Government officials in South Carolina are on drought alert: The Drought Response Committee put the entire state in an incipient drought Tuesday, which is the first of four stages of drought. The declaration warns water system managers to closely monitor their reservoirs. The Department of Natural Resources also will begin to more carefully monitor conditions …
reading: Everett Rogers’ History of Communication Study, suggested by a friend after I bemoaned the fact that, despite being a communications professional, I’m woefully ignorant about communication blogs: Nature’s new Climate Feedback blog looks promising, but I’m curious about something. The comments look suspiciously like a lot of the same people who show up at …
Stuff I wrote elsewhere: Describing current New Mexico drought conditions is a bit of a puzzle. Out in my Albuquerque garden this morning, I was pulling weeds easily out of damp soil, and the plants, with no supplemental water, are going bonkers. Yet I’ve been writing stories about surface water supply problems. What gives?
Here in the arid west, one of the real pressing questions is the effect of reclaimed water on fairways and especially putting greens: Although deficit irrigating can be practiced for short periods, adequate LFs are essential for the long-term success of golf courses irrigated with reuse water. Good to know.
On California’s dismal snowpack, from the Chron: The water content of the Sierra Nevada snowpack is at its lowest level in nearly 20 years — less than 40 percent of usual for this time of year, state water officials say. The size of the snowpack — the source for most of the state’s drinking water …
New Mexico and Colorado are about to enter Rio Grande Compact Article VII restrictions. That means Elephant Butte, the big reservoir down south, is too low, and we’re prohibited from upstream storage. The meat: In flirting with Rio Grande Compact restrictions, New Mexico finds itself in what has become a familiar situation, with the state’s …
Albuquerque Wastewater Treatment Plant Outfall Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. You’re looking at one of the largest tributaries in the Middle Rio Grande – the discharge from Albuquerque’s sewage treatment plant. I don’t know the exact numbers, but we’re putting something in the neighborhood of 60,000 acre feet of water per year into the river. Currently, …
William Connolley stumbles into the minefield that is defining the Australian drought: Australia hasn’t got a mega-drought, only a 10-15% reduction in rainfall. Many commenters complain, mostly offering up the absolutely useless evidence offered by alarmist news stories from the Australian press. Lab Lemming nails it by noting that drought is best defined by societal …
I wish I’d had a camera, but I’ll have to attempt a word picture instead. I was out riding in the foothills with some friends yesterday morning, doing repeats up the road to the Elena Gallegos picnic area. It’s a gentle and persistent climb that winds up an alluvial fan splaying out of the Sandias. …
Kit Stolz has a great look at drought in Southern California, with a particularly nice bit of business from Bill Patzert, the region’s most quotable climatologist: Patzert had a more personal reason to doubt the forecast. In his backyard he has an old oak tree, and for years he has noticed that the tree seemed …