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Water Usage On The Colorado River Is Way Down As The West Begins Planning For A Future With Less
October 24th, 2023
Via CNN, a report on water usage on the Colorado River: As the Biden administration kicks off a years-long negotiation process to divvy up the shrinking water supply of the Colorado River, there are finally some signs of optimism after several bleak years. A record-breaking winter snowpack last year halted a precipitous downward spiral on the river and raised water levels […]
Read more »To Tackle Groundwater Overuse, Nevada takes New Approach: Buying Back Farmers’ Rights
October 17th, 2023
Via The Nevada Independent, a report on Nevada’s plans to issue $25 million in grants to retire groundwater rights in places where use exceeds what is sustainable: The Pershing County Water Conservation District’s headquarters in Lovelock sits off Interstate 80 a few miles before the Humboldt River disappears into a desert sink. Farmers here have […]
Read more »A Dam Waste In the Age of Megadrought
October 14th, 2023
Via TruthDig, commentary on how Colorado’s Gross Dam illustrates the folly of impounding water to feed unsustainable economic and population growth in the American West: Mining explosions and summertime thunder can sound remarkably similar. In my rural Colorado neighborhood, 10 miles southwest of Boulder, the smaller blasts that clear ground for the expansion of Gross Dam […]
Read more »The Colorado River Wars Are Based on Bad Math
October 12th, 2023
Via Mother Jones, a look at how faulty assumptions have brought the Colorado “Law of the River” to a breaking point: California and Arizona are currently fighting each other over water from the Colorado River. But this isn’t new—it’s actually been going on for over 100 years. At one point, the states literally went to war about […]
Read more »Arizona Is Evicting a Saudi Alfalfa Farm, But The Thirsty Crop Isn’t Going Anywhere
October 10th, 2023
Via Grist, a report on Arizona’s recent decision to evict a Saudi alfalfa farm, but the state’s decision will do little to solve a water shortage largely driven by irrigated agriculture; As Arizona struggles to adapt to a water shortage that has dried out farms and scuttled development plans, one company has emerged as a central […]
Read more »Arizona Moves to End Saudi Farm’s Controversial Groundwater Deals
October 5th, 2023
Via AZCentral, a report on Arizona’s move to end a Saudi farm’s controversial groundwater deals to grow, export alfalfa: Gov. Katie Hobbs’ administration on Monday announced two steps to stop a controversial Saudi Arabian company from using groundwater beneath state land in western Arizona to grow and export alfalfa. Hobbs said in a statement that […]
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