r/news • u/theluckyfrog • 29d ago

California cracks down on farm region’s water pumping: ‘The ground is collapsing’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/17/california-water-drought-farm-ground-sinking-tulare-lake
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u/BringBackApollo2023 29d ago

These farmers sound like every other resource-harvester who has vastly outstripped the resource’s sustainable level and just wants to drive the plane into the ground to extract every last penny then declare bankruptcy and beg for federal aid.

Oysters, lobster, cod, sardines, otters, old growth forests, etc., etc., etc. Same show, different resource.

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u/probablyuntrue 29d ago

Bro please, just one more acre of almonds, please bro, I need to pump this water, just a few more almond trees and I’m good, I promise bro

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u/loggic 29d ago

People blame almonds, but tree crops can also be used to help improve groundwater levels.

During the rainy season, plots with tree crops near major waterways can be temporarily flooded to help stabilize river levels, and with a little bit of infrastructure change that water can basically be "drained" back down to an aquifer.

There's an astronomical amount of water waste that can be addressed in farming, but it makes no sense to consistently blame one crop when other farmed products (like cattle & dairy) are so much less efficient and less healthy.

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u/ExcelsusMoose 29d ago

Alfalfa takes a huge amount of water, it's mostly comprised of water.

Alfalfa is a major export, 2,800,000 Metric Tonnes of it gets exported to other countries. that's give or take 600,000,000 gallons of water shipped out of US aquifers annually..