One of the briefs (pdf) in the voluminous filings in the water rights adjudication on the Lower Rio Grande makes this fascinating assertion regarding water for irrigation in southern New Mexico: The irrigators find themselves in a constant state of drought as compared to the demands of their crops. Perhaps, then, the word “drought” is not …
The US Bureau of Reclamation this afternoon released its latest pass at quantifying water demand in the Colorado River Basin. Recognizing that there’s no one answer for what the demand curves might look like in the future, the agency looked at a range of six scenarios, based on input from the seven basin states on …
Continue reading ‘About that gap between Colorado River supply and demand….’ »
NASA’s Earth Observatory folks posted a remarkable series of Landsat images today of the growth of groundwater pumping in Saudi Arabia’s Wadi As-Sirhan Basin. They’re drilling deep, and the NASA folks report it’ll be economical to continue pumping for about 50 years.
Wildman and Forde make my last post on this subject look smart, arguing that the supply-demand imbalance on the Colorado River will hit Arizona and Nevada first: We find that initial shortages will be borne only by the cities of Arizona and Nevada and farms in Arizona whereas the other Basin states have no incentive …
From the Delta National Park blog: I mean, how much competent science leading to inconclusive policies needs to be commissioned before smart people admit that this is not a problem of science? Yup.
Classified ad in today’s Albuquerque Journal: BECOME a millionaire raising alfalfa. Pay off in five years. Only $2,900/acre. 70 acres
The groundwater subsidy – what happens to it after we pump it up and use it – is frequently ignored in policy discussions. When we stop mining groundwater, I’ve often argued, we need to recognize that the share we discharge into our rivers, which becomes water supply to those downstream, goes away. But via David …
Continue reading ‘Another anthropogenic influence on sea level: groundwater pumping’ »
In the work I’m doing now on the Colorado River Basin for my book, I’m trying to get beyond simply extrapolating supply and demand curves and then running around with my hair on fire. The hair-on-fire thing is easy to do, because the current supply and demand curves, as the Bureau of Reclamation frankly noted …
Jeffrey Michael runs the numbers and suggests the marginal cost of water from a new Peripheral Thingie (canal or tunnel beneath/around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta) will be prohibitive for agricultural users asked to foot a share of the bill: According to the draft BDCP, the marginal cost of new water the contractors get out of …
Continue reading ‘Will taxpayers bail out delta water exporters?’ »
A: When April 1 falls on a Monday. That’s the conclusion of a clever bit of work by Tom Pagano, former NRCS forecaster who used to do the Rio Grande forecasts before he went on to bigger and better things. “Bigger and better” has included a stint in Australia and a current world tour of …
Continue reading ‘Q: When is an April 1 snow survey not an April 1 snow survey?’ »