jfleck at inkstain

A few thoughts from John Fleck, a writer of journalism and other things, living in New Mexico

Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere, Rio Grande Shortfall Edition

So remember all that stuff about the Colorado River not having enough water to meet needs? Turns out the Rio Grande is in a similar heap of hurt (ad walled): There are a lot of ways to slice and dice water data. But the message on Gretel Follingstad’s PowerPoint slide was simple. On the right [...]

Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere, Dry Rio Grande Edition

Slippin’ in some John Wesley Powell over at the work blog when the boss isn’t lookin’.

How Much Water Does the Colorado Really Have, Part II

Some of my favorite water people like to point out that we don’t have a problem of water shortage here in the arid West, but rather a problem of water allocation. In the comments, the mysterious DG seems to be in that camp, offering this on what will happen when the Colorado comes up short: [...]

The Vegas Problem

Pat Mulroy, head of the water authority that serves Las Vegas, Nev., lays out the problem: Today the Colorado River represents 90 percent of our water supply. Due to the severe drought, we are within three years of losing our upper intake in Lake Mead, which represents 40 percent of our water supply; if the [...]

“Wasted” Water

I’m still new to the strange and wonderful ways of lower Colorado River management, so I was struck by the hilarity of this situation, as explained by Chris Brooks. Farmers order water, which takes several days’ river time to reach them. But then it rains, so they don’t need the water, so it flows down [...]

Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere, NM Drought Edition

80 percent of NM now in abnormally dry condition.

Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere

Old hippies call, young hippies tweet.

How much water does the Colorado really have?

Compare and contrast. Tim Barnett, in this morning’s Albuquerque Journal: The Colorado River won’t have enough water to meet the West’s needs at least three out of every five years by mid-century if we do not move now to reduce our usage, according to a new study being published this week. “Current conditions are unsustainable,” [...]

Albuquerque Water Rates

Sean Olson this morning discusses a proposal to raise (sort of) our water rates (warning: complex ad wall if you click): For the households that keep the taps running 24-7, now might be the time to start tucking more money under the mattress. The city-county water authority is proposing a new rate structure that would [...]

Gas Prices Creeping Up, Demand Still Down

I have the typical attention span of a journalist, and once the gas price spike turned into whatever the opposite of a spike is, I rushed off to the next front page thought, but really, gas prices have remained interesting: But for full context, also this: Sorta hard to see without referring to the underlying [...]

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