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Go West (for water), young man…
December 15th, 2007
As The Economist recently noted, America’s West – gripped by drought – is rethinking how it uses water. As the article notes, seven states, as well as northern Mexico, rely on the Colorado River and are quickly coming to the realization that things have changed: “This is not a normal drought,†says Pat Mulroy of […]
Read more »A Mother’s Milk (River): Down to A Trickle but Still Causing Waves
December 7th, 2007
Along the normally placid U.S./Canadian border, American officials are causing waves by contending that the U.S. is not getting its adequate share from the Milk and St. Mary’s Rivers which flow into the Canadian province of Alberta. As the Calgary Herald noted recently, this argument is not just about competing claims between Montana and Alberta, […]
Read more »Water Politics in U.S. Southeast: Beware of the Inevitable Deluge
November 16th, 2007
Associated Press is reporting that Federal biologists signed off on a plan to reduce the flow of water from Lake Lanier, the main water source for Atlanta and the focal point of a three-state water fight as the Southeast contends with a historic drought. However, as the article notes, the issues is still under strong […]
Read more »Great Lakes Water Wars
November 9th, 2007
With large sections of the American West and South suffering through drought, some politicians and water managers are viewing the Great Lakes as the natural-resource equivalent of a fat pension fund, a “tappable” resource which could help in the near-term at the expense of future generations and regional communities. As a recent article from the […]
Read more »“The Lake Has Become Political”
November 2nd, 2007
Terra Daily’s recent look at the extreme drought in the southeast US which has fueled a bitter tri-state battle over dwindling water resources may just be a prelude to many such water controversies in the years ahead. “…Millions of people in the state of Georgia fear their taps could run dry, while environmentalists in Florida […]
Read more »Water Politics in the U.S. West – No Dry Spell Ahead
October 27th, 2007
The New York Times Magazine recently published a long article on the drought in the Southwest by Jon Gertner. His main thesis is that water shortages resulting from climate change may take a greater toll on humanity than a slow rise in the sea level. I believe it also gives a prescient snapshot of the […]
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