Stuff I Didn’t So Much Write as Ad-Libbed Elsewhere
Why it is so hot in Albuquerque this week, teevee edition.
Archive of entries posted by jfleck
Texas Drought
Earlier in the week, I made fun of those wimpy North Carolinians for going into drought tizzy after a few weeks without rain. But there is no similar fun to be had in Texas, where the red blotches on the weekly drought monitor maps keep growing:
Three Weeks Without Rain?
Drought’s a funny thing. Take North Carolina (hi Dave!), which in general averages about 50 inches (125 cm) of rain per year. To a hardened desert dweller like me, it’s inconceivable that a 40 inch year (the great drought of ’07) could be anything other than a mild inconvenience. But drought is really all about …
Water in the Desert: Benefits Left Untapped
Doug MacEachern has a fascinataing discussion in today’s Arizona Republic about the canals of Phoenix. I remember being struck the first time I visited Phoenix by these strange concrete waterways. I’d driven up to the north end of town to make a pilgrimage to the (sorta) Frank Lloyd Wright Biltmore, an oasis of a thing …
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Who Believes What?
My Albuquerque Journal colleague Mike Coleman has a post this morning that illustrates the complexity of the science-politics-policy interface surrounding the cap-and-trade legislation now slogging through Congress. It’s about Harry Teague, a newly elected conservative Democrat from New Mexico who represents a very conservative district with a strong oil and gas component to its economy. …
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Solar Water Edition
Does solar energy have a water problem? That’s the question I tried to address in this story (sub. req. sorta) over at the day job: Look at any map of U.S. solar energy resources, and you will see a band stretching from southern New Mexico across Arizona and into California that shows promise. Solar energy …
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Groundwater Pumping Undermining Surface Canal?
The irony here is just too rich: Fearing the main canal carrying drinking water to millions of Southern Californians is sinking again, water officials are monitoring the effects of incessant agricultural pumping from the aquifer that runs under the aqueduct. Their concern is that the canal, which has sunk six feet in places during California …
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Notes from the Road: Utah State Route 95
Utah State Route 95 Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. I know that as a 21st century westerner of a certain sort, I’m meant by religious tradition to abhor Utah State Route 95. But dang if it isn’t about the most beautiful highway I’ve ever had the pleasure to drive. Go south a bit, then west out …
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Free Water!
Who knew California had a source of free water, right under its very nose! The cheapest source of water is fresh groundwater, which costs only 4 cents per gallon, but it is not always present in local aquifers. Groundwater tastes just like imported water, uses less electricity to distribute because it is pumped closer to …
Ribbon of Green
Colorado River at Moab Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. There’s a moment when you’re driving across the deserts of the southwest as the road tops a rise and you get your first view of the ribbon of green along a river. That’s where the towns are, and that’s where the cool is, a break in both …