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The American West’s Water Shortage Is Fueled by Human Error
November 12th, 2019
Via Outside Magazine, commentary on how the inability of western states to track water usage is exacerbating the region’s drought crisis: Back in 2013, Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, an environmental advocacy group, asked Utah’s Division of Water Resources (DWR) for the data used to create a landmark study of the state’s […]
Read more »Great Lakes’ Biggest Worries Much Closer To Home Than Arid Southwest
October 3rd, 2019
Via Chicago Business, a look at how thirsty businesses and unsustainable groundwater use by agriculture pose the biggest threats to the Midwest’s water supply: A few years ago, a Michigan billboard—reading “Back off suckers: Water diversion . . . the last straw”—showed caricatures of Southwestern states with giant straws going into the Great Lakes. Is […]
Read more »U.S. States Face Water Crisis As Global Heating Increases Strain On Supplies
August 6th, 2019
Courtesy of The Guardian, a report on water stress in the United States where New Mexico tops the list of impacted states, followed by California, Arizona, Colorado and Nebraska as problems could intensify with global heating: A handful of US states – including New Mexico and California – are facing significant strains on their water supplies that will only intensify with global […]
Read more »Drilling Deeper: U.S. Groundwater Wells Race Towards Bottom
July 29th, 2019
Via Circle of Blue, an interesting look at how well depths are increasing across the United States: To locate sufficient supplies of fresh water, the nation’s groundwater wells are being drilled deeper and deeper, according to an analysis of more than 10 million well records since the 1950s. “No matter how you slice it, we’re […]
Read more »Risk of Colorado River Decline
March 4th, 2019
Via the Las Vegas Review Journal, an article on the decline of the Colorado River: It supplies water and power to 40 million people from Wyoming to Mexico and irrigates billions of dollars in cropland used to feed millions more. No wonder so many people are worried about the Colorado River. Punishing drought has ravaged […]
Read more »On the Water-Starved Colorado River, Drought Is the New Normal
January 26th, 2019
Via Yale’s e360, an interesting article on the impact that a 19-year drought and climate change in the U.S. southwest is having upon making the region, water managers and users along the Colorado River: In the basement of the University of Arizona’s Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, the fragrant smell of pine hangs in the air as […]
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