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Thread: Ice bucket challenge plus California drought

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    Senior Member Webhead's Avatar
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    Ice bucket challenge plus California drought

    In case you haven't heard, California has a major drought. Meanwhile, there are people dunking buckets of water over their heads in the name of supporting the ALS charity. Somewhere along the line, someone brought up the point that people who do the ice bucket challenge in California are wasting water. I wanted to know the math on this. In other words, how much water would the ice bucket challenge represent to the total amount of water that is left in California?

    So I looked up Folsom Lake on Wikipedia. This is just one lake mind you. There are plenty of others (all of which are drying up.) But let's say that Folsom Lake is at 25% of capacity. Meanwhile, it's capacity is 1,010,000 acre feet which equals about 300 billion gallons. Is my math correct? I used Google to calculate this so maybe I've got it wrong. I think it's more like 329 billion something. But am I at least in the ball park?

    Ok so assuming the lake holds 300 billion gallons,... then 1/4 of that would be 75 billion gallons.

    Now California has a population of about 38.5 million people. And let's go ahead and round that up just for the sake of making math a little easier. I'll say 40 million people. So let's say 40 million people each decided to throw a gallon of water on their head. So what percentage is 40 million gallons of water to Folsom Lakes 1/4 capacity?

    So I take 75 billion gallons of water that are left in Folsom Lake and divide that by 40 million California citizens. Correct? That equals 0.0005. So now I multiply that by 100 to get the percentage which would be 0.05%.

    Am I right? Or am I a total math dummy? Keep in mind, I've only mentioned one lake, haven't even discussed other water possibilities and even assumed every Californian would do this ice bucket thing. Any thoughts on this from people here who are way better at math than me?
    Last edited by Webhead; 08-21-2014 at 04:46 AM.

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    I think that raising the profile of a charity is always good, however I agree that the waste of water in this situation is insane. When I was challenged I therefore refused to do and instead made a donation. Charlie Sheen did the same, rather than waste the water he used $10,000 instead. I don't get how all of a sudden it's ok to throw away gallons of water when I can get fined for using a hose pipe.... World gone mad? Yep

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    Senior Member Gazzak's Avatar
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    I read an article recently about the drought in Las Vegas and how they're recycling more water than ever before meaning they can survive for another 30 years even if the drought continues. The biggest thing they worry about is water going on to lawns to water plants as it's basically wasted water, so they're actually paying people to remove lawns. So Webby you're definitely on to something regarding water being wasted.

    However, of the 40 million people only 1 in 50 will do this, (do any of you know anyone who has? I know of 1 only). So the water wasted is a tiny tiny percentage in the grand scheme of things.

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    Senior Member slgrieb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gazzak View Post
    I read an article recently about the drought in Las Vegas and how they're recycling more water than ever before meaning they can survive for another 30 years even if the drought continues. The biggest thing they worry about is water going on to lawns to water plants as it's basically wasted water, so they're actually paying people to remove lawns. So Webby you're definitely on to something regarding water being wasted.

    However, of the 40 million people only 1 in 50 will do this, (do any of you know anyone who has? I know of 1 only). So the water wasted is a tiny tiny percentage in the grand scheme of things.
    Up here on the High Plains, we are in something like the 10th year of a record drought. Most of the water we use comes from the Ogallala Aquifer. We are depleting the aquifer much faster than it can be replenished, but all the same, a good redneck requires a nice green yard, just like he needs a Vette, a Harley, an RV, and a bass boat. I'm appalled at how people squander resources.
    Yes, Mr. Death... I'll play you a game! But not CHESS !!! BAH... FOOEY! My game is...
    WIFFLEBALL!

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    Senior Member CeeBee's Avatar
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    It's fuking water, it will go back in the circuit, it's not like someone is turning it into dust.
    And don't assume after linking to wiki, it lists exactly the volume of water: 1.25*10^9 m^3 and since it's metric you can easily turn it into 1.25*10^12L
    If 40mil people used 10L (hint - about 1 toilet flush), that would be 4*10^8L or 0.032% of the water. Or to put in in comparison terms, if the the lake was a 2L bottle, the usage would be about 13 drops. Big fukin yawn.
    Some people need to be smacked in the head. Watering the lawn uses that water in 1-2 minutes. I used some 35,000gal in the last 3 months.
    Last edited by CeeBee; 08-21-2014 at 01:35 PM.

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    Senior Member CeeBee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gazzak View Post
    I read an article recently about the drought in Las Vegas and how they're recycling more water than ever before
    Make city in the middle of the desert, worry about lack of water... What's wrong with this picture?
    Look at the big cities in Europe, they are near a major river or lake - no water issues.

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    Senior Member Webhead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CeeBee View Post
    It's fuking water, it will go back in the circuit, it's not like someone is turning it into dust.
    And don't assume after linking to wiki, it lists exactly the volume of water: 1.25*10^9 m^3 and since it's metric you can easily turn it into 1.25*10^12L
    If 40mil people used 10L (hint - about 1 toilet flush), that would be 4*10^8L or 0.032% of the water. Or to put in in comparison terms, if the the lake was a 2L bottle, the usage would be about 13 drops. Big fukin yawn.
    Some people need to be smacked in the head. Watering the lawn uses that water in 1-2 minutes. I used some 35,000gal in the last 3 months.
    This is what I was thinking too. In other words, yes it seems like a lot. In fact, since it's a drought we should definitely conserve water. But the ice bucket challenge is literally a drop in the bucket compared to what we have on-hand. I just keep seeing Facebook posts where people are being critical of people doing ice bucket for wasting water. I just don't think they have any reasonable basis for that argument. After doing the math, it seems to me that it's literally not that much in the grand scheme of things.

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    Senior Member Webhead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gazzak View Post
    I read an article recently about the drought in Las Vegas and how they're recycling more water than ever before meaning they can survive for another 30 years even if the drought continues. The biggest thing they worry about is water going on to lawns to water plants as it's basically wasted water, so they're actually paying people to remove lawns. So Webby you're definitely on to something regarding water being wasted.

    However, of the 40 million people only 1 in 50 will do this, (do any of you know anyone who has? I know of 1 only). So the water wasted is a tiny tiny percentage in the grand scheme of things.
    Right. Totally agreed. I think I just stole your "in the grand scheme of things" words. LOL

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    Senior Member Gazzak's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CeeBee View Post
    Make city in the middle of the desert, worry about lack of water... What's wrong with this picture?
    Look at the big cities in Europe, they are near a major river or lake - no water issues.
    One of the attractions of Vegas is that it's a City in a desert. Until the drought the water wasn't an issue for many decades.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Webhead's Avatar
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    I wonder how long this drought is going to last? If we don't get any rain this coming up winter we're going to be in deep doo doo.

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