thousand barrels per day from current 560 thousand barrels (Considine, Tim, 2014). Therefore, expanding California’s oil and gas resources provides important net economic benefits to society. However, this benefit is threatening lives of thousands people when last November, the state officials was accused of allowing oil and gas companies to pump nearly three billion gallons of waste water into underground aquifers that could have been used for drinking water or irrigation.

While natural gas may be the “cleanest fossil fuel available,” the process of collecting it is not without environmental concern. At the forefront of environmental issues in fracking are the large use of freshwater in wells and the production of large amounts of wastewater. Hunter (2012) points out that as the fracking boom began, “speculators rushed into hydrofracking … with little attention to how much water would be needed or the best practices for managing the water when they were done with the wells.” As mentioned before, in the year 2012 alone, more than 3 billion gallons of fracking water waste were produced in the state of New Mexico. While “conventional gas production generates 65% more wastewater per unit of recovered gas than fracking does” (Schmidt 2013), the use of water by fracking is still of particular to concern to a state like New Mexico

The main goal of this essay is to understand the impacts of the water irrigation system, within California, United Sates. And discuss solutions that could reduce the impact on the biophysical and socio-economic environment.

The current drought in California has being going on for 3 years now, and continues to worsen. A drought is an extended period of time without rain, and has resulted in California being deficient in water. This has severe consequences for all residents, not just those within the agriculture industry and has affected the area immensely. This drought not only affects the growth of crops, but dries up streams, water reservoirs and wells. The first map below shows the most recent conditions of the drought in California. California is approximately 423, 970 km2, and the majority of this area is affected by the drought. The least severe areas are still considered ‘abnormally dry’ as shown in the map below. California’s agriculture is largely based

Californians can conserve water by capturing it and having it percolate into the ground, capturing stormwater, and giving their plants less water. Also, they can lower the maximum amount of pumping extractions legally aloud, or, to take a step forward, we could officially have it made a public good - that way, it will be closely monitored. So, if Californians want to keep their state out of a water crisis, they will learn to savor and be cautious with their water

In California, groundwater is not merely part of the hydrologic cycle, but a key component that supports the state’s economy, contributes towards environmental stewardship, and supports communities that may range from being partially dependent to solely dependent on groundwater. Groundwater in California has always supported the urban settlement, irrigation in the arid Central Valley, and functioned as a backup water source during droughts. Given the importance of groundwater in the state, California pumps more groundwater than any other state, pumping roughly 16% of national groundwater use (California Department of Water Resources 2015). Despite groundwater’s importance, there has not been an established system to manage groundwater throughout

As a resident of the United States, imagine the nation 's future without water. Land terribly dry and brown with hardly any plants growing. Laws being put in place that would fine you for using too much water and people fighting over what remains of this extremely important resource. Each group trying to persuade the other that their need for water is greater. Well, if you are a resident of California, this is already happening. Farmers, people, and environmentalists all want the water to be used for different things, the only problem is, there isn’t enough. The current drought has continued for about five years now, with extremely high temperatures and a lack of precipitation. While personal hygiene, common comforts and the fish

While there are many benefits to fracking, there are likewise many concerns. First, recent studies have demonstrated that increased development of shale gas may hasten climate change because enormous quantities of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that constitutes more than ninety percent (90%) of shale gas, leak during fracking. On a global scale, methane emissions from drilling and fracking production sites cause substantial greenhouse emissions which threaten our climate (Zott). The global warming capability of methane is approximately 33 times that of carbon dioxide in a 100-year block of time and 105 times that of carbon dioxide in a 20-year time frame (Jeffers). Drinking water sources have also been tainted with such explosive methane,

The intended reader for the article is a professional, someone who is a politician or a legislator who works for the state. The main point of this article is arguing how California needs to create a groundwater management for better regulation of their water resources. The use of vocabulary shows that the author is writing to a very knowledgeable person about California’s water problems. The choice of words is technical, for which the reader should understand when reading the article. In addition, the format of the article is solution-oriented, where the beginning starts with the introduction of California’s water problem and concludes with a solution. This is an extensive article with lots of technical information regarding the sustainable