Agricultural water rate?

[Eugene]

When the numbers are run, alfalfa by itself is something like .1% of the AG economic production in the state, and it uses 20% of the water. It is true, and it is amazing that so much water goes to support a crop with such a low value.

If it’s such a low value, we can EASILY afford to import alfalfa from Mexico, or maybe Montana, and it would cost us 0.1% of GDP (OK, maybe slightly more, because it needs to be transported) but we would cut down our water consumption by 20%.

suddenly it isnt safe to sit on grass watered with what you washed off yourself?

It’s safe to sit on grass watered with what I washed off yourself. Sitting on grass watered with what I just flushed down the toilet … maybe not so safe.

I’m not quite sure what exactly is defined as gray water. If it’s the same as reclaimed water, it may be treated with some chemicals to kill bacteria & such before it arrives to my lawn.

“Why should we be growing water hungry grass lawns in CA?” At least growing rice gives us food stuffs and economic output. What does your lawn do for the state?

What does my showering or using TP do for the state? Grass lawn is a necessity, it does not need to be justified. Besides we don’t live in a socialist country, it shouldn’t be up to the government to decide whether they should allocate more water to rice growers at the expense of my lawn. I will pay the market rate and they will pay the market rate, and if there’s not enough water, just raise the rate. The problem is, they are probably NOT paying the market rate, I don’t see how they could profitably grow rice (which basically has to be submerged in water for most of its growing period) if they were paying for water as much as I do.

BTW my grass lawn creates more oxygen than needed by my entire family. I could say that you’re breathing my oxygen 🙂

[peterb]

Water is life. Having lived where there was no water except for what could be captured during a rain, very few things survived. Just about every living thing is a consumer of water in some way. The trick is to figure out our priorities in order to best allocate it. With approx 40M people in CA, I would think that residential water use would take a priority over certain crops. Keep in mind, though, that up until 10 or 20 years ago, agriculture was the number one revenue generator in the state of CA. Amazing when you consider all that comes from CA. I’m pretty sure that the lobbying power from this group pulls some weight in sacto.

[peterb]

Water is life. Having lived where there was no water except for what could be captured during a rain, very few things survived. Just about every living thing is a consumer of water in some way. The trick is to figure out our priorities in order to best allocate it. With approx 40M people in CA, I would think that residential water use would take a priority over certain crops. Keep in mind, though, that up until 10 or 20 years ago, agriculture was the number one revenue generator in the state of CA. Amazing when you consider all that comes from CA. I’m pretty sure that the lobbying power from this group pulls some weight in sacto.

[peterb]

Water is life. Having lived where there was no water except for what could be captured during a rain, very few things survived. Just about every living thing is a consumer of water in some way. The trick is to figure out our priorities in order to best allocate it. With approx 40M people in CA, I would think that residential water use would take a priority over certain crops. Keep in mind, though, that up until 10 or 20 years ago, agriculture was the number one revenue generator in the state of CA. Amazing when you consider all that comes from CA. I’m pretty sure that the lobbying power from this group pulls some weight in sacto.

[peterb]

Water is life. Having lived where there was no water except for what could be captured during a rain, very few things survived. Just about every living thing is a consumer of water in some way. The trick is to figure out our priorities in order to best allocate it. With approx 40M people in CA, I would think that residential water use would take a priority over certain crops. Keep in mind, though, that up until 10 or 20 years ago, agriculture was the number one revenue generator in the state of CA. Amazing when you consider all that comes from CA. I’m pretty sure that the lobbying power from this group pulls some weight in sacto.

[peterb]

Water is life. Having lived where there was no water except for what could be captured during a rain, very few things survived. Just about every living thing is a consumer of water in some way. The trick is to figure out our priorities in order to best allocate it. With approx 40M people in CA, I would think that residential water use would take a priority over certain crops. Keep in mind, though, that up until 10 or 20 years ago, agriculture was the number one revenue generator in the state of CA. Amazing when you consider all that comes from CA. I’m pretty sure that the lobbying power from this group pulls some weight in sacto.

[DWCAP]

[quote=esmith]
What does my showering or using TP do for the state? Grass lawn is a necessity, it does not need to be justified. Besides we don’t live in a socialist country, it shouldn’t be up to the government to decide whether they should allocate more water to rice growers at the expense of my lawn. I will pay the market rate and they will pay the market rate, and if there’s not enough water, just raise the rate. The problem is, they are probably NOT paying the market rate, I don’t see how they could profitably grow rice (which basically has to be submerged in water for most of its growing period) if they were paying for water as much as I do.

BTW my grass lawn creates more oxygen than needed by my entire family. I could say that you’re breathing my oxygen :)[/quote]

Thank you, now you have answered my question.

(and considering the enormous amount of energy needed to pump that water from either the Colorado river, or from the Delta and over the grapevine, I doubt your grass is oxygen positive. Therefore, I think you are using MY oxygen. 😉 )

[DWCAP]

[quote=esmith]
What does my showering or using TP do for the state? Grass lawn is a necessity, it does not need to be justified. Besides we don’t live in a socialist country, it shouldn’t be up to the government to decide whether they should allocate more water to rice growers at the expense of my lawn. I will pay the market rate and they will pay the market rate, and if there’s not enough water, just raise the rate. The problem is, they are probably NOT paying the market rate, I don’t see how they could profitably grow rice (which basically has to be submerged in water for most of its growing period) if they were paying for water as much as I do.

BTW my grass lawn creates more oxygen than needed by my entire family. I could say that you’re breathing my oxygen :)[/quote]

Thank you, now you have answered my question.

(and considering the enormous amount of energy needed to pump that water from either the Colorado river, or from the Delta and over the grapevine, I doubt your grass is oxygen positive. Therefore, I think you are using MY oxygen. 😉 )

[DWCAP]

[quote=esmith]
What does my showering or using TP do for the state? Grass lawn is a necessity, it does not need to be justified. Besides we don’t live in a socialist country, it shouldn’t be up to the government to decide whether they should allocate more water to rice growers at the expense of my lawn. I will pay the market rate and they will pay the market rate, and if there’s not enough water, just raise the rate. The problem is, they are probably NOT paying the market rate, I don’t see how they could profitably grow rice (which basically has to be submerged in water for most of its growing period) if they were paying for water as much as I do.

BTW my grass lawn creates more oxygen than needed by my entire family. I could say that you’re breathing my oxygen :)[/quote]

Thank you, now you have answered my question.

(and considering the enormous amount of energy needed to pump that water from either the Colorado river, or from the Delta and over the grapevine, I doubt your grass is oxygen positive. Therefore, I think you are using MY oxygen. 😉 )

[DWCAP]

[quote=esmith]
What does my showering or using TP do for the state? Grass lawn is a necessity, it does not need to be justified. Besides we don’t live in a socialist country, it shouldn’t be up to the government to decide whether they should allocate more water to rice growers at the expense of my lawn. I will pay the market rate and they will pay the market rate, and if there’s not enough water, just raise the rate. The problem is, they are probably NOT paying the market rate, I don’t see how they could profitably grow rice (which basically has to be submerged in water for most of its growing period) if they were paying for water as much as I do.

BTW my grass lawn creates more oxygen than needed by my entire family. I could say that you’re breathing my oxygen :)[/quote]

Thank you, now you have answered my question.

(and considering the enormous amount of energy needed to pump that water from either the Colorado river, or from the Delta and over the grapevine, I doubt your grass is oxygen positive. Therefore, I think you are using MY oxygen. 😉 )

[DWCAP]

[quote=esmith]
What does my showering or using TP do for the state? Grass lawn is a necessity, it does not need to be justified. Besides we don’t live in a socialist country, it shouldn’t be up to the government to decide whether they should allocate more water to rice growers at the expense of my lawn. I will pay the market rate and they will pay the market rate, and if there’s not enough water, just raise the rate. The problem is, they are probably NOT paying the market rate, I don’t see how they could profitably grow rice (which basically has to be submerged in water for most of its growing period) if they were paying for water as much as I do.

BTW my grass lawn creates more oxygen than needed by my entire family. I could say that you’re breathing my oxygen :)[/quote]

Thank you, now you have answered my question.

(and considering the enormous amount of energy needed to pump that water from either the Colorado river, or from the Delta and over the grapevine, I doubt your grass is oxygen positive. Therefore, I think you are using MY oxygen. 😉 )

[Eugene]

(and considering the enormous amount of energy needed to pump that water from either the Colorado river, or from the Delta and over the grapevine, I doubt your grass is oxygen positive. Therefore, I think you are using MY oxygen. 😉 )

Actually that’s not the case. Here are some numbers.

Cost to pump fresh water to LA through California State Water Project: 3000 kwh/acre-foot or 9 wh/gallon

Carbon dioxide consumed by 1000 sf of grass: around 500-600 kg/year (hard to find good numbers)

Water spent to grow grass: let’s say 40″/year in addition to rainfall = 25,000 gallon/year = 225 kwh

worst-case scenario (100% coal-powered electricity): 1 kwh of electricity = 1 kg of emissions, 225 kwh = 225 kg

So, even in the worst-case scenario, my lawn would be net oxygen-positive. And California has fairly clean electricity.

[Eugene]

(and considering the enormous amount of energy needed to pump that water from either the Colorado river, or from the Delta and over the grapevine, I doubt your grass is oxygen positive. Therefore, I think you are using MY oxygen. 😉 )

Actually that’s not the case. Here are some numbers.

Cost to pump fresh water to LA through California State Water Project: 3000 kwh/acre-foot or 9 wh/gallon

Carbon dioxide consumed by 1000 sf of grass: around 500-600 kg/year (hard to find good numbers)

Water spent to grow grass: let’s say 40″/year in addition to rainfall = 25,000 gallon/year = 225 kwh

worst-case scenario (100% coal-powered electricity): 1 kwh of electricity = 1 kg of emissions, 225 kwh = 225 kg

So, even in the worst-case scenario, my lawn would be net oxygen-positive. And California has fairly clean electricity.

[Eugene]

(and considering the enormous amount of energy needed to pump that water from either the Colorado river, or from the Delta and over the grapevine, I doubt your grass is oxygen positive. Therefore, I think you are using MY oxygen. 😉 )

Actually that’s not the case. Here are some numbers.

Cost to pump fresh water to LA through California State Water Project: 3000 kwh/acre-foot or 9 wh/gallon

Carbon dioxide consumed by 1000 sf of grass: around 500-600 kg/year (hard to find good numbers)

Water spent to grow grass: let’s say 40″/year in addition to rainfall = 25,000 gallon/year = 225 kwh

worst-case scenario (100% coal-powered electricity): 1 kwh of electricity = 1 kg of emissions, 225 kwh = 225 kg

So, even in the worst-case scenario, my lawn would be net oxygen-positive. And California has fairly clean electricity.

[Eugene]

(and considering the enormous amount of energy needed to pump that water from either the Colorado river, or from the Delta and over the grapevine, I doubt your grass is oxygen positive. Therefore, I think you are using MY oxygen. 😉 )

Actually that’s not the case. Here are some numbers.

Cost to pump fresh water to LA through California State Water Project: 3000 kwh/acre-foot or 9 wh/gallon

Carbon dioxide consumed by 1000 sf of grass: around 500-600 kg/year (hard to find good numbers)

Water spent to grow grass: let’s say 40″/year in addition to rainfall = 25,000 gallon/year = 225 kwh

worst-case scenario (100% coal-powered electricity): 1 kwh of electricity = 1 kg of emissions, 225 kwh = 225 kg

So, even in the worst-case scenario, my lawn would be net oxygen-positive. And California has fairly clean electricity.

[Author]

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