California's Vanishing Lakes and the Hunger of the Mines (2015)

California's Vanishing Lakes and the Hunger of the Mines (2015)(eccentricculinary.com)

54 points by yoloswagins 5 years ago | 11 comments

burlesona 5 years ago |

What an interesting read. I had no idea that the Central Valley had been so full of water, nor that it had been drained so early. After reading the article I found this "conceptual" map which illustrates approximately what it may have looked like circa 1851: https://geocurrents.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Californ...

The cynic in me thinks this is what our future generations are doomed to - reading articles of what the world was like before massive global climate change and thinking, "wow, I wonder what that world was like, I can't imagine it," and simultaneously, "what were those people thinking, how could they care so little for the environment?"

carapace 5 years ago | |

Classic photo: https://water.usgs.gov/edu/gallery/landsubsidence-poland.htm...

> This photo shows the approximate location of maximum subsidence in the United States, identified by research efforts of Dr. Joseph F. Poland (pictured). The site is in the San Joaquin Valley southwest of Mendota, California. Signs on pole show approximate altitude of land surface in 1925, 1955, and 1977. The land surface subsided about 9 meters from 1925 to 1977 due to aquifer-system compaction.

specialist 5 years ago | | |

That's astonishing.

Stratoscope 5 years ago | |

The geocurrents.info domain seems to have expired, so for future readers who come across this thread:

https://web.archive.org/web/20190715022121/https://geocurren...

mdorazio 5 years ago | |

The history of water usage, redirection, and decline in the southwestern US is actually pretty interesting. I recommend the book "Cadillac Desert" for a good look and a well-told historical record.

eigenvector 5 years ago | | |

"Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West" is a fascinating look at that topic as well.

29athrowaway 5 years ago | |

Same with the Ogallala aquifer.

throwawaysea 5 years ago | | |

Part of the problem is large GMO crop monocultures. Growing such massive yields so densely consumes so much water in a relatively small area, such that the natural water cycle simply can’t keep up and replenish it. A more diverse and lower yield farming practice would not have the same environmental impact. And at some level it comes back to having too many humans (mouths to feed).

ummonk 5 years ago | |

Yeah, the Tulare Lake basin is quite large.

specialist 5 years ago |

Excellent read. Helped me understand better what's changed. I knew that water ways around the Bay Area had been massively transformed. But I had no mental picture for Tulare Lake and such.

One personal frustration that I have is the inevitable knee-jerk "cite needed" skeptical response whenever someone casually mentions one of these impactful historical facts. Ya, I get that we're all ignorant of our history. But ffs it's exhausting to always be challenged. Whereas actual disinformation is greedily consumed.

Increasingly, per Bartolini's Law, IRL I just keep my observations to myself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini%27s_law

Thanks for the link. Sorry for the whining.