The question of how much it rained or snowed is an important one in water management, but answering it is not trivial. The answer depends on a mix of remote sensing data, radar and rain gages (often data collected by volunteers). I got a helpful note yesterday from Jeff Lukas about a western precipitation map I …
One of the less appreciated effects of warming temperatures on water supply is the shift in the timing of runoff. Warming springs mean earlier melt. This is as much an infrastructure problem as it is an overall water volume problem, because the dams and ditches built to manage water during the 20th century were based …
At April’s “Implications of Lower Lake Levels” symposium, Brad Udall talked about the importance of the Australian example for the western United States. From 2000 to 2010, Udall said, parts of Australia experienced 40 to 50 percent reductions in river flow, which said has profoundly changed societal discussions about water. Australia’s “big dry” may be …
Continue reading ‘Is desal one lesson of Australia’s “big dry”?’ »
Update: I’ve added a post with a better seasonal precip map than the one below: ***** As we close in on the end of the current water year, the US Bureau of Reclamation has reported what passes for good news these days on the Colorado River. This month’s forecast for year-end storage levels in Lake …
David Appell, the science journalist whose work more than anyone else’s got me thinking hard about the implications of climate change and its relationship to my journalism, spewed some frustration last week that resonated. It doesn’t quoteblock well, go read the whole thing, but in a nutshell he argues that there’s not much point for …
Continue reading ‘Why David Appell Might Quit Reporting on Climate’ »
From the US Bureau of Reclamation’s photo archive, Hoover Dam seen from the upstream side, circa 1935:
From the work blog, water conservation in a wet place: The rooftop rainwater catchment system and other features built into Kay Helt’s home and surrounding neighborhood in Stenløse, in the Danish farm country outside Copenhagen, captures some 70 percent of the annual rain that falls from the sky. It seems like a wet place – …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Water Conservation in a Wet Place’ »
These things are blooming like nutso in the countryside around Copenhagen. They average around 24 inches of rain a year here, so it’s not a super wet place, but wet enough that there’s stuff growing everywhere. But not so wet that they don’t have problems with overdrafting their aquifers. Sound familiar? (More when I’m not …
From this morning’s newspaper (sub/ad req), a story about the new paper in today’s Science by Jonathan Overpeck and Brad Udall about climate change in the West. Udall and Overpeck have become fixtures on the western water meeting circuit over the last several years delivering this message, and the paper contains no real surprises. But …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Dry Times Ahead in the West’ »
I’ve written in the past about the remarkable fact that, despite the 10 driest years on record on the Colorado River, no one’s had their allocation reduced or cut off. The first plausible scenario under which that would change happens when the surface of Lake Mead drops to 1,075 feet above sea level. Under the …
Continue reading ‘River Beat: Chances of Mead Hitting 1075’ »