A parched farm town is sinking, and so are its residents' hearts (LA Times)

[petronius]

Beneath this small farm town at the end of what's left of the Kings River, the ground is sinking.

Going into the fourth year of drought, farmers have pumped so much water that the water table below Stratford fell 100 feet in two years. Land in some spots in the Central Valley has dropped a foot a year.

In July, the town well cracked in three places. Household pipes spit black mud, then pale yellow water. After that, taps were dry for two weeks while the water district patched the steel well casing.

In September, the children of migrant farmworkers who usually come back to Stratford School a few weeks late, after the grape harvest, never came back at all.

--- Snip ---

http://www.latimes.com/local/great-reads/la-me-c1-stratford-20141024-story.html#page=1

Really heart-breaking portrait of the ongoing drought...

[Control-Z]

1. So gawd damn sad.

We've had droughts before. They may have been as bad. I was younger and maybe unaware. I just don't remember it ever being this bad.

[JDPriestly]

2. It's so dry in California.

I'm in Southern California and the conditions here are just awful. So very dry. It's really something I have never experienced before.

Floods, tornadoes and hurricanes get a lot of press attention. They are dramatically devastating.

Our drought is just slow, not very photogenic, really ugly. There are no falling houses, just ailing trees and dried grass.

Today, we went for a walk in the evening. A woman was out spraying down her empty garbage cans. My husband and I were horrified to watch the wasted water trickle down the street. Why would anyone worry about washing their garbage cans in the middle of a drought. That we had that thought shows you how bad the drought is.

Some people are even saving water by flushing their toilets less frequently. Our plumber seems to have reduced the amount of water that flows into ours after each flush.

Like I said, a drought is not dramatic, not photogenic. Ours could get a lot worse, but most of the country will never even know that it is happening. Even in LA some people seem to be oblivious to it.

[Cleita]

3. I hope you said something to that woman.

You can wash down your garbage cans but do it in a spot on your lawn or in your garden where the run off will water the plants. My SIL replumbed our houses so that our gray water, showers, dish water, etc. runs off on the property watering the plants and trees. We use bio-degradable, organic soaps and other products that are good for the plants. He did this 10 years ago and now it's paying off. Unfortunately, in many cities gray water goes into the same pipes and sewage treatment plants that your toilet waste goes into.

Cutting down on your water usage is helpful but recycling it is better. Maybe it's something to bring up at meetings of local government that are responsible for water management and disposal services. I hope passage of Prop 1 will address this.

Even though, still our gardens are sad looking but we are keeping foundation plants like trees, and hedges alive with this method until things get better.

[KamaAina]

4. Stratford? Maybe they could have a California Shakespeare Festival.

It works for Stratford, Ont., and worked for years in Stratford, Conn.

Maybe they could raise enough $$ to dig a new well.

[roody]

5. It is sad, and Mother Earth will have the last word.

[antiquie]

6. Tragic.

[petronius]

7. That flag is great - I'd love to have one!

I see it came from here: http://waterforthelonghaul.com

I wonder if they had one made, got it from elsewhere, or if it's just photoshop...

[antiquie]

8. I know nothing.

[mackerel]

9. What surprises me more than anything is they're building new homes. I was just in Oakley

at the edge of the Bay Area and they're putting in a new development there and I see that both Lodi and Galt have new developments going in too. That's more residences that are going to need water.