| Pages:
1
2 |
jakecard
Nomad
Posts: 141
Registered: 7-13-2011
Member Is Offline
|
|
Is Water Scarcity in Baja a Myth?
On its face the answer to this question seems self-evident. However, some irrigation habits in Baja cause me to wonder: Is water scarcity in Baja a
myth?
Is there actually plenty of water for everyone and no need to conserve?
Can anyone share quantifiable facts around just how scarce, or just how plentiful ground water is throughout Baja?
As a general proposition, do you agree or disagree that fresh water is "scarce" in Baja?
Jake
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65308
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
The grapes are watered with drip!
Baja is a diverse land... so, you may need to tell us what part (coastal, inland, mountain, desert, north, south, etc.)
Obviously the desert is very limited in water availability... wells, oasis, tinaja being the sources.
|
|
|
jakecard
Nomad
Posts: 141
Registered: 7-13-2011
Member Is Offline
|
|
I am ignorant, so please tell me.
How much does the availability of groundwater vary throughout the diverse regions of Baja?
Jake
|
|
|
shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13050
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
|
|
that is an excellent question Jake...I too ponder how much water there is is different aquifers...like the one that feeds our area in central baja.
there is a furor right now about a new gold mine starting up at El Arco and how much of the water they will be using....I wonder if it has ever been
measured? Also worries about the huge amounts of water Los Pinos uses as well since they have put in huge operations in Vizciano...good question and a
tad worrisome.
|
|
|
sancho
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2524
Registered: 10-6-2004
Location: OC So Cal
Member Is Offline
|
|
I've always wondered that too, with the all the development
at the Cape. I'll just go with the assumption, right or
wrong, that there would not be a study done that
would guarantee adequate water for such development.
I imagine they would build and deal with it after the
fact. I suppose it being mostly desert wouldn't
mean there isn't ground water to support that though.
Have heard that San Felipe gets it's water from south
of the town
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65308
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by jakecard
I am ignorant, so please tell me.
How much does the availability of groundwater vary throughout the diverse regions of Baja?
Jake |
Some links of interst... first one on the area where Shari lives...
http://scielo.unam.mx/pdf/geoint/v49n4/v49n4a1.pdf
http://geo-mexico.com/?p=3779
http://www.azhydrosoc.org/MemberResources/Symposia/2010/AHS_...
http://botany.si.edu/projects/cpd/ma/ma12.htm
http://www.tjriverteam.org/uploads/Hydrogeological_Assessmen...
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65308
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by sancho
... Have heard that San Felipe gets it's water from south
of the town |
The wells that serve San Felipe were drilled and piped into town in the late 1970's. The pipe(s) are under the old Puertecitos road, and the wells are
about 9 miles south of town.
[Edited on 8-20-2011 by David K]
|
|
|
jakecard
Nomad
Posts: 141
Registered: 7-13-2011
Member Is Offline
|
|
Useful links, thanks David.
Jake
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65308
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by jakecard
Useful links, thanks David.
Jake |
de nada Jake, Have a great weekend!
|
|
|
Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
Member Is Offline
|
|
Jack, there are lots of corners to this thing. That's because things change. At one time Ciudad Constitucion farmers were using a century's worth of
water a month growing cotton. Cotton is giving way to Ostriches.
Consider that Baja California is an island. Imagine a drought on an island in a sea of salt water. There you have it. Then imagine that the drought
and need is uneven now, is changing daily as the weather decides who/what lives and dies.
Here at East Cape we just witnessed the first water service from our one and only well to a new giant marina/golf develpment on 800 acres by the
beach. The service line is just like mine - 3/4 of an inch. It is for water for the workmen. The huge marina canals are almost all dug and are full of
brackish, (mostly fresh water from our aquifer) which percaloted up as they dug --- the canals hold millions of cubic meters of water that used to be
available to our little village. The golf course could use 1 mill Cubic meters, THE SAME AMOUNT THE VILLAGE USES NOW.
Cosas cambia.
|
|
|
Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy!
|
|
For the Vizcaino area (first link): "The groundwater in the central area
shows high concentrations of soluble nitrates, a product
of agricultural fertilizer. Because of high withdrawals
in the central area, the advance of saltwater from the
west is already evident. The results of this study can be
useful to stakeholders and the public interested in a better
groundwater management of this aquifer."
That said, the demise of the San Quintin areas water was predicted 20 years ago and they're still pumping away.
|
|
|
Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy!
|
|
2nd link: "La Paz, the capital of the state of Baja California Sur, faces a particularly serious water supply problem. The local aquifer is reported
to be already overexploited and suffering from salt water intrusions. Because of its greater density, seawater normally underlies freshwater in
coastal areas. Salt water intrusions occur when so much fresh water is pumped out of coastal aquifers that it is replaced by the underlying salt
water. The water supply issues have led to water rationing, in which almost half of La Paz’s 250,000 residents receive water only 12 hours or less
each day."
The article goes on to say how desalination is the future----which makes me wonder what the results of the solar desal plant in Puerto Lopez were.
|
|
|
Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
|
|
Duh? It's mostly desert.
|
|
|
Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
Member Is Offline
|
|
Cypress, there you go again. Explain to us what a desert is. Then explain to us how many kinds of deserts there are, then delete your last post. Then
stay in Idaho.
|
|
|
Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
|
|
| Quote: | | Originally posted by Osprey Then stay in Idaho. |
There's high desert, low desert and a lot of in
between. Write us a story. 
|
|
|
Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
Member Is Offline
|
|
Not even close. What desert is Idaho in? How much rainfall there? What's the evaporation rate? Do they do any farming in southern Idaho? How much rain
do you think they get in the low desert around Ciudad Constitucion? How come that's such a rich agricultural area? Go see Mr. Google, then start over.
|
|
|
mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
Member Is Offline
|
|
Hell of a good question!
I just read this http://www.rideforclimate.com/journals/?p=50
Funny...L.A. was once considered a desert as well as most of I 99
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
|
|
|
Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy!
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Osprey
Not even close. What desert is Idaho in? How much rainfall there? What's the evaporation rate? Do they do any farming in southern Idaho? How much rain
do you think they get in the low desert around Ciudad Constitucion? How come that's such a rich agricultural area? Go see Mr. Google, then start over.
|
Exactly---its been raining for a couple billion years anyway---even in deserts it adds up if you have the right rock strata to hold it. Look at the
Olagallala Aquifer under the high plains in the Texas panhandle---that's dry country up there but a ton of water underground.
|
|
|
Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
|
|
Osprey, Good grief! Don't ask me. Look it up for your self. Do your own research. I'm just passing thru. Write a story. Read a book.
|
|
|
Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
|
|
The climate classification of "desert" is an average yearly rainfall of under 10 inches. Many parts of Alta and Baja CA qualify, including the
Coastal plain from Santa Barbara south. This is nothing new--------been a desert for years (but not always)-----irrigation just fools everybody.
Now, does this deter the developers and politians??? No, not one whit. Develop away, and steal (or buy) water from whereever you can find it,
including much of the USA southwest via aquaducts.
Baja CA does not have that source, tho. "Fossil water" (old water held in aquafirs) is always tentative, and it is hard to determine how much is
there until you start to run out by observing the water table going down. Borrego Springs and the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is an example of a
small aquafir being slowly exhausted, with no help in sight----a significant problem.
As a Geographer, I have always been worried about water in Baja CA.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Barry
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
2 |
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
