This post gives research from five different sources about the long-term solutions for the drought in California. As said earlier in our blog, the sources will be cited in MLA format and then following the citation will be a short analysis of the article including the main claim, evidence, and the relation to the California drought.
"Parched California." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 2 Sept. 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <http://www.nature.com/news/parched-california-1.18270>.
The purpose of this article is to explain how the drought in California is affecting many aspects in the state including the extinction of the hypomesus transpacificus, delta smelt, along with farmers and local residents. The evidence that the author provides is how each one of these sources is planning on dealing with this drought. The article revolves around the extinction of the smelt and the author starts the piece off by saying that when water levels in the delta get low, water managers just add more water to prevent the smelt from dying. Unfortunately, the fix isn’t so easy for farmers or other Californians. Local residents have been asked to cut down on their personal water usage, like limiting the amount of water used in water their lawns. Farmers have also been asked to cut down on their usage and their solution has been using irrigation. The last piece of evidence the author gives is that scientists hope for the El Nina, rainy winter, to come to California, but the weather is not reliable and they are going to have to come up with a better long-term plan. The author then finishes the article by saying that if scientists cannot come up with a way to conserve water, then the delta smelt will be gone forever.
"International Self-Powered Building Council; ISPBC Certified AIR-X by UWS: A Sustainable Drinking Water Solution to California Drought." Journal of Engineering (2014): 698. ProQuest. Web. 27 Sep. 2015.< http://search.proquest.com/docview/1614971570?pq-origsite=summon>.
The claim of this article is to persuade the audience that using Untapped Water Systems (UWS), which create water generators within the atmosphere that make clean water and purify the air, is the drinking water solution to California’s drought. The evidence that the author provides in this article is facts and statistics about the UWS. He first states that AIR-X does not use water from reservoirs, but instead gets the water from the air. He then states that by using this system it is 75-100% cheaper than buying bottled water and it uses less power than the bottled water companies. This evidence proofs that this system will be better for the economy as well as the ecosystem. The author then goes on to talk about how much fog the state of California has and then states that the system benefits from increased moisture in the air. Therefore, this system would work perfectly in California. The last evidence that the author provides is that this system will give water to people with reduced access to clean water because it makes water that is 99.9999% bacteria-free. This furthers the authors overall claim that this system should be used in California because it will provide water for everybody. This article relates to the other articles because it provides one solution to the drought in California. If the states uses this solution, there will be a decline in the amount of water used in the reservoirs, which will allow more water to be used for farmers or other needs of Californians.
Johnson, Christina S. "California Farmers and Salmon Fishermen Fight for Water." National Fisherman 90.5 (2009): 13.ProQuest. Web. 27 Sep 2015.<http://search.proquest.com/docview/211489113OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:summon&accountid=12725>.
The purpose of this article is to convince the audience that more water needs to be put into the deltas because it is leaving farmers and fishermen without jobs. The author uses economical statistics and quotes from specific sources for evidence to his main claim. He starts by saying that California is in a $24 billion budget deficit from the three years that is has been in a drought and this has also caused farmers and fishermen to be in debt, as well. He then provides the audience with a quote from Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association saying that, “Salmon fishermen have been out of work for two years now because of the total closure of the fishery.” The author then states that Grader has appointed Deputy Interior David J. Hayes with $160 million for Recovery Funds. The author then provides the farmers side of the argument with giving a quote from Christina S. Johnson saying that farmers want the “two gates” plan which provides removable gates on the delta to prevent smelt from being caught in the pumping systems of the irrigation machines. This article relates because it gives information about the total cost that the drought has cost the state and the effect that it has had on the economy. It also relates to the extinction of the delta smelt.
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| Delta Smelt Pic by Pacific Southwest Region USFWS |
Connon, Richard. "Sublethal Responses to Ammonia Exposure in the Endangered Delta Smelt; Hypomesus Transpacificus (Fam. Osmeridae)."Sublethal Responses to Ammonia Exposure in the Endangered Delta Smelt; Hypomesus Transpacificus (Fam. Osmeridae). 1 Oct. 2011. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.< http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166445X11001949>.
The authors main claim is to prove that the delta smelt, hypomesus transpacificus, is an endangered fish species and they are important because they indicate how healthy the environment they live in is. Richard Connon proves this through researching why the population has declined and then examined the changes in the smelt when exposed to ammonia, affect of their genes with changes to the cell membrane, and neurological and muscular damage, and lastly the effects of the cell membrane that prove multiple-contaminant exposure. By doing these studies who figured out which specific factors increase and decrease the mortality of the smelt. This study can help other scientists figure out how to save the smelt and find other solutions to get through the California drought.
Baerwald, Melinda. "TaqMan Assays for the Genetic Identification of Delta Smelt (Hypomesus Transpacificus) and Wakasagi Smelt (Hypomesus Nipponensis)." - BAERWALD. 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1755-0998.2011.03011.x/abstract>.
Baerwald claims that she has developed a way to specifically determine the difference between the species of the delta smelt and the wakasagi smelt. This identification system is 100% accurate and is expected to be used in future scientific studies on genetic species identification. This identification system will help take surveys and experiments on the true population of the delta smelt. By being able to have valid information on the population, scientists will be able to have accurate data and find ways to protect the delta smelt. Eventually this system will provide scientists a way to overcome the drought and fix the unemployment of farmers and fishermen in California.
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