Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Desal and NM Population
Fishin’ for help in thinking about NM’s water-population future.
Archive of posts filed under the water category.
The Energy Costs of Desalination
From my colleague Sean Olson, in today’s Albuquerque Journal (ad gated): While desalinating water could become a valuable tool to support a growing New Mexico, residents will have to be ready to bite the bullet when it comes to the huge energy cost associated with the technique. Experts say that cost comes in two forms: …
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Water in the Desert Edition
On the lessons from Chaco (ad gated): New Mexico has always been a dry place, at least on the time scales that matter for the ancient civilizations Henderson and Robbins were trying to understand. Our history could be written as a story of people forever searching for a stable water supply to support the cities …
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Water in the Desert: CocoBait Edition
C.J. Brooks, a Tucson water geek and author of the “Watering the Desert Blog”, talks about the linkage between land use planning and water in Nevada. Washoe County has done the sort of thing advocates around here have been talking about ever since I started thinking seriously about water issues (and likely for a lot …
Less Water in the Rio
Today, the other shoe drops in the Journal’s coverage of Albuquerque’s new drinking water system: You will begin drinking, showering and watering your lawn with water from the Rio Grande soon, and there will be less water in the river as a result. What effect that will have on the Rio Grande, the ecosystem surrounding …
Historic Day for New Mexico Water
From Sean Olson: The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority flips the switch on its $385 million San Juan-Chama Drinking Water project, bringing treated river water directly into the homes of most Albuquerque-area residents.
On the Sustainability of Brackish Water
Bruce Thomson, head of the water resources program at the University of New Mexico and a very smart guy, has a guest post on WaterWired about New Mexico’s brackish water gold rush: [W]e must insist that water dependent development in NM be sustainable. We may allow communities to tap into non-sustainable supplies such as deep …
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Brackish Water and the Investment Problem
We’ve got a brackish water rush going on in New Mexico, but Joel Gay points out today that the economic mess may slow things down: It will take tens of millions of dollars to turn any of the three reported supplies of brine into water fit for human consumption, and neither private nor public sources …
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Those Wacky Californians
For a journalist, making fun of California is a fish-in-a-barrel sort of thing, especially when it comes to water. But this piece from the AP takes the fun an extra mile. Love the picture: Cookie Smith was surprised to learn the fake lawn that earned her a home-beautification award violated a city ban on artificial …
Drought in Kyrgyzstan
Drought does not only mean thirst and failed crops. In Kyrgyzstan it also means blackouts: The question of whether the country will be able to avoid major heat and electricity outages has become more pressing than ever. Due to the especially dry weather since the summer of 2007 the level of water in Toktogul reservoir, …