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The West’s Race To Secure Water
December 25th, 2021
Via Bloomberg, a report on how four cities in the U.S. are trying to survive future droughts, from expanding reservoirs and tapping neighboring watersheds to pushing conservation efforts: How much water flows into Southwestern U.S. cities next year will depend on the coming snowfall and the resulting snowpack accumulation. So far, it’s not looking good. High mountain […]
Read more »Upper Basin States Using More Colorado River Water Than Legally Acceptable
December 18th, 2021
Via The Spectrum, a look at continued stress on the Colorado River: A new report on the declining Colorado River claims that three states in the river’s Upper Basin, including Utah, are already using more water from the river than is their legal right, and points specifically to the Lake Powell Pipeline project as “a good example of a bad idea […]
Read more »As U.S. West Withers, Corporations Consolidate Land and Water Rights
December 9th, 2021
Via Circle of Blue, a look at how – with farms, ranches and rural communities facing unprecedented threats – a worrying trend leads to a critical question: Who owns the water? Ghost cattle—200,000 made-up heifers. A massive fraud rocking eastern Washington’s arid ranching communities, leading to criminal charges and bankruptcy. The Church of Jesus Christ […]
Read more »How a Federal Drought Relief Program Left Southern Oregon Parched
December 3rd, 2021
Via The Counter, a report on how a Federal drought relief program left Southern Oregon =parched—and contributed to the ongoing groundwater crisis in the West: This April, Micah Goettl, an emergency coordinator for the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), began to hear reports of residential wells failing in Klamath County. At first, this wasn’t […]
Read more »Utah’s Water Dilemma
December 3rd, 2021
Courtesy of Circle of Blue, a look at Utah’s water dilemma: Sitting inside a shepherd’s trailer hitched to his white pickup truck, Robert Child recounts a lifetime spent running sheep in the pastures of northern Utah. Wind gently rocks the compact trailer as Child, who is 75, describes the grazing rotations for his 2,000-head flock. […]
Read more »Tapped Out: Where Is California’s Water Going?
November 24th, 2021
Courtesy of Circle of Blue, a report on the battle over water between small and large farmers in central California? Farmers in the heart of California’s agricultural belt – Kings County – sense something is awry with their water supplies. In this intensively farmed, perennially dry county, water is leaving at a concerning rate. “We’ve […]
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