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Related: About this forumWestern U.S. gripped by drought and wildfire threat during record heat wave
pwb
(11,246 posts)may change some votes in favor. Up north we still get rain and our lakes and rivers run wasted into the ocean. let's round up that water for us all?
pnwmom
(108,955 posts)pwb
(11,246 posts)?
pnwmom
(108,955 posts)This focuses on San Francisco bay, but the same principles apply wherever rivers flow into the oceans.
https://www.ppic.org/blog/myth-water-wasted-sea/
A common lament is that water is wasted when it flows out to the sea rather than put to use irrigating crops or supplying water to cities. But when rivers flow to the sea the water brings benefits to people and ecosystems that are rarely acknowledged. We asked Jim Cloern―a scientist with the US Geological Survey and a member of the PPIC Water Policy Center research networkto explain.
photo of jim cloern
PPIC: What are some benefits that rivers provide when they make it to the sea?
Jim Cloern: Runoff from rivers brings many benefits to coastal communities, the Delta, and wetlands. For example, if you live in or around the Delta, river flows repel saltwater moving upstream. If the flow is too low, water in the Delta becomes too salty for growing crops or drinking.
Rivers also carry sediment, which is really important to the San Francisco Bay ecosystem, especially for sustaining tidal flats and marshes. Weve invested hundreds of millions of dollars to convert salt ponds back to wetlands. Collectively, the restoration of wetlands in the Bay Delta is the largest such effort west of Rockies. Weve breeched levees and seen these areas become colonized by wetland plants and transformed into habitats for birds and fish. The soils that form the base for these habitats have a natural inclination to sink and need continuous replenishment. Rivers also carry sand beyond the bay to the ocean, which is essential to keep Californias beaches intact. Without river sediment our beaches would disappear from natural erosion.
A third benefit is to the Bay-Delta. San Francisco Bay is an estuary that sustains plant and animal communities not found in other ecosystems. These communities are an important part of Californias remarkable biodiversity. Weve learned from other estuaries around the world that these communities can disappear if river inflow falls below levels required to sustain them.
River flows also flush pollutants out of the bay. San Francisco Bay has been called an urbanized estuary. Sewage effluents, industries, and urban runoff carry nutrients, toxic pollutants, pharmaceuticals, and micro-plastics into the bay. Large river flows like weve seen this year dilute and carry those contaminants out of the bay.
SNIP
pwb
(11,246 posts)And is potable. Mountain streams run into the rivers and lakes. It is fresh and drinkable until it reaches the ocean was my point. Yeah I knew that about rivers already.
pnwmom
(108,955 posts)Unless you think fish and other aquatic life are dispensable.
pwb
(11,246 posts)Last I checked it does not rain salt water. You cant water crops with salt water. Now you are changing the subject with one word. Wasted? The water is wasted for drinking no matter how you try and correct.
Warpy
(111,135 posts)because the Rio Grande is down to sand bars and puddles.
This is extreme, folks.
mopinko
(69,990 posts)there is a pink blob right where my lil farm is.
this is year 9, and our 3rd yr of drought, including last year. i.got.my.ass.kicked.last.year.
and it's hard to sit down so far this year. my starts are requiring daily watering. that's not normal.
my soil is parched. it feels like august here.
i'm at the south end of lake mich. sooooo many storms these days hit that lake air mass, and bounce right over me. storms OFF the lake are rare as unicorns.
have yet to have a 2" rain. even 1" is rare so far. just like last year.
thank ja we got decent snow.