In the arid west, increased irrigation efficiency is one of the most commonly suggested solutions to our water problems. But Jay Lund and Thomas Harter point out the dilemma: In many areas, drought-year groundwater supplies depend substantially on irrigation inefficiency in wetter years, when surface water is available and used by farmers. Ironically, local inefficiency …
There’s a little concrete check dam in Albuquerque’s riverside woods at the bottom of a pond built by humans as wildlife habitat. Among the wildlife that has taken up residence is a family of beavers, who have built a palatial home on the island in the middle of the pond. But they seem dissatisfied with …
As I learn about the development of large-scale water management institutions in regions other than my own (the southwestern United States), I’m increasingly convinced that our oft-discussed tradition of conflict – Marc Reisner famously described the Colorado as “the most legislated, most debated, and most litigated river in the entire world” – may really be viewed …
Continue reading ‘Why fighting over water isn’t a bad thing’ »
Here’s another look into the western water solution space – an agreement on the Lower Rio Grande under which willing farmers will have a chance to sell their water rights for use recreating lost riparian habitat (story behind survey wall for non-subscribers): To the list of the Lower Rio Grande’s famous crops, like Hatch’s chile …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I wrote elsewhere: farming cottonwoods’ »
The latest monthly Colorado River water management report from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (pdf) takes a major step toward the river’s first ever shortage declaration. We’ll know more in a month, but the preliminary estimates now show drops in the level of Lake Powell by the end of this year could trigger provisions of …
Continue reading ‘Creeping toward shortage on the Colorado River’ »
Brett Walton explains new research on the water lost in the Great Texas Drought of 2011. It’s a lot. But the thing that caught my eye was where most of the water loss occurred: “Groundwater depletion can be significant locally. However, by taking Texas as a whole, most water depletion comes from soil moisture during …
Continue reading ‘Texas drought: it’s all about the soil moisture’ »
Doing daily journalism on the declining Rio Grande, I have frequent occasion to use this handy tool from the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and the Bureau of Reclamation. It gives close-to-real time readings on all the main river and irrigation system gauges: It occurs to me that its crisp reductionism rather supports my recent …
An AP story that made the rounds yesterday pointed out that Phoenix set an all-time water consumption record during last weekend’s heat wave: Water Services Department spokesman David Cerull tells radio station KJZZ that homeowners used most of the water. He says demand generally goes up when it gets hot and that people water their …
Continue reading ‘Is Phoenix’s fondness for lawns and pools really a water management strength?’ »
Kate Galbraith in the New York Times last week had a piece with another example of how farmers respond when the water begins to run out: Mr. Grall’s cornfield is part of a closely watched demonstration project aimed at showing farmers how to use less irrigation water on their crops. It was put together by …
An experiment in repeat photography on a dwindling Rio Grande.