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FWIW here is a news item that appeared on todays front page of the SDUT
[quote]
Growing fears of ‘dead pool’ on Colorado River as drought threatens Hoover Dam waterThe Colorado River’s largest reservoirs stand nearly three-quarters empty, and federal officials now say there is a real danger the reservoirs could drop so low that water would no longer flow past Hoover Dam in two years.
That dire scenario — which would cut off water supplies to California, Arizona and Mexico — has taken center stage at the annual Colorado River conference in Las Vegas this week, where officials from seven states, water agencies, tribes and the federal government are negotiating over how to decrease usage on a scale never seen before.
Outlining their latest projections for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the nation’s two largest reservoirs, federal water managers said there is a risk Lake Mead could reach “dead pool” levels in 2025. If that were to happen, water would no longer flow downstream from Hoover Dam.
“We are in a crisis. Both lakes could be two years away from either dead pool or so close to dead pool that the flow out of those dams is going to be a horribly small number. And it just keeps getting worse,” said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources.
He said there is a real danger that if the coming year is extremely dry, “it might be too late to save the lakes.”
[quote=barnaby33]Phaster I vehemently disagree, it’s “self inflicted,” not “self inflected.”
We are about (at least in my area) to get a 25% rise in the price of water, not because of shortages, but just to fix our pipes. Dios mio I can’t imagine the usage charge increases that will come on top of that.
Josh[/quote]infrastructure does not last forever AND infrastructure needs to be updated to keep water safe to drink
sigh,… people here in the USA have no clue what it is like to live w/ out a safe and abundant supply of water
I actually have a somewhat different take on the price of water since I’ve had the opportunity to travel in other parts of the world where there was not a safe and abundant supply of water
ever hear how fucked up Venezuela is???
the reason I mention Venezuela is because they have lots of oil reserves and really low gas prices ($0.02 USD/Liter)
http://take-profit.org/en/statistics/gasoline-prices/venezuela/
point being the power that be don’t want to raise gas prices because this appeases the citizen’s enough to keep the politicians in power BUT the trade off is an economy that does not functional very good over all
sadly as I see things, seems politicians here in the USA do pretty much the same thing as politicians do in Venezuela,… simply stated politicians do their best to suppress the prices of various natural resources like gasoline and water, which keeps everyone happy for the short run,… BUT over the long run this really fucks things up
WRT to the issue of “self inflicted” wounds,… actually suppressing the prices of various natural resources like gasoline and water, keeps everyone happy for the short run,… BUT over the long run this really fucks things up,… an example is “aridity”
which is caused by Big-Ag wanting to make as much profit as possible in the short term
[quote=USGS]
Irrigation accounted for most total withdrawals in the CRB [Colorado River Basin], excluding instream use for hydroelectric power and interbasin transfers, averaging 85 percent from 1985 to 2010.http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/sir20185049
[/quote]ever consider looking at the economically suppressed gasoline and water price problem in terms of military command doctrine (when it come to fighting a war)???
since a picture is worth a 1000 words
…point I’m trying to make is, basically politicians, business interests and consumers all around the world are operating at the “tactical” level,… here everyone wants to try and lock in as much short term gains/profits as possible,… BUT few are pondering the “operations” level of of war AND essentially no one is considering the “strategic” (i.e. big picture) level of of war
when no one has the “strategic” (i.e. big picture) level of of war, it is impossible to win a war,… for example WRT the Colorado River Basin, which is the key water supply for 40+ million people, since politicians, business interests and consumers don’t want to give up their gains, there is a very real possibility than the water will be all used up (because no one will care and the water will flow from taps, up until the point there is no more water in Lake Powell, Lake Mead, Lake Mohave, etc.)
[quote=barnaby33]Over the course of my short (very handsome) life I’ve watched San Diego go from a massive exporter of fruit and veg to an almost total importer because of the cost of water. It’s not even subtle. That shift while maintaining supply was only possible because oil was cheap. Well now were running out of water and gas/oil/energy are relentlessly climbing in price. A lot of the bleating I hear about cost of living increases is food. That food all has to be imported because we don’t grow it here, why?
– Expensive land
– Expensive water
– Too many people (which is why the aforementioned are expensive)Maybe dog will bless us and end the drought, but I doubt it. We should probably have a plan B.[/quote]
A Colorado River Doomsday is inevitably going to happen,…
The only way to avoid A Colorado River Doomsday is when elected political leadership and something like 90+% of the public at large admit and understand there are limits to growth (i.e. grasp water is a limited natural resource),… in addition to people taking into account the scientific idea of feedback loops
[quote]
…faced with doomsday projections from the Bureau of Reclamation about major reservoirs, officials agreed that harmony has not yet extended to how best to address the shortfalls triggered by more than two decades of drought, which have dramatically constricted both the river’s flows and water storage…Officials from seven states — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in the Upper Basin and Arizona, California and Nevada in the Lower Basin — spent three days publicly discussing which state or region must bear the brunt of any reductions, and privately deliberated on a multistate agreement.
Faced with a Feb. 1 [2023] deadline to provide an agreement to the Interior Department — and potentially circumvent a federally imposed fix — water managers acknowledged in interviews with E&E News they are still short of a deal.
[quote]
In his time at the California State Water Resources Control Board, Max Gomberg has witnessed the state grapple with two devastating droughts and the accelerating effects of climate change.Now, after 10 years of recommending strategies for making California more water resilient, the board’s climate and conservation manager is calling it quits. The reason: He no longer believes Gov. Gavin Newsom and his administration are willing to pursue the sorts of transformational changes necessary in an age of growing aridification.
[quote]
Irrigation accounted for most total withdrawals in the CRB [Colorado River Basin], excluding instream use for hydroelectric power and interbasin transfers, averaging 85 percent from 1985 to 2010.http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/sir20185049
[/quote][quote]
With agriculture responsible for roughly 80 percent of California’s water use, many question the practicality of crops that cannot be fallowed and the viability of producing food for export.
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