David Zetland, the bad boy of water economics, offered up a fascinating argument the other day regarding the traditional argument that agriculture used three quarters of the water in the West. When a farmer irrigates her field, who is it who’s really the “user”? When I use water to flush the toilet, that water only …
I would like to thank Nora for bringing this to my attention.
If OPEC priced its oil based on how much it costs to get it out of the ground, we’d be swimming in it right now. Or, more precisely, we would have been swimming in it, until we used it all up. The peak would have come long ago. When the market prices oil, the cost …
The rush to get in permit applications for brackish water drilling in New Mexico continues, as the state legislature considers a bill that would give the state regulatory authority. Staci Matlock reports in today’s New Mexican on more applications: Private interests are rushing to tap lightly regulated supplies of briny water deep under New Mexico …
Around the corner from my house, something truly strange is under construction. It looks kinda like the Alamo, albeit with tilt-up concrete sides and weird tubes coming out the sides. It’s our new “water park,” which has been haltingly under construction for ages. It’s part of a hotel up the street from my house, an …
Continue reading ‘Water In the Desert: Surrealism Edition’ »
Trouble’s brewin’ in the Wild West, on account of that climate changin’ thing, says Pat Mulroy.
Arizonans take their search for water seriously.
Tedious but necessary explanation of Navajo-Gallup water project funding mechanism.
Transaction costs of brackish water regulation
Drier Climate on the Way for Southwest (ad gated): Climate change is increasing the chances of severe and persistent drought in the Southwest, according to a new report from a panel of federal scientists. “It’s going to get drier,” said Richard Seager, a climate researcher at Columbia University in New York. That means diminished water …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Water in the Desert Edition’ »