A water farm at last...

 

 

 

"Water, water everywhere - but enough pure water....where?"

While we were on our cruise in Alaska, I saw an article on the news that I would put under the "it is about dang time" category. Seems as if the City of San Diego is sick and tired of dry weather, droughts and water rationing. They are actually going to do something about it. The first "water farm", that is a major desalination plant, is under construction and should be ready to go online sometime in 2015.

Is this the panacea for Southern California's water problems? Not hardly - but it is a start. Once online, this plant will produce enough water to supply 300,000 homes with drinkable water. I have addressed this before - this is not a new technology. It has been around for decades. Why, when we have water off of three of our coasts, we don't exploit this technology is beyond me. Is it cheap? No. Will water cost more? Probably. But at least there will be water.

The water starved Middle East has been using this technology for years. It has become the normal way water is obtained. My vision for America is for us to have adequate water farms used not only for residential purposes, but also agricultural. Our days of having cheap and abundant fresh water are drawing to a close. That is the bad news. The good news is we have the technology to never, ever run out of water. Also, using more efficient methods of irrigation (such as drip), our agribusiness can continue to flourish. Without water, our bread bowl could become the dust bowl if we suffer through multi-year droughts again.

Not only do we continue to waste precious water, but we don't capture the excess water we receive. Our overstressed aquifers cannot take much more and we need to come up with sustainable ways to keep our faucets on. What California is doing right now should be applauded and copied. I have been though water rationing while stationed overseas. Trust me, it is no fun.

I have never understood why a welfare program such as food stamps is under the Agriculture Department. If I was King of the World, I would pull the food stamp program out and put it under HHS. I would then have the Agriculture Department responsible for all food AND water production in our country. All water projects, reclamation and recapture initiatives would come under their purview. To me it makes sense.

Well enough about water. My grass is finally dry enough from our last rain to cut it. We are blessed right now in the Midwest with adequate water. However, as we know from the past, that can change from year to year. Water is the business and concern for us all.