The End of Snow Threatens to Upend 76 Million American Lives
August 9th, 2022
Via Bloomberg, an article on how the disappearing snowpack is accelerating the historic drought across the Western US, and so far government responses haven’t matched the scale of the problem: The Western US is an empire built on snow. And that snow is vanishing. Since most of the region gets little rain in the summer, even […]
Read more »In Dry California, Salty Water Creeps Into Rivers
August 9th, 2022
Via AP News, a report on another impact of the western U.S. drought: Charlie Hamilton hasn’t irrigated his vineyards with water from the Sacramento River since early May, even though it flows just yards from his crop. Nearby to the south, the industrial Bay Area city of Antioch has supplied its people with water from […]
Read more »Hard Choices Ahead For Colorado River
August 9th, 2022
Via Writers on the Range, commentary on the challenges facing the Colorado River: The seven Colorado River states – Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming – face a daunting mid-August deadline. The federal government has asked them to come up with a plan to reduce their combined water usage from the Colorado […]
Read more »The Colorado River Crisis
August 4th, 2022
Via The New York Times, commentary on the crisis facing the Colorado River: It’s past time to get real about the Southwest’s hardest-working river. About 40 million people rely on the Colorado River as it flows from Wyoming to Mexico. But overuse and climate change have contributed to its reservoirs drying up at such a […]
Read more »US Southwest: Water Wars Come To The Suburbs
August 2nd, 2022
Via the New Yorker, a look at how a community near Scottsdale, Arizona, is running out of water and, amid the finger-pointing, the real question is: how many developments will be next: The best gossip you’re likely to hear in Rio Verde Foothills, Arizona, is about water. Last month, when a few residents stopped by […]
Read more »Drought In The American West
July 23rd, 2022
Courtesy of Circle of Blue, a report on drought in the US west: As of July 12, nearly 45 percent of the U.S. and Puerto Rico is in drought, a 14 percent increase since mid-June. The federal Bureau of Reclamation gives Colorado River states a 60-day deadline to develop an emergency plan to conserve water. […]
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