Mark Reisner, in Cadillac Desert, describes Jerry Brown’s struggle back in the late 1970s and early ’80s to sort out the conflicting interests surrounding the Bay-Delta System as plans were developed for what was then known as the Peripheral Canal: Jerry Brown’s dilemma – which was insoluble, but which he thought he could solve anyway …
Here’s one of those societal water value questions that doesn’t get a lot of attention. How cool are massive waterfalls? “Breathtaking, that’s what it is,” said Lynne Bousie of Scotland, who stopped to pose for a photograph at the spot where the paved trail to Yosemite Falls makes a turn and the first full view …
One of the strangest western water projects of recent years is the Drop 2 Reservoir on the All-American Canal. Here’s the problem. Irrigators in southeastern California, mostly in the Imperial Valley, get their water from the Colorado River. It sits in storage behind Lake Mead, and when they need it, they put in a request …
Environmental economists talk about the relationship between affluence and environmental values – the idea that a society’s desire for things like clean air and water are low when folks are poor, but as basic needs for food and shelter are satisfied, environmental desires rise. It’s captured notionally in the “Environmental Kuznets Curve”. It’s not a …
Continue reading ‘Three Gorges: Spanning the Environmental Kuznets Curve’ »
Rob Davis at Voice of San Diego has an excellent explainer this week on his community’s dependence on Colorado River water, and the central problem of what happens if Lake Mead gets really low: If the Colorado consistently comes up short, no one knows who will cut consumption to keep Lake Mead from running dry. …
Janet Zimmerman in the Riverside (Calif.) Press Enterprise on what happens to water agencies when their customers use less: Water use has dropped by double digits across Southern California as residents heeded the call to conserve. As a result, water district revenues fell drastically. Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the wholesaler that supplies most …
When Lissa and I were up in Santa Fe a few months back, I took along the binoculars and took a walk along the Santa Fe River as it passes the old city’s downtown, hunting birds. I found few. Because it’s not much of a river, really. As David Groenfeldt notes, there’s an effort underway …
From the morning paper, a look at the way this year’s drought has laid bare a Byzantine argument over how to properly divide up the waters of the Lower Rio Grande between Texas and New Mexico farmers (sub/ad req.): Water flows down the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico today, past parched farmers who cannot …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: A Feud Over Lower Rio Grande Water Distribution’ »
I’ve triggered some puzzlement among California water folks as I call around trying to understand the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in preparation for my trip out there next month. Why does a New Mexican care? Other than the fact that it’s fascinating, of course. I mean what water wonk wouldn’t be fascinated by California’s water problems. …
Continue reading ‘Why Some NM Schlub Cares About the Sacramento Delta’ »
The drama on the Mississippi has spawned a lot of good writing on the disconnect between how nature thinks about flood plains versus how we think about them. As Anne Jefferson wrote, the bits next to our rivers tend to be the most desirable places to live: People are drawn to settle on floodplains – …