We’ve got a full-on water war brewing down in Georgia right now, pitting states against one another (Georgia v. Florida), state against the federal government (Georgia v. Army Corps of Engineers) and endangered species against growing cities (Atlanta et al. v. mussels and sturgeon). It’s worth stepping back a moment and considering the underlying definition …
This time it’s not Sherman, it’s the Corps of Engineers, and it has something to do with fish. Via Shaun McKinnon and WaterCrunch, the story of Atlanta’s attempt to get the Corps to reduce its releases from Lake Lanier, which is running dry. That’s a problem, because it’s Atlanta’s primary source of water. The Corp’s …
cattle and water Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. Here’s one of the simple but classic ways we manipulate water here in the western United States. It’s called a stock pond. You carve out a little hollow in a drainage, pile up the dirt on the downhill side, and presto, you’ve got a water supply for your …
This is one of my favorite views of U.S. climate, providing a quick and easy way to squint and get a feel for what’s going on across the entire continental U.S. It’s the USGS streamflow map, with color showing today’s flow relative to the long term mean for this date. Red’s dry, blue and back …
More bad news out of Australia: “There’s no doubt that much of the estimated winter crop is now lost due to the ongoing dry conditions,” Macdonald said Saturday. “Wheat and barley are among those crops hardest hit — as a result we could see everything from bread to beer made in New South Wales cost …
Watercrunch details the imminent drying of Atlanta. It’s worth remembering here that, as opposed to sub-Saharan Africa, likely no one will starve to death in Georgia. But it’s still a quite extraordinary situation: The thought of a huge city the size of Atlanta running out of water sounds apocalyptic in our age of progress.
water politics: Looks like Sophie and the guy with the steely set in his jaw are going to stop Caesar’s evil plot to steal groundwater to build subdivisions. water politics II: Looks like Sophie and the guy with the steely set in his jaw may need to head over to Arizona next. water politics III: …
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: As northern Georgia suffers through a monumental drought and the toughest water restrictions ever imposed, Stone Mountain is using up to 38 gallons of water a minute — for 12 to 18 hours a day for the next month — to make snow. On the day Gov. Sonny Perdue took the …
Continue reading ‘I Guess This is One Way to Respond to Drought’ »
From today’s Judge Parker, it looks like Sophie’s on to something big: “A company in Nevada has been slowly buying agricultural property all over the West!” “So?” “They’re buying the property to gain access to the water underneath!” Smart girl. This sounds like trouble. (Hat tip Kelsey.)
Staci Matlock has a good story in this morning’s Santa Fe New Mexican outlining the regulatory dilemma facing New Mexico related to Sandoval County’s hunt for brackish water for desalination: This new, deep source of water poses a regulatory challenge to the state engineer, who is charged with overseeing New Mexico’s increasingly precious water resources. …
Continue reading ‘Inland Desalination: The Regulatory Side’ »