Amid a tidal wave of bad news – from inflation and the war in Ukraine to climate change and divisive politics – there is one story that might trump all others in importance, and yet it receives the least sustained global attention: water.
As an environmental scientist, Roger Viadero had to scratch his head over news reports last summer of the thirsty demand in Palm Springs and Las Vegas, among other western cities, for water from the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes.
The letters pages of the Palm Springs Desert Sun newspaper broke their own records for online traffic last June with readers’ proposals to siphon some 22 billion gallons of water per day from the Midwest. To solve the Southwest’s water crisis, the desert denizens wrote, a series of canals and reservoirs could pipe water from the flood-prone Mississippi River to the Colorado River, a supposed win-win for everyone.
Western states gripped by persistent drought are unlikely to see any relief in the coming months, as a third year of La Niña weather patterns reduces precipitation in that region, NOAA scientists predicted Thursday.
According to the agency’s 2022-23 Winter Outlook, below-average rainfall and snowpack are expected in a wide stretch of the United States including Southern California, the Southwest, the southern Rockies, the southern Plains, the Gulf Coast and much of the South.
The general manager of the West Slope’s Colorado River District says proposed cuts by California entities in river water use are much less than is needed from that state, and their implication that other states need to step up with similar reductions fails to account for uncompensated, naturally occurring cuts that already impact users in the river’s Upper Basin.
Andy Mueller made his comments in a memo to his district’s board of directors and during the board’s meeting this week.
When Eric Seufert brewed a test batch of beer in 2017 with water from recycled sewage, he wasn’t too concerned about the outcome. The engineering firm that approached him about the test explained the process, and together they sipped samples of recycled water. Seufert quickly understood it wasn’t too different from how water is normally handled.
No matter if you’re whipping up a cacciatore, amatriciana or a homemade pizza, you’re going to need one thing: tomatoes.
But while most of the tomatoes consumed in the U.S. — fresh, canned, and otherwise — come from California, factors like the ongoing drought, rising fuel prices, and a changing climate are making the fruit harder and more expensive to grow. And that’s prompting some California farmers to consider raising other, hardier crops that require less irrigation.
Facing a dry future, Westlands and westside towns like Avenal need each other.
Small western Fresno and Kings County towns like Coalinga, Huron and Avenal are in the same boat as Westlands Water District. They have no potable local water supply but depend on imports from Northern California.
More money is coming down the pipeline for Nevada’s efforts to conserve water amid a historic megadrought that has put the pinch on supplies in the Southwest.
Drought and wildfire risks will remain elevated in the western states while warmer than average temperatures will greet the Southwest, Gulf Coast and East Coast this winter, federal weather officials said Thursday.
With several billion dollars in federal money secured for drought-stricken western states, managers and officials on the Rio Grande are hopeful some will reach their communities and bring attention to the challenges facing one of North America’s longest rivers.
