California's Water Problem 

75% of rainfall is in Northern California, 75% of the water usage is in Southern California.

As a Californian I was almost too afraid to watch this video

I used to drive home to Sacramento from LA every holiday, and the drive is 7 hours long, and that aqueduct will still never leave your sight. That thing's the height of Germany practically

The 2012 to 2016 droughts were so horrible, there was this huge lake behind my high school and in those few years that lake went from being full of water to looking like dried desert land.

I remember asking my Mom when I was a kid, "Why am I watering the lawn when we live in a desert?" Our house had both a front and back lawn which took quite some time to water and it seemed to be a waste of water to me when I was young.

Lived in LA my whole life. Private landscaping is a huge water waster. Additionally, if LA found a way to capture its seasonal rains and didn’t let it flow to the ocean, that would solve the entire regions problems.

They told us to conserve water and when we did they raised our water rates because we weren't using enough.

Seeing people in California watering their lawn gets me low key heated

The 3D aerial CGI map is awesome! Nice drone coverage too! Gives a different and unique perspective while also being educational. Cool video. Thank you.

Always thought it was crazy that the highest point and the lowest point in the lower 48 were less than 100 miles apart.

Just as an extra, San Diego County is home to the largest desalination plant in the world.

Who else found one if neos vids in their reccomended and have been watching him for like 2hrs

"Let's farm in the desert, what could go wrong?"

“Many Native American tribal lands have been flooded in the past in favor of dam projects” Those damn projects.

Very nice summary of water issues in general in California! Thank you!

This video was done very well. Excellent maps and visual references and explained in an understandable way.

Don’t you mean “Water’s California problem”

So Cal: You guys are lame Nor cal: Get your own water lol

Amazing description about this Thanks for. Your channel so interesting

That topographic map was excellent. Seeing all the rivers and aqueducts laid out in relation to each other shows how vast these project really are. And this was just California, I have to remind myself that there are seven states which share Colorado River water. I understand that we now put so much demand on it that it no longer reaches the Gulf of California in Mexico. It sure makes me want to redouble my conservation efforts.

As someone from the Central Valley, this was very interesting to watch

I often piss in my backyard instead of the toilet so that the water will be absorbed and filtered by the multilayer of rocks and dirt

Thanks for your honesty

Meanwhile, HOA in LA: fines for yellowing grass

Patrolling the mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter

The production and processing of cotton uses large amounts of water, yet we continue to grow it here in California. California ranks 2nd in rice production in the U.S. You can travel for miles through the Sacramento Valley and see nothing but fields flooded with precious water for the growing of rice. Most of that rice goes to Asian Countries. Were almost always in a water crisis her in California, why is big agriculture allowed to grow some of the worlds most thirsty crops? Why not grow more olive groves? Some of the best Olive oil I have tasted I got in Corning CA. Love seeing those trees driving up the 5 freeway knowing they give us so much in the way of good health, and demand so little water.

Extremely well made the best I've seen yet

A really well produced piece. Thank you.

As a Californian from the Central Valley it’s very easy to see that we could be big trouble if droughts continue to happen. Last year it didn’t rain to much here. Hopefully we have some decent rain. The more rain the more snow up in the mountains means more water in the spring time.

Me living in South Africa with frequent droughts

I like your intro and bringing map footages from Cairo and Aswan in Egypt

I lived in Northern California for the first thirty years of my life, and I have watched MANY drought cycles. Every one of them ended with a bang, rather than with a whimper. The most memorable one was 1975-1976. Meager snowpack and little rain. Lake levels dropped to approximately the levels where they are now. We didn't have water meters in Sacramento in those days, but everybody pitched in and self-rationed. I remember hearing the "experts" announce that we would never see the lakes full again. That was in January, 1976. It began to rain, and by April, they couldn't turn the water loose fast enough. They had to blow the levees and flood the bypasses. Mother Nature LOVES to make fools of such arrogant people. Here's hoping she will repeat her work.

Neo:*Talk about california geography* Me: please say the salton sea please say the salton sea Neo:*Skips kit* Me: -_-

During the last drought we were on the verge of investing into desalination plants. The support for these plants has diminished since the end of the drought, but I think that is a mistake and we should start building them now while we can.

I just moved out of california after living there my whole life. I lived in San Luis Obispo, and we couldn’t go over a certain amount of water usage without being fined crazy amounts. Showers always had to be 5 minutes or less, and at one point in the big drought it got so bad we could only shower once every few days, along other things. I’m glad I’m gone, but it’s sad to see how my hometown on the beach is slowly becoming to look like a desert.

AYE!!!! I worked as an intern for the LA river eco restoration project. The plan is to make the catch fields along the banks of the river after they remove the artificial water walls in low risk locations. This could feed the LA basin for a big percentage of the water needed. we wouldnt need to pay for NoCal water :)

it always bothers me to see people running their sprinklers at night just to water their sidewalk. so many people take the water we have for granted. i love california, but some of the people that live and move here are not the brightest. it’s a shame to see this beautiful state be abused.

We have a huge wetlands restoration project going on along Highway 37. That place is a fairly good indicator for CA’s current precipitation level by how dry that area is.

I hope this excellent video is shown in all schools. Well done.

This channel is fantastic 👏

The water tables in the Central Valley are depleting and the ground has been sinking for years.

Kalifornia hasn’t built a water storage project since the 1950’s, yet they keep on building in places where there is no water. Don’t get me started on electricity.

Very informative, thank you!

@8:13 Great aerial view of La Jolla Coast Blvd.! When I hear people complaining about the state, I don't think they understand their impact of staying here. And don't understand what it takes to have infrastructure here. Appreciate OR leave.

When I saw Wilson I was reminded of how he allowed Nestle to empty one of our reservoirs for company projects. Most folks don’t understand that water bottles, that take a tremendous about if water to create and cause issues in drains and other water systems, are often just tap water. We would save money if each person put the money they spent on water bottles into updating local pipes and leaks, and would I hear less arsenic, plastic, and other chemicals found in the water in water bottles. I’m guessing the amount of lead in water is rising everywhere because we simply aren’t updating our symptoms enough. I’d love any professional’s opinion on this. Wishing everyone safety as we shift too quickly towards global instability like we’ve never seen.

I don't know how to express my thanks but thank you so much, I have watched your videos before and especially subscribed this morning and its a coincidence that you've uploaded a video on the same day, please continue making videos and ill make sure to watch them all

California's population should never have gotten this large.

why does this feel like I'm a human from the future reading about ancient technology before the dark age of global civilization and marvelling at how well-engineered things were like reading about aqueducts in Ancient Rome...

Israel has 6 or more desalinization plants, They sell its excess water to Jordan. California can do this AND sell and supply Arizona and Nevada and possibly Mexico more water to help offset costs

Environmental conservation is a big priority... until it gets in the way of water supply for those advocating for it.

Excellent educational video. Thanks. 👍

Awesome, awesome unbiased documentary! I live in the San Joaquin Valley and this pieced all the water concerns together perfectly! In my area the groundwater is heavily contaminated with nitrates from heavy agricultural use not to mention the carelessness of those running Castle AFB and all the contamination they caused to the groundwater quality itself. Subsidence is also a big issue. As groundwater is depleted, the ground at the surface can fall in elevation by as much as 30-50 feet or more.

Thank you for including the music in the description!

This should be called "Los Angeles' Water Problem."

Very informative, great video

Your mic has a bit of a static issue. Please try to fix it. Great video as usual!

Finally a youtuber who measures city population by metro area instead of city proper! Respect.

The starting introduction tune is so satisfying to listen. Another brilliant video!

I live in Reno, Nevada and we get Water from the Truckee River that goes from Lake Tahoe.

Imagine building a state in the desert and having water problems

A few other projects worth mentioning is the Hetchy Hetchy and Mokelumne aqueducts that bring water from Sierra Nevada to the Bay Area and the Klamath Mountains projects that diverts water from the water basin above the Sacramento River into the Sacramento River basin, which then flows down the river to the catchment areas in the delta.

Me living in Canada with countless lakes and rivers

@Joseph Kroll Yes I have researched this. To be fair though, the Missouri River valley encompasses a larger land area covering multiple states so it may be a little unfair to compare the two. It felt like to me you were saying that the Central Valley produces most of California’s food crop. In reality, most of the US has a lot of farmland and as a result it doesn’t make sense to me that this valley would produce most of the crop yield. I know for sure that other places in the US produce the vast majority of grains, soy, alfalfa, as well as cotton (non foods) and also livestock.

Good way to save water idea. Keep a couple of microfiber rags and use the early morning dew to wipe the dust/dirt off the car and the second one to get any residue and just wash the rags with your normal laundry. I had an old white mercedes and this worked great

Water desalination is an interested topic which I wish was covered a bit more. Solar powered desalination just kinda makes sense in my mind - peak drought, peak output.

this channel is like aperture and lemmino, great editing and great narrating.

The intro makes me think of The Expanse. I dig it.

When I was in 6th grade they taught us how to conserve water and they had people come in from the local water company talk to us about conserving water.

I'm a resident of Lakeside a suburb of San Diego this is absolutely fascinating I was wondering why there's often water restrictions but I think there needs to be more

I live in Folsom and always cool to see pics of things form there :) i.e. Folsom Dam @00:57 also I love the fun facts about Cali that you point out

If we just turn off the water on all the private golf clubs in California, I promise y’all we would be fine.

Great video I used to live in California from 2004-2013

The graphics and editing are amazing

*Me watching from a Great Lake state* : States actually have water problems... 😲😲😲

Factual. Unbiased. Concise. Thank you.

This is remarkable, in El Salvador being such a small country people get water for just a few hours during the night

This is cool. Maybe you can do a vid about Florida with this same style. I love how you break down the geography.

I live a 10 minute walk from the Sacramento river delta and never knew any of this. Fantastic video

Hey, use dehumidifiers in moderate humidity areas. This can be used at the household level.

Philippines could learn from California. Flooding is heavy in northern Luzon during typhoon season. The Pampanga River Delta being swallowed by the sea and NCR has water supply shortages.

Neo > Vox

neo finnaly uploaded i forgot this channel existed until now

THAT INTROOOO THOOOO.... love it

In the old West there were Water Wars, they were so bad that that the cowboys used to say “Whiskey is for drinking...Water is for Fighting!” “It’s ChinaTown Jake ! China Town !”

Nobody: Absolutely no one: California: chicken avocado soup

imagine having water shortages in the desert while also having tons of rivers and snow this comment was made by Saudi Arabia gang.

6:46 shoutout too Lodi on the right 💪🏽💪🏽

Your intro always gives me chills! Just as amazing as your content!

Dang! I wished I watched this video before submitting one of my assignments for the geography class I'm in! LOL I grew up in California and have lived here for many years. After traveling all over the state and now being stationed here, some of the environmental concerns this state has are more meaningful now than when I was a kid. Roughly four hours east of Sacramento, on the Eastern portion of California, lies the mighty Sierra Nevada mountain range. Stretching north to south approximately 400 miles long is the biggest mountain range in California. It is also home to the tallest mountain; Mt. Whitney at 14,505 ft. During winter months the Sierra’s collect heavy amounts of snowfall which are discharged in certain directions. Some of the watershed is dispersed to major areas such as San Francisco, the Pacific Ocean, San Joaquin River, as well as Western Nevada. Being that California has the biggest population and economy in the United States, a lot of it is driven through the agricultural community. When snow falls, it creates frozen reservoirs which hold it for months, only until warmer temperatures in the summer months cause it to melt and run off into sustainable storage systems. From here the water is collected and dispersed where it is needed. Due to the fact that 60% of the states’ fresh water comes from the Sierras, it is not lost on anyone that they play a major role in the water resource that is pivotal for Californian’s. As greenhouse gas emissions rise, the problem now is that the temperature increases are speeding up snowmelt runoff, causing a severe imbalance in collecting and storing the water flow in reservoirs, which is also producing a flooding risk to local facilities. By the end of the 21st century, experts are predicting a seven to ten degree increase in temperature. While some may think extra water isn’t bad throughout the region, collecting it and using it is to places that need it is more meaningful. Some solutions to brainstorm for this issue could be to find more adaptive ways to collect the runoff, such as underground aquifers that can be easily supplied to nearby agricultural developments. A good sign now is that companies are already getting ahead of the problem by responding to greenhouse emissions. Knowing that we have almost zero control of mother nature, we as people can help stop these climate change impacts by simply being conservative at saving water at home, using alternative methods for transportation or car-pooling, as well as incorporating more modern homes with rain-capturing system to preserve water use.

The first time I went to Arizona, Tucson, I was surprised by how much green grass there was. Just about everywhere in Tucson. I found a job in a copper mine, and on the way to town there was a area fenced off with warning signs. Danger: Keep Out! So one day I asked why it was fenced off? The ground water had all been pumped out of the ground. And the ground was collapsing in that area. Sink holes? I was out touring a new housing area one day, and, I noticed one yard in the development had a guy out in the yard. They had put plastic down in the yard and had put two inches of pea gravel on the plastic. The man working in the yard had an air compressor and was spraying the gravel with a ‘green’ dye. I remember thinking, ‘the perfect yard/lawn’. And, if my memory serves me right, a three bedroom house was around $4,500. Four inch block walls, no insulation and a swamp cooler. I remember this well because of the ground collapsing. And this was in ‘1972’! And? Fifty years later people still have green grass lawns. In the desert. Makes one wonder, doesn’t it?

The recent rain and snow is much needed 😊

I love this channel. So professional and interesting.

I never knew this. Owens Lake must've been beautiful before we messed it up. It honestly upset me seeing that. :(

As someone who has lived in the central valley, it sucks. It is really hot and gets barely any rain

excellent video

So much energy used to move water, one wonders when seawater desalination becomes more economical?

7:15 Imagine being salty enough to go back into the river when you're already in the ocean lmao

Amazing video..Please please could you tell me what software you used for your maps

OK where do I download that thumbnail, that’s the best shot of California I’ve ever seen.

Love this channel!