Via Sandra Dibble: The United States and Mexico are preparing to sign an agreement to address issues of sediment, trash and polluted stormwater that for years have plagued the Tijuana River watershed. The binding agreement, known as a minute, aims to set up a framework to formally address the issues bilaterally and bring together members …
Crownpoint, New Mexico, is one of those places that makes clear the extent to which water (or its lack) constrains human geography. Lissa and I drove out Friday evening to the monthly Crownpoint Navajo Rug Auction. Crownpoint’s the biggest city on the eastern edge of the Navajo Nation, but at a population of 2,500, it’s …
Continue reading ‘Water in the desert: Crownpoint, New Mexico’ »
We need to create a #WestWaterSyllabus. Mark Hertsgaard at the Daily Beast got a lot of traction this weekend with a piece suggesting this: If You Only Read One Book About the Water Crisis: ‘Cadillac Desert’. If we’re going to have a #WestWaterSyllabus, there’s no question Cadillac Desert has to be on it, but making it the …
Tom Swihart from a couple of years back on “water wars” rhetoric, Florida style: Avoiding water wars in Florida? Easy as watching the tide come in. There have not been and will not be any water “wars” in Florida. We misuse this violent metaphor if we call our rather mild water disputes a “war.”
The latest analysis by a University of California team has concluded (pdf) that agriculture in that state is doing pretty well in the current drought, all things considered: The current drought is causing large economic losses but given innovative responses by farmers and others, those losses have been manageable and California agriculture is positioned to …
Continue reading ‘UC team: California ag “positioned to weather this drought”’ »
I’ve come to the conclusion that the whole “water flows uphill toward money” thing is not only wrong, but that its wrongness is problematic. It’s one of those intellectual shortcuts that can be dashed off uncritically, and audiences nod knowingly because of course water flows uphill toward money we all know that, and no further analysis is …
Continue reading ‘Can we retire “Water flows uphill toward money”?’ »
Bruce Finley: Northern Colorado leaders rallied Thursday urging quicker green lights for their “ultimate rain barrel” — a $713 million project that would divert water from the federally protected Cache La Poudre River and store 71 billion gallons in two new reservoirs. Brett Walton: This is like calling tigers “the ultimate kittens”.
From the Washington Post: A recent laboratory test found that water in St. Anthony’s shallow well has twice the concentration of arsenic considered safe. For many Californians, the state’s long drought has meant small inconveniences such as shorter showers and restrictions on watering lawns. But in two rural valleys, the Coachella southeast of Los Angeles and …
Continue reading ‘Another example of how drought hits the poor’ »
I’d like to take issue with some recent comments by Dan Beard and Mike Connor, two former commissioners of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, about the agency’s future. (Audience sees closeup of Fleck crawling out on tree limb. Camera zooms back to show that it is the only tree for miles around, with no buildings …