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Say Goodbye to Lawns in Drying U.S. West
June 11th, 2023
Courtesy of Circle of Blue, a look at how booming metro areas in the U.S. west are testing the limits of water supply and growth: Mark Marlowe, who directs the water supply for fast-growing Castle Rock, a Denver suburb, has a dim view of lawns. Irrigating grass in summer consumes 40 percent of Castle Rock’s […]
Read more »Hey, Hay! What About Alfalfaphobia in the Colorado River Basin?
June 10th, 2023
Courtesy of The Land Desk, commentary on the water impact of alfalfa farming in the Colorado River Basin: In recent weeks I’ve written a piece or two about alfalfa. My thesis: As the biggest single water user in the Colorado River Basin, the crop must play an equally large role in contributing to the cuts necessary to keep the river […]
Read more »Arizona, Low on Water, Weighs Taking It From the Sea. In Mexico.
June 10th, 2023
Courtesy of The New York Times, a look at a $5 billion plan to desalinate seawater in Mexico and pipe it to Phoenix is testing the notion that desert cities can keep growing as the Earth warms: Fifty miles south of the U.S. border, at the edge of a city on the Gulf of California, […]
Read more »Arizona’s Water Troubles Show How Climate Change Is Reshaping The West
June 4th, 2023
Courtesy The Washington Post, a look at how Arizona’s water troubles show how climate change is reshaping the West: Jay Famiglietti moved to Arizona this year after a career using satellites to study how the worst drought in a millennium was sapping groundwater beneath the American West. He has documented that the decline of groundwater […]
Read more »Arizona Limits Construction Around Phoenix as Its Water Supply Dwindles
June 1st, 2023
Courtesy of The New York Times, a glimpse of the future as climate change batters the West, with Arizona limiting construction around Phoenix as its water supply dwindles: Arizona has determined that there is not enough groundwater for all of the housing construction that has already been approved in the Phoenix area, and will stop […]
Read more »Colorado River Basin: Hay, Cheeseburgers, and Feed-Driven Water Inefficiency
May 30th, 2023
Courtesy of The Land Desk, an insightful look at the water/food nexus as it revolves around alfalfa: Alfalfa fields in La Paz County, Arizona. Many of the fields pictured are owned by Fondomonte Farms, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabian food and beverage giant Almarai, which touts itself as the world’s largest vertically integrated […]
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