Monday, July 28, 2014
Niño Index Takes a Tumble
The chance of an El Niño look dead -- the Niño 3.4 Index is now actully negative. Last week I heard some scientists say each El Niño has its own characteristics and it's possible for one to still appear this year, though the cold phases of the PDO and IPO makes one less likely. But it's not looking good:
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9 comments:
That is one dive indeed. Was not expecting this. Hot year 2014 will have to do it on its own then. ;)
"But it's not looking good:"
Why are you hoping for a strong El Nino?
To bring rain to California, the parched American southwest, and west Texas.
Why doesn't cali just build solar desalination plants. They have sun and a coast line. Seems like a no brainer. Sun shine is more reliable than rainfall and the ocean is not going anywhere.
What is the cost per gallon?
How long would it take?
They're running out of water now, not 10 years from now.
Who cares about the cost. Just mandate that 50% of the water for coastal cities must come from solar desalination plants in 20 yrs. Immediately double the cost of water to city dwellers to pay for it and to encourage conservation.
Huge environmental benefits. Stop diverting water from fish to satisfy landscaping in the cities. Arizona could show cali coastal cities how to plant desert landscapes.
Stop subsidizing the growing of crops that could be purchased from poor countries in tropical climates (e.g. rice).
A shortage of water in cali is mostly a shortage of cheap water. If cali raised the price of water to a market clearing price everything would short itself out.
The lack of a market clearing price for electricity in cali is what caused the power crisis in cali 10-20 yrs ago. It was just dump. Just raise the price to encourage conservation and new supply (desalination in the case of water).
You have an easy solution for everything, don't you? It's unfortunate you're not in charge of anything.
Why doesn't cali use those pipelines delivering water from the Siera watersheds to pump seawater out to the desert, desalinate it, and then let it flow back to the cities. The facility might also double as a pumped hydro storage.
San Diego recently finished a desalination plant. Addresses a problem that is both real today and solvable, not one only seen in projections centuries into the future.
"Nation's largest ocean desalination plant goes up near San Diego; Future of the California coast?"
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25859513/nations-largest-ocean-desalination-plant-goes-up-near
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