Cities.
Farms.
The natural environment.
All of it.
We can do it in an orderly way, or devolve into chaos.
That’s it. That’s the blog post.
jfleck at inkstain
A few thoughts from John Fleck, a writer of journalism and other things, living in New Mexico
I am not sure we have yet to “devolve into chaos”.
Given intractable objections against making hard decisions, one could say we are already operating in chaos, given our refusal to select among (worsening) hard choices.
and…..failure is not an option…..
I have to add, that John Fleck did a great job late Friday in Santa Fe predicting what the next 100 years on the river has in store (or lack thereof!)
I recommend all water conferences on the Colorado River held at Hotel California…you know, the place where you can check in but cannot check out…, that is, until everyone agrees just to agree….change the date on those spirits we haven’t seen around since 1969 to 1968. I’m sure someone could work in the Long Range Operating Criteria into the lyrics somewhere…
No.
Cities will be greener (maximum use of rain/gray/condensate water)
Farms will only grow food (higher priority than more people in bigger cities)
Natural environment (just rain, as always. Though a lot more animals in our urban food forests)
And we devolve into chaos.
Better yet…I say we lock the Colorado River stakeholders in a room at Hotel California with Rhea Graham…NOW THAT would get them straightened out! What say you Rhea…? (This of course is all in jest, just in case the dry humor is lost on someone; BUT Rhea does know how to heard cats really well!)
Start restricting landscape irrigation NOW. Affected states should be incentivized to import alfalfa and export electrons. We don’t have the water and we do have the sunshine and wind. Farming needs to go hydroponic and drip. Let’s start changing the infrastructure and the mentality NOW.. before it is forced on us I’m crisis mode. Did I read somewhere that some Southwest alfalfa is produced for the Saudi market? Is that true? That would be insane.
On a more serious note, Nevada Public Radio recently hosted Pat Mulroy (now at Brookings) regarding the state of the Colorado River system. Notably, she brings attention to the power and safety of ‘just say no’ in a politically charged environment. I personally experienced this very culture within Reclamation when suggesting mere research ideas regarding forecasting. Mulroy once again suggests a creative, structural solution involving the Salton Sea, then cautions that a litany of ‘nay sayers’ will line up to block this and similar projects. An example that has worked in the past regarding proactive environmental solutions is the Lower Colorado Region’s Multi-Species Conservation Program (MSCP) that addressed Section 7 permitting regarding the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Perhaps something similar except on a larger, and broader, scale could work regarding the pipeline idease put forward with the Salton Sea.
The interview with Mulroy is located at this link:
https://knpr.org/knpr/2022-05/former-southern-nevada-water-authority-chief-very-worried-about-lake-mead-level
It doesn’t have to be. So much can be done with waste water, gray water, drip irrigation and other conservation measures. wind breaks, plants adapted to less moisture instead of green lawns or trees not really well suited for arid climate life.
Based upon what I’m seeing much life is possible even with more limited water amounts, you just have to work on the entire system to support each other. Use trees adapted to heat and dessert life, they provide shade and a wind-break, also they can provide nitrogen fertilizer and mulch because they are legumes. Once you have some mulch down and a windbreak and some dappled shade you can grow quite a wide variety of other plants.
It is not the end of the earth. It is just change and for those willing to garden instead of commercial farm you can accomplish so much more and do much less harm because you don’t need the poisons either.