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The Water Wranglers of the West Struggling to Save The Colorado River
December 27th, 2022
Courtesy of The New Yorker, an article on the farmers, bureaucrats, and water negotiators fighting over the future of the drought-stricken Southwest: In mid-December, I drove to Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, to see its infamous bathtub ring. The bathtub, in this metaphor, is Lake Mead, on the border between Nevada and Arizona; the […]
Read more »Less Water, Fewer Farmers: The Future of Agriculture on the Ogallala Aquifer
December 27th, 2022
Via NPR, a report on increasingly dim future of farming in the U.S. Midwest: It’s harvest season in Yuma, Colorado, which means Ruben Richardson is in the cab of his combine, cutting corn. That’s where you’ll find him from sun-up to sun down for a solid month in mid-autumn because that’s how long it takes […]
Read more »Arizona Is in a Race to the Bottom of Its Water Wells, With Saudi Arabia’s Help
December 27th, 2022
Courtesy of the New York Times, commentary on the role played by private companies in Arizona’s worrying water crisis: Arizona’s water is running worryingly low. Amid the worst drought in more than a millennium, which has left communities across the state with barren wells, the state is depleting what remains of its precious groundwater. Much of […]
Read more »Amid Drought, Arizona Contemplates Piping In Water From Mexico
December 23rd, 2022
Courtesy of The Washington Post, a look at how Arizona – amidst drought – is considering piping in water from Mexico: Arizona’s newly expanded water finance board had met only three times. The state authority had no director. Nor had it made a public call for water projects to boost Arizona’s dwindling water supplies from the Colorado River. But […]
Read more »Water Crisis in the American West ‘is Going to be Painful’
December 23rd, 2022
Via the Nevada Current, commentary on the drought in the US southwest: Water authorities in the Western U.S. don’t have a crystal ball, but rapidly receding reservoirs uncovering sunken boats and other debris lost in their depths decades ago give a clear view of the hard choices ahead. If Western states do not agree on […]
Read more »Disaster Scenarios Raise Stakes for Colorado River Negotiations
December 17th, 2022
Via The Washington Post, an article on states’ water managers’ debate over historic Colorado River cuts: The water managers responsible for divvying up the Colorado River’s dwindling supply are painting a bleak portrait of a river in crisis, warning that unprecedented shortages could be coming to farms and cities in the West and that old rules […]
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