My new well water level dropped 140' in 4 years!

[David Kaye]

"George" wrote

Uh, decades before they needed repairs? In most of these cases the bridges and roads were NOT maintained due to government budget cutbacks and what's more, the roads and bridges were overused compared to their intended capacities, which causes extensive wear.

The Interstate highway system was built between 40 and 55 years ago. There are stretches in California where they look as pristine as when they were built (I-280 between SF and San Jose), and those that look like they're about to crumble (I-580 between Oakland and Hayward). The difference is overuse. I-580 has more than double the intended traffic. I-280 has about

30% of its intended traffic.

I'm not sure where you're talking about, but if this is true, it's likely because of the "tax revolts" of the 1970s when California unfortunately passed Proposition 13 and effectively killed off local government's ability to fix anything.

But if you insist that private industry could do a better job, remember that (1) the job goes to the lowest bidder by law in most cases, and (2) private business has to build in a profit margin, making the cost of any project higher by anything from 15% to 50% than what government can do for the same price.

[David Kaye]

"bob haller" wrote

Nope.

[David Kaye]

"notbob" wrote

California is a HUGE state both in size and in population (38 million). I'm all in favor of people moving away from California because our cities are already overcrowded. The dot-com bust of the early 2000s was a relief to us because we could finally shop at Safeway without waiting in lines, and we could go out to dinner and not need reservations. So, go ahead and move away. We won't miss you. You're only 1 in 38,000,000.

You're absolutely right. Central and Southern California are built on desert. They should not have been settled by so many people because they're dependent on water. The City and County of San Francisco shouldn't have flooded the Hetch Hetchy Valley to capture Sierra snow for our water supply. The Comanche Reservoir (which provides water for other Bay Area cities) shouldn't have been built, either. But they were, and it was because of this GOVERNMENT intervention that we've been able to live here. No private water company could have afforded to built such massive water projects.

No doubt Southern California's problems will get worse. But, that's their problem. They should be limiting construction. Sacramento tried to do this a few years ago and the U.S. Supreme Court (the Bush court, by the way) said that this was unconstitutional because it restrained business or something.

Depends where you live. Two days ago I spent the day in Tomales, a community with one general store, a hotel, a bar, and not much else, oh, and plenty of water...

[The Daring Dufas]

Are you thinking earthquake like I first did when I read the post? O_o

TDD

[Red]

Not necessarily. My driller went to the bottom of the aquifer, as evidenced by soil composition, and then backed up about 10' to prevent silt clogging. So the fast majority of the well is above the pump and not below.

[Red]

Yep, especially when he said he lived in California.

[The Daring Dufas]

The first earthquake I ever experienced was in the early 70's in West Alabamastan, Tuscaloosa Province. I was sitting on the toilet in my apartment when the toilet suddenly started rocking. I immediately thought it was due to the large pizza I had consumed the night before but I later found out that there was a rare earthquake that had shaken the area. When I was in Californiastan in the late 80's, I was bounced around in bed on a regular basis due to quakes that felt like a big rig passing by the bedroom window. No wonder folks in Californiastan are so jumpy. ^_^

TDD

[bob haller]

may have been any time since the well was drilled......

in any case you need a new deeper well, the cause is secondary at best........

which would be someone doing something illegal that somehow effected the water table.....

so what was your drillers cost and depth estimate???

[Red]

Yeah, I remember the northwest Alabama one. Scared a lot of people and made the insurance companies wealthy when people flocked to their agents for earthquake coverage. Haven't had one since AFAIK.