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American West’s Drought And Growth Intensify Conflict Over Water Rights
March 18th, 2014
Via the New York Times, a report on increasing water tensions in the arid western region of the United States: Across the parched American West, the long drought has set off a series of fierce legal and political battles over who controls an increasingly dear treasure — water. Just outside this minuscule farm town, Frank […]
Read more »Canadian Ambassador: Water Wars With U.S. Will Become Bigger Issue Than Pipelines
February 25th, 2014
Via the Vancouver Sun, an article reporting that some senior Canadian diplomats think that water wars with the U.S. will soon become more important than current cross-border deliberations over potential petroleum pipelines: Canada must prepare for diplomatic water wars with the U.S., as demand on both sides of the border grows for this vital but […]
Read more »The Drying Of The American West
February 23rd, 2014
Courtesy of The Economist, a sobering report on the drought conditions in the American west: THE first rule for staying alive in a desert is not to pour the contents of your water flask into the sand. Yet that, bizarrely, is what the government has encouraged farmers to do in the drought-afflicted south-west. Agriculture accounts […]
Read more »Peak Water in the American West
August 24th, 2013
Via Science, a startling assessment of the U.S. West’s water challenges from Peter Gleick: Dropping water levels in Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam. (Source: Peter Gleick 2013) It is no surprise, of course, that the western United States is dry. The entire history of the West can be told (and has been, in great books […]
Read more »A Thirsty Breadbasket: Drought and Overuse Plague a Critical U.S. Aquifer
August 12th, 2013
Via STRATFOR (subscription required), a report on the depletion of the High Plains Aquifer in the central U.S.: Groundwater depletion of the High Plains Aquifer in the central United States due to overuse, drought and mismanagement poses a major long-term threat to U.S. agricultural production and exports. Irrigation using water from the aquifer supports a significant […]
Read more »High & Dry: United States High Plains Endure Low Water
May 23rd, 2013
Courtesy of The New York Times, a detailed look at the challenges faced by the High Plains region in the United States: IPortions of the High Plains Aquifer are rapidly being depleted by farmers who are pumping too much water to irrigate their crops, particularly in the southern half in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Levels […]
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