[HN Gopher] Recovery at California's most beleaguered reservoir
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Recovery at California's most beleaguered reservoir
Author : thrill
Score : 23 points
Date : 2023-02-19 18:03 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.cnn.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.cnn.com)
| advisedwang wrote:
| I feel like the photos are always dramatic, but it's really hard
| to interpret. For one thing its not clear the photos are from the
| same time of year. But even with photos from the same time of
| year, we visualize surface area and visibility of "bathtub ring",
| not volume.
|
| Actual data is here:
| https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain. It seems Lake
| Oroville, the resevoir featured in the article, and Cachuma are
| the only ones that are well above historical average.
| surfpel wrote:
| I find this* graph most helpful. In one graph it displays all
| of Californias reservoirs with their current level, their
| historical average, and their level 1 year ago vs their
| capacity. It also shows the relative sizes to one another.
|
| The reservoir from the article (Oroville) is one of the only
| ones to have made such a recovery.
|
| * - https://engaging-data.com/ca-reservoir-dashboard/
| s1artibartfast wrote:
| What a beautiful and rich data visualization!
| jabo wrote:
| I second this. Thank you for sharing!
|
| I wonder if this is a custom visualization pattern, or if
| there is general a name for this type of visualization.
| Does any one know?
| mikeyouse wrote:
| The author talks about them a bit below the chart in that
| link. Apparently it's called a marimekko visualization or
| a mosaic plot:
|
| https://datavizcatalogue.com/methods/marimekko_chart.html
| wa2flq wrote:
| Also https://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/products/rescond.pdf
| olliej wrote:
| Those definitely look dramatic, but huge amounts of CA water come
| from aquifers which aren't being refilled, and these reservoirs
| are wider at the top than the bottom, so the height increase of
| the water may oversell how much of the reservoir volume has been
| filled.
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| It's also important to note that underground aquifers that are
| drained compact/settle, and when they do so, that aquifer will
| never regain that capacity.
|
| The huge draw-downs caused by industry and especially
| agriculture trying to grow things in areas that don't have
| nearly the water to support such crops, is doing irreparable
| harm to the planet. Shrinking aquifers dramatically reduces
| that area's resiliency to drought.
| throwaway1777 wrote:
| Yeah but this problem is solvable with technology. We don't
| need to rely on underground aquifers like we used to.
| stevenwoo wrote:
| About 1/3 of Santa Clara county's water comes from
| underground aquifers. Most of the reservoirs in Santa Clara
| county are recharge reservoirs - simply to allow water to
| percolate down to refill the underwater aquifers, there are
| many small ponds scattered around the county to assist in
| this effort. There are parts of the other states
| (Texas,Kansas off top of my head) that rely on underground
| aquifers for a much higher percentage of their water.
| dendrite9 wrote:
| What technology can store large volumes of water and
| provide it as cheaply as using existing aquifers and
| drilling wells for access?
| olliej wrote:
| blockchain! /s :D
| xref wrote:
| If Oroville Dam sounds familiar, it's the one that nearly
| overtopped, then nearly undermined itself, in the 2017 floods
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oroville_Dam_crisis
| seshagiric wrote:
| Why are there so many boats? is it normal?
| s1artibartfast wrote:
| Yes. Reservoirs are popular locations for fishing and
| recreation.
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(page generated 2023-02-19 23:01 UTC)