Desert Poor
Wandering up an arroyo this evening after dinner. Seen through a barbed wire fence festooned with ominous “no trespassing” signs, behind some trees, old junk cars, classic American desert poor.
Archive of entries posted by jfleck
Total storage behind Hoover, Glen Canyon Dams
While all eyes have been on Lake Mead’s bathtub ring, Lake Powell is forecast to rise by nearly 1.4 million acre feet by the end of September. But Mead’s 2 million acre foot drop will more than offset the increase, leaving us with the lowest end-of-year total storage in the two reservoirs combined since 1967, …
Continue reading ‘Total storage behind Hoover, Glen Canyon Dams’ »
Tucson considering potable reuse
It’s always interesting to see who, among western municipal water agencies, is considering paying top dollar for the next acre foot of water. Today’s episode comes from Tucson, where Tony Davis explains discussions of turning wastewater into drinking water. The usual “yuck factor” discussion of course is engaged, but the really interesting part to me …
Michael Campana on stocks, flows, and Colorado River Basin groundwater research
Michael Campana offers some cautions about over-interpreting what the Castle et al. paper on the loss of Colorado River Basin groundwater is telling us. It’s a question of stocks versus flows. The GRACE measurements that have gotten such extensive attention can tells us the latter, but not the former: Why is such a number – …
Continue reading ‘Michael Campana on stocks, flows, and Colorado River Basin groundwater research’ »
In the United States, irrigation’s eastward spread
Fascinating piece by Brett Walton about the eastward spread of U.S. irrigation: The canals, reservoirs, pumps, and pivoting sprinklers that transformed the American West in the 20th century from desert and grassland into the nation’s primary fruit and vegetable producing region are spreading eastward. From the Deep South, the Mississippi River Delta, and across the …
Continue reading ‘In the United States, irrigation’s eastward spread’ »
Colorado River System Conservation Program gets formal green light
The Bureau of Reclamation this evening sent out its official public announcement of the Colorado River System Conservation Program. The program has been simmering for months (see here, here and here for previous public discussions), but this evening’s announcement marks the final signing of the deal by federal officials. The program is a partnership of …
Continue reading ‘Colorado River System Conservation Program gets formal green light’ »
At what scale groundwater management?
Since groundwater is a local resource, solutions to its runaway depletion will likely be local too. That is Sarah Jane Keller, from a High Country News piece on the Castle et al. paper on groundwater depletion in the Colorado River Basin.
Buckman
One more hummingbird picture
Sorry, can’t resist posting one more hummingbird picture. The rufous, on the left, have just finally arrived at our house. They’re usually earlier in the summer, and they’re very aggressive, driving away the black-chins who have been here since late spring. Moments after this picture was snapped, the rufous drove the black-chin away: