Overdrafting and the stupid things humans do for progress

[Rex in OTZ]

What is Overdrafting?
 
One example is like your checking account, withdrawing more funds than is sustainable, the same applies to subsurface water.
sinking wells to raise crops in areas that would never support crops is a fine example.
Groundwater overdraft occurs when water removal exceeds water recharge. The slow natural recharge rate of most aquifers and high rate of pumping has led to groundwater overdrafts in most irrigated areas of the U.S. over the past century. Impacts associated with groundwater overdraft are the results of falling water levels as the water stored in an aquifer is depleted
 
As a Kid I remember seeing Post Dust Bowl earth works like dry dams in pastures, dougouts, also sidehill ridges ment to catch and hold rain water, also green belts in grain fields, Lessons learned the hard way from the tail end the horse drawn era,  In my old agriculture book published in 1906 it plainly states that corn is a tropical plant that requires allot of water, that it never grew above a certain latitude, dryland corn hybreds have been developed in the last 40 years of the 19 century and the first 60 years of the 20th century, I remember my great uncles talk of useing a horse drawn lister in corn fields, a Lister is a field impliment that hills dirt in between the rows of plants so any scant rainfall flows towards the plants roots.
 
Modern progress the Corps Of engineers had for sake of river navigation had straightened the rivers for more efficent navigation and drained the marshes, the down turn to this was the inevitable result, flash off of any pricipatation, now has a straight shot right to the gulf, swamps and marshes were drained off to make more productive land, Did you know in the 1870's they still had yellow fever in the Ohio river region?, the down turn to that was the moisture that one time sat and had time to seepe into the aquafur to replentish it well that mechanism was been removed in the name of progress, we have unwittingly done allot of damage in the name of progress.
In Colorado, they crack down on rain harvesters, the state has rain harvest dibbs before it ever hits terra firma, whats next the state will control waste/gray water as a regulated commodity.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdrafting
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundwater
 
http://www.umac.org/ocp/GroundwaterOverdraft/info.html
 
http://wingolog.org/writings/water/html/node35.html
 
http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/repositoryfiles/ca804p2-67015.pdf
 

[Empty Quiver]

And without modern agriculture America could live like Africa, no thanks.
 
I am not a fan of overuse of a resource though. There can be a balance struck. Might be better to extract oil from the ground than to extract fresh water for irrigation to grow corn to supply ethanol production which requires still more water...
 
Would certainly be nice if God would simply carve the answer onto a rock, it was certainly helpful last time.

[Matt]

careful now you might end up like this guy.

[Victor3]

In Colorado, they crack down on rain harvesters, the state has rain harvest dibbs before it ever hits terra firma, whats next the state will control waste/gray water as a regulated commodity.

 Water? Heck, the SoCal Air Quality Management District acts as though it owns the atmosphere. 

[finisher]

There goes my dream of owning acreage and setting up hydro-electric power. I understand the issues of Mosquitoes, run off and erosion so forth and so, but I think that in general, the powers that be simply have a problem with people being too self sufficient.


I'd love to see this guy prevail in the end.

[mechanic]

Did this guy think he really owned his land?  Surely he knew that he merely rented it from the government and they control it's use.  It was my thought that Oregon had a lot of rain throughout the year.  So much so that they have the only rainforest in NA?  If that is the case, and there is plenty of rain falling, whose business is it if this man catches some? 
 
I'd hate to be a cattleman there.  So far on this side of the world, they are only trying to regulate the water that runs off a farm, calling it hazardous waste in many instances.
 
Ben

[magooch]

Oregon is not the only state that has rain forests.  If I had to guess, I would say that Washington has more than Oregon and California is right in there.  And don't leave Alaska out.  I'm sure there are other areas of the United States that have what could be called rain forests also.

[mechanic]

Haven't read up on it in a while MaGooch, and I'm sure you are correct, but the point is the same.  It ain't the desert, so why the big deal over this guy having rainwater ponds?  Seems logical to me.
 
Ben

[finisher]

Did this guy think he really owned his land?  Surely he knew that he merely rented it from the government and they control it's use.  It was my thought that Oregon had a lot of rain throughout the year.  So much so that they have the only rainforest in NA?  If that is the case, and there is plenty of rain falling, whose business is it if this man catches some? 
 
I'd hate to be a cattleman there.  So far on this side of the world, they are only trying to regulate the water that runs off a farm, calling it hazardous waste in many instances.
 
Ben

****************
I've never seen anyone's deed so I cannot verify, but I've heard that on the heading where ones name goes, it does not say "Owner" but rather, it says "Tenant". Imagine that. Can anyone out there verify this for me?

[Sourdough]

Western Oragon, Western Washington, and Northern Califorina, on the west side of the mountains, have rain forest.  Across the mountains, on the Eastern side it's all desert, no water.  That is what made Grand Coolee Dam so valuable, it gave them the ability to turn the desert into green fields, all the way from Wahsington to Southern California.  Southeastern Alaska is all rainforest, as is the Coastal regions across southern Alaska.  The ferns and Devils Club get so thick you can not get through them without something to hack your way through.

[Rex in OTZ]

Local water being impacted by agriculture, farming corn in the blow sand of the sandhills, they dump on nitrogen and water to get the corn to grow year after year, then add 7-8 of the huge hog confinement facilities and the water use is compounded by runoff and saturation, by the late 1970's the grade school well I'd attended tested so high for nitrates the water was deemed unfit for consumption and a distiller was installed so we could have drinking water there.

them pictures below of center pivot irrigation systems are a fraction from just one county of nebraska!
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll...36113&t=h&z=12 
 
 Attached Thumbnails              

    Water Law's and orginizations   I remember the neighbor being one the boad members of the local water resources district, and water use laws when dams were put in, escapement, and commercial use.
I know when its hot out the centerpivot guys would be running allot, dropping the water table to such a extent that ranchers windmills were going dry, so they had to haul water for livestock, also some the rural use wells were impacted by reduced flow/capacity.

Its one them things folks take for granted till the hydrant goes dry.

Water resources - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

National Water Resources Association | Member Association Meetings

Nebraska Water Resources Association

Water right - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

California State Water Resources Control Board - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drainage law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Grazing rights - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Water quality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
  Attached Thumbnails    

[hillbill]

someday clean drinking water will be the most expensive liquid yu can buy.its just a matter of time.many places on earth are far beyond the holding capacity for humans and livestock.shut off clean water to NYC and see water is worth in a week?

[mechanic]

We're almost there in Atlanta, Hillbill.....recent droughts have brought this out.  Lake Lanier almost dried up.....
 
Ben

[gypsyman]

I remember back in the early to mid 90's, several trips to Ft.Stockton,Tx. for the IHMSA Intl's. Listening to the radio in the truck, I believe it was Racardo Montoban,(not sure if I spelled that right) saying that the water for the pecan grooves, was being pumped up from I believe he said 1000 ft. down. And when the wife and I would drive around, the big diesel motors running to pump the water was quite amazing!!                                                           And, when you consider how advanced this country is, you would think that we could come up with some power plants that could seperate salt from sea water, generate steam for the turbines, asnd use the fresh water for irragation. Kinda like what they do in the middle east. But, then we're to busy buying oil from them, financing those plants. gypsyman
 

[mechanic]

Gypsyman, we've got self contained cities floating around the ocean that purify their own water, dispose of their own trash, and with nuclear can stay out for years....aircraft carriers.  No reason we can't desalinate sea water at greater volumes than we do...
 
Ben

[gypsyman]

mechanic, I know where your going with that point. I had the same thought years ago. No reason why our country couldn't set a few of these plants up and down the coast lines, in the gulf, and take care of business. Problem is, you'll have the naysayers harping on how it might hurt the enviroment. I guess we'll be fighting over a few gallons of water when some brilliant politician or college professor will come up with the idea. gypsyman