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We had quite a meeting about metering waterwells. This was about 4 years ago. Unfortunately, a few rabid "we hate the gubmint" types turned the meeting into a yell fest so I left. Quite a few other people left when the yelling and ranting started. Our wells are not metered.

It all seemed strange. They only picked two counties for the proposed metering and both were rural and a bit depressed due to being former timber rich counties. Anyway, they backed off and it was probably due to pressure by our county commissioners and state reps rather than the annoying yellers.

I suggest you pipe in water from Texas. They should know how to build a good pipeline.

I just checked the forecast. 80s through the weekend then rain.
 
More interesting observations from NASA. Alaska warmer than Texas????
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=85932

Huh.

Been pretty warm here too.... been in the upper 60s-low 70s most days. Not bad in the shade but in the sun its roasting. Also been pretty humid, 60-70%.

I know that doesn't seem hot, but that is normal "summer" weather, not spring.

Fairbanks area.... those guys are tough. Roughly 150* temp difference between winter and summer extremes.

I would actually need to cut my lawn, it's a good 10-12" tall in some spots (still bare in other spots though). Don't remember the grass coming in this early in a long time. Usually it's well into June.
 
While I agree in general, maybe it is necessary in California...
Some counties have moratoriums on well drilling.
Applying a band-aid where a tourniquet is required... is simply the waste of a good band-aid.
California and certain parts of the PNW have been using more water than nature replaces for near half a century now... it-is-what-it-is.
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Some counties have moratoriums on well drilling. Ground water is not infinite and at least some are realizing that. Another reason for not moving here.
i assume you have deep wells there? 200'+? its hard for me to imagine running out of water..........i have herd of shallow wells running dry here, but they were only 12' or so deep.
 
Applying a band-aid where a tourniquet is required... is simply the waste of a good band-aid.
California and certain parts of the PNW have been using more water than nature replaces for near half a century now... it-is-what-it-is.
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Really? I didn't know that. Where'd you get your facts and what part of the state is using more water?
 
i assume you have deep wells there? 200'+? its hard for me to imagine running out of water..........i have herd of shallow wells running dry here, but they were only 12' or so deep.

There are areas where wells go deep and areas where they don't. One county just had too many people moving there--on the dry side. The Indian tribes have been forcing the issue. They are worried about water tables affecting rivers and creeks. The town of Twisp had a moratorium on water hookups. They could not hook up any more houses due to the concerns of the Yakima tribes. The same is true for a county on the wetter side, the tribes are worried.

This year the irrigators are going to hurt a bit. We didn't get a snowpack and snowmelt supplies the water for irrigation. One district has delayed starting up. We've been getting some rain on both sides of the state and that is helping. The water people have been proactive and filled up the reservoirs to capacity.

Technically speaking, we aren't having a drought on the west side. Our rain totals have been normal.

I'm not too worried. We've had snowless winters in the past. We just haven't had so many immigrants living here.
 
I'm interested in which parts of the PNW you mentioned. Where? And cite your data source.

http://futurewise.org/action/Kittitas Settlement

This article says that the Yakima River Basin water is over allocated, but at the same time, they cut off the newer (junior) water users when things get bad. Some areas have what is called interruptable water rights. Those folks should know they are likely to be cut off.
 
I'm interested in which parts of the PNW you mentioned. Where? And cite your data source.
Well for starters... how about this??
This article says that the Yakima River Basin water is over allocated...
Isn't that what I basically stated?? Just using different wording??
Although California is in the most trouble... wouldn't the Yakima Basin be considered a "certain part of the PNW"??

I guess I don't understand the motive for your question... when you, yourself answer it.

See?? Where I live the ground water table and river levels are not so closely tied to each other... the geology is not the same. My well is 110 feet deep, I pull it every couple years or so to replace the foot valve, and there's near always 55-60 feet of water in it regardless of the river levels. Heck, the water level in my well is above the river level during most of the year. Even during the drought a couple years back, when the river ran at what was a trickle compared to "normal", there was still 48 feet of water in my well... the only time in 23 years I've seen it below 50 feet, and only the second time below 55 feet. During the drought, even with the level in my well down, it was still something over 20 feet above river level.

In other words... when I pump water from my well it doesn't "impact" the river basin... they are (for practical purpose) independent of each other.
What causes our Cedar River to rise and fall depends on the amount of rain they get in Minnesota... but that has nothing to do with the ground water level.
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and certain parts of the PNW have been using more water than nature replaces for near half a century now... it-is-what-it-is.
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Although California is in the most trouble... wouldn't the Yakima Basin be considered a "certain part of the PNW"??

I don't really agree. Some years the Yakima irrigators have plentiful water, some years they have a shortage. It's more a short term thing. Actually, they are hoping that they will be closer to normal than they were expecting, the government agencies that plan for irrigation did a pretty good job of getting the reservoirs that supply the basin full and keeping them that way. Where they ordinarily do a draw down for snowmelt runoff, they let it fill up with rain. We have had issues in the past when they didn't pull down far enough. I remember the powerhouse at Riffe Lake getting damaged because they had an "Atmospheric River" (Pineapple Express) come in and really melt off the snow. We had the same thing again in 1996, I had 5" of snow at my house, it was gone in a couple of days, and some areas got 14" of rain in 24 hours.
 
I don't really agree. Some years the Yakima irrigators have plentiful water, some years they have a shortage.
But the "shortage" years are becoming more frequent and/or more severe (especially in California)... are they not??
It ain't about one year, it's about decades... if it was about one year, the man made global climate change crowd would have been run out'a town on a rail years ago.
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No, I don't believe they are getting worse in Washington. I do believe we are in a warming trend. We had two wet summers in a row a couple of years ago, last year was dry, so now it's two in a row. I am hearing we don't really have a precipitation shortage this year, just a snow shortage. I think it would qualify as a dry year, not a shortage year if we stored any snow at all. But we are running significantly warmer than usual, not as extreme heat, but average lows and highs. Pretty sure we didn't have a single 100 degree day last year.

And while California is in long term drought, I think they are at the edge of normal variation, too. I think more than anything, the population puts the system out of balance. The weather and soil is great for agriculture, so people have come to depend on the Central Valley area for truck farm typ produce.
 
go figure? 81 degree's yesterday and now there's frost warnings for tonight.... "GLOBAL WARMING " alright, just the next ice age we have to tend with first I am guessing?? it's 9:18 and 52 degs with a cold north wind time to fire the wood stove again !
 
My nearest river is 5 miles away. I can't imagine ever running out of water. Not sure how deep my well is. Now I'm curious.
 
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