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Comment by Retric | Hacker News Reader

In part, prehistoric water is also known as paleowater or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_water

Basically all Aquifer's are used faster than the recharge which only works for so long. The Ogallala Aquifer is one example, but most of California pumps out water vastly faster than the recharge rate. This is not only used directly but also adds water to the water cycle which for example increases rainfall. Without that extra water things are going to get a lot dryer.

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That's why I still find it odd how little CA is investing in desalination and water recycling, compared with other arid places.

What? We passed a proposition last election cycle for $7.5 billion in water measures.

https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_1,_Water_Bond...

The legislature also passed laws regarding the use of water and monitoring:

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?...

Water recycling plants are coming online that can recycle actual wastewater:

http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_26160300/california-dr...

Less than a year ago, the largest desalination plant in the country went online:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlsbad_desalination_plant

But please, keep telling people how little we're investing in to this.

That plant has less than 20% of libia's desalination capacity and 6% of Saudi Arabia. There are 16,000 desalination plants world wide the US has less than 5% of the worlds capacity much of which sits unused.

Sure there are good reasons for this, but US water use is still incredibly wasteful.

There will probably never be desalination cheap enough for irrigation, and non-agricultural uses don't add up to enough to make desalination nescessary.

Between desalination and water recycling, Israel seems to be doing a lot better than CA: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/30/world/middleeast/water-rev...

The key form CA is not to replace all water sources, but rather close the gap between rainfall and water needs. Right now, we are doing this by pumping ancient water from aquifers, but as solar power and desalination techs mature, the price will come down and will likely be sufficient to cover that gap. The recycled water will also factor in.

There is a considerable interest in California re: what Israel has done to conserve and increase its water supply. Israeli technology is likely applicable to California's water supply issues and cooperative ventures should be fruitful.

http://israelnewtech.com/2016/07/california-shifts-gears-wat...

http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Environment/Isr...

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