In light of yesterday’s mediapalooza about the new federal climate report (see my contributions here and here), there’s an interesting on-the-ground reality check today in the Denver Post: Colorado’s peak flow from snowmelt hit a few weeks earlier than normal, causing problems for some recreational users of the state’s rivers and complicating downstream irrigation strategies. …
A lazyweb question for any of the Calfornia water geeks in the audience…. My old employer, the Pasadena Star-News, had an editorial over the weekend that raised the question of groundwater recharge in the following backhanded way: During a recent dust-up over city of Pasadena water rates, two of the conservation skeptics wrote an essay …
No. But a story by Mark Hume in the Globe and Mail illustrates the delicacies of transboundary water questions, and by coincidence is one of two interesting examples of the problem that scrolled across my monitor this morning. Hume’s story details objections by residents of British Columbia to a dam being contemplated in Washington state …
Continue reading ‘Will Canada and the U.S. go to war over water?’ »
“The Saudi Arabia of X” is a common new energy meme that has been applied, among many things, to the oil shales of the western United States. But its invocation requires some significant arm-waving over the question of water, as this report by Jeremy Miller points out: But it is water – or more specifically, …
Continue reading ‘“insufficient water to meet needs”, energy edition’ »
I’ve repeatedly leaned over the years on Kelly Redmond’s definition of drought: “insufficient water to meet needs”. I was reminded of same today when a friend who lives in Massachusetts sent me a story about water shortages there: With lawn watering season just getting underway, the state says there are 160 rivers and streams in …
There’s never been a “call” on the Colorado River – a need to curtail use in order to meet Colorado Compact delivery obligations. But folks in Western Colorado are preparing for the possibility. Via John Orr’s Coyote Gulch (a Colorado (state) water blog), a release from the Colorado River District explains how it works: [U]sers …
The Tree Rings’ Tale: Understanding Our Changing Climate won’t be out until fall, but you can pre-order now! Don’t delay!
In his history of of American economic growth, Empire of Wealth, John Steele Gordon discusses the importance of the provision of clean municipal water supplies to the growing industrial cities of America’s east coast. The rich had cisterns, the poor hauled water from contaminated wells, and nobody had very much of the stuff. Indoor plumbing …
Emily Green yesterday detailed the story of Cadiz, the California company that wants to pump groundwater from the Mohave desert and sell it into Southern California’s coastal municipal and industrial market. CALIFORNIA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has endorsed plans by private speculator Cadiz, Inc to tap Mojave ground water, reports the Los Angeles Business Journal. The …
Is salt cedar evil?