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The U.S. Water Supply, Visualized
January 17th, 2025
Via Western Water Notes, a report on a new USGS assessment highlighting water availability: The U.S. Geological Survey released a water assessment on Thursday that found about 27 million people in the United States live in areas with high to severe levels of water scarcity. Although the agency has studied water quantity and quality in […]
Read more »Stable On The Colorado River: When “Good” Is Not Good Enough
January 17th, 2025
Via JFleck at Inkstain, a report on the Colorado River: Stable isn’t good enough. Preliminary year-end Colorado River numbers are stark. Total basin-wide storage for the last two years has stabilized, oscillating between 30 and 27 maf (million acre-feet), where storage sits at the start of 2025[1]. That is lower than any sustained period since […]
Read more »What’s Next After Failed effort To Secure Colorado River Basin Water Rights for Arizona Tribes?
January 17th, 2025
Via the Colorado Sun, an article on how officials worked until the last second to try to pass a landmark water rights deal involving three tribes, the state of Arizona and dozens of other users in the Colorado River Basin. Now they are setting their sights on trying again with a new Congress. Advocates of […]
Read more »What Do The Los Angeles Fires Tell Us About The Coming Water Wars?
January 16th, 2025
Via The Guardian, commentary on whether water will soon be a marketable commodity or a priceless public good There’s a scene in the film Mad Max: Fury Road where the evil ruler Immortan Joe, gazing down from a cliff upon his parched, emaciated subjects, pushes two levers and water gushes from three gigantic sluices. The wretched masses […]
Read more »Mississippi Delta Could Vanish Soon, Scientists Warn
January 12th, 2025
Via Newsweek, an alarming report on the rapid deterioration of the Mississippi Delta because of rising sea levels: The Mississippi River’s Bird’s Foot Delta, a vital ecological and economic region, faces rapid deterioration because of rising sea levels, sediment shortages and invasive species. Louisiana State University (LSU) and Tulane researchers, backed by a $22 million federal […]
Read more »To Save the Great Salt Lake, Farmers Will Have to Grow Less Alfalfa
January 11th, 2025
Via Inside Climate News, an article on new research which found that alfalfa uses the vast majority of agricultural water that would otherwise replenish the largest saline lake in the nation: The Great Salt Lake is shrinking, and new research published Tuesday reports that saving it requires reducing the amount of farmland that is irrigated […]
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