Rainwater. Illegal to collect

[Darky]

I wasn't sure if that had been built yet. The book I've been reading is from 87

 

[tbburg]

The book I've been reading is from 87

Is that "Cadillac Desert"? It's a good read.

The most amazing thing I've seen since I moved out here is how much water is wasted and how cheap it is. Monthly bill here is less then half what I paid in Ohio($16-18/month here vs $35-40/month in OH) Then I learned about the water subsidies. Turns out it's not cheap, just paid for with tax money.
One of the highest fountains in the world is right over the hill from me:Fountain Hills, AZ
They're real proud of the fact that "all the water used in the fountain is recycled." Yes, very green. We take water that could be reused and blow it into the sky! It increases evaporation! Also, almost every public building in the valley has a water feature in front of it.

Even with all that, seeing fields flooded with a foot of water 2 or 3 times a week, in the middle of the summer, to grow cotton still takes the cake. :roflmao: Really smacks home the meaning of the term "acre-foot".

 

[ehall]

Not so much farmers but mill operators. Mills draw energy from the running water, leaving less power available to downstream mils. Likewise if you divert runoff, you interfere with the power generation downstream. This was a big problem with textile factories in the NE for years, they all drew power from the river and everytime somebody built a new mill upstream the ones downstream were affected.

 

[Darky]

Is that "Cadillac Desert"? It's a good read.

The most amazing thing I've seen since I moved out here is how much water is wasted and how cheap it is. Monthly bill here is less then half what I paid in Ohio($16-18/month here vs $35-40/month in OH) Then I learned about the water subsidies. Turns out it's not cheap, just paid for with tax money.
One of the highest fountains in the world is right over the hill from me:Fountain Hills, AZ
They're real proud of the fact that "all the water used in the fountain is recycled." Yes, very green. We take water that could be reused and blow it into the sky! It increases evaporation! Also, almost every public building in the valley has a water feature in front of it.

Even with all that, seeing fields flooded with a foot of water 2 or 3 times a week, in the middle of the summer, to grow cotton still takes the cake. :roflmao: Really smacks home the meaning of the term "acre-foot".

Yup, that's the one. Reading it makes me want to leave the southwest but I love it here too much...

 

[H8PVMT]

As far as water requirements for produce, I don't know. I do know however, that I irrigate from a small (two acre in area) lagoon and it's enough to sustain 15 acres of Bermuda. But seeing as how such a relatively small stream can put an entire acre under a foot of water in 40 minutes, I find it hard to believe that even the thirstiest of crops use but a tiny percentage of the water out of a river.

if you mean you irrigate bermuda grass then your argument is worthless, you maintain a "crop" that has been bred and modified for it's resistance to drought and heat stress, on a 100 degree day, keeping the turf at 1/10 of an inch if you have any humidity you don't have to cool the water off that much.
When I was building a golf course in sacramento, we went through 2 million gallons a night watering, it's the golf industry that uses 3%, i was involved in promoting legislation on exempting the golf industry from the new water laws popping up

the farmers in the midwest use waaaaaaaaay more than 10 acre/foot per year, and someone before me had a good point, if no laws the farthest upstream would dam it and charge everyone below