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Dams In U.S. Southwest Getting Hung Out To Dry
April 11th, 2022
Via Ars Technica, a report on how hydro power is decreasing as climate change hangs the Southwestern US out to dry: News that Arizona’s Lake Powell is slowly but surely drying up has spread far and wide. The reservoir behind the 1,320-megawatt Glen Canyon Dam and power station, Lake Powell plays an important role in providing power […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Is Choking Off Asia’s Most Important River
April 10th, 2022
Via Foreign Policy, a report on the impact that upstream dams are having on the Mekong Basin: It’s a March afternoon in Kampong Khleang, and the boats keep coming down a muddy river leading from the Tonle Sap lake, docking to unload their haul, stilt houses casting shadows up the bank. The boats are battered […]
Read more »Lake Powell’s Plummeting Water Levels
April 8th, 2022
Via CNN, an article on Lake Powell’s plummeting water levels: Kenneth Runnels doesn’t see himself as a “victim” of the drought. He says he’s an “adapter.” Runnels is the chief administrator of the Antelope Point Marina on Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the country and part of the Colorado River system, which provides water for more […]
Read more »How Navajo Are Turning On Taps – Even In Remote, Dry Areas
April 8th, 2022
Via Christian Science Monitor, a report on how Navajo are turning on taps – even in remote, dry areas: Ida Joe flinches a little as the tap sputters, then spurts water into the sink. Cautiously, tentatively, she pushes her hand under the faucet. She feels the water soak her skin and run through her fingers […]
Read more »Desalination Quenching California’s Thirst: Pipe Dream?
April 5th, 2022
Via The Economist, an article on how much desalination can help California diversify its water supply as the West dries up: Carlsbad State Beach is a Southern California idyll. Palm trees adorn the cliffs above the sand, and surfers paddle out for the waves. From the beach it is impossible to tell that a huge desalination […]
Read more »California Drought May Be Worse Than Currently Believed
April 5th, 2022
Courtesy of The New York Times, commentary on US west’s drought: Outside my lab near Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada of California, new animal tracks are on the snow after a winter of hibernation, bird songs are lofting through the air, and the creek is flowing strongly with water from the melting snow. Spring […]
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