EnviroLink Forum

It was ten years ago that I wrote chapter 29 on water sustainability in the USA in the book "Immigration's Unarmed Invasion: Deadly Consequences". I hate to say "I said so". From AltenergyShift;
Drinking Water Crisis 2014- United States
Started on Feb 10, 2014 03:27 am

When people ask me what I think is the biggest environmental issue facing the United States over the next twenty years, my answer is always the same, drinking water. Yes greenhouse gases, climate change, ocean acidification, dirty energy, pollution, hunger in the United States are all huge issues. Likewise each has an aspect which directly affects drinking water. The problem is that after four decades of kicking the can down the road, today we are as a nation are closer to a major water crisis, and time may be running out.

The problem is that most people have short memories. A few years of concern over frequency of droughts can all be forgotten after a single year of rains, meaning that because of the cyclical nature of weather, often much needed water fixes are discussed and then forgotten.

Our friends at the Circle of Blue.org have made it their mission to keep this issue in the forefront, their timely, thoughtful reporting highlights the critical needs of water and the many affects it has on our lives and our economies.

That is why I am posting the first link to their 2014 Water Supply preview. My plan is to use this thread as a place to discuss the many factors affecting our future water. Let’s begin here

California, Texas, and the Southwestern U.S. Face a Critical Year for Water Supplies: 2014 Preview, Part 1

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2 ... -supplies/


California, Texas, and the Southwestern U.S. Face a Critical Year for Water Supplies: 2014 Preview, Part I

Thursday, 06 February 2014 11:22

After a dry 2013, reservoirs are near record lows for the start of a calendar year, setting the table for widespread water restrictions, reduced agricultural and energy production, and political bickering in 2014."

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

bump because it is far more important than arguing with stupid denialists.
http://archive.is/sIjqZ

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/are- ... ater-17068

"Many scientists and experts fear that humanity is reaching the point of peak water — the point at which freshwater is being consumed faster than it is being replenished or available."

Comment

By Kathy
on February 17th, 2014

"What I don’t see, the amounts of water, contaminated unusable water,for how long we still don’t know for sure, that is used for shale fracking. Or the hugh amounts used to process tar sands all of which is groundwater."

Also not directly there is aquifer depletion rates exceeding 100 times recharge rates !!!!!

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

^^^^^^^^^^^^^WAY more important that milt craP

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

As if there will be fence sitters among those short of water in the heat THIS YEAR!

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

Longtime Vegas water czar warns other cities to brace for climate change

By Greg Hanscom
patricia mulroy Aaron Mayes/UNLV Photo Services

"This is part of a series of stories about Las Vegas and climate change. Find the whole collection here.
Patricia Mulroy has been called “the water empress of Vegas.” For 25 years, she lead the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the agency responsible for keeping the taps running in a desert metropolis that was growing like the fat guy in the Monty Python skit."

http://grist.org/cities/longtime-vegas- ... aign=daily

The desert cities of the SW have been unsustainable for a long time. Some day the deserted houses and land will be worthless decaying monuments to man's stupidity. 130* F will be a common temperature soon, and get much worse over time.
Then this, from my old home;
Groundwater pumping deals with pollution but stresses supply
"More than 4 billion gallons of water are pumped out of the ground in the Twin Cities every year to remove contamination. Some of that water is treated and put to use but much is not. This map shows the 26 sites in the seven-county area that each pump more than 5 million gallons per year. The two sites in yellow pump more than a billion gallons a year. The shaded area is where a new state approach to dealing with groundwater concerns is focused. Figures are 2008-2012 annual averages, except where noted.
Source: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources."
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/04/28 ... on?refid=0

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

High Plains Burning Up as Record Heat Wave Bakes Area
"In Wichita, Kansas, the temperature hit 102 degrees Fahrenheit on May 4, which broke the record for the earliest 100 degree or higher temperature on record there, beating the old record of May 9. Records in Wichita date back to 1888. Wichita has had its driest start to the year since the Dust Bowl in 1936, with just 2.01 inches of rain falling between January 1 and April 30."
Kansas now like Phoenix used to be! Friends in Tucson report weeks of blowing dust and 115*F temps.
We can't count on plants to slow down global warming
Posted on 9 May 2014 by John Abraham

"Increased future plant growth will not reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere as much as we thought; so finds a new study published in Science. This means that we will not have that get-out-of-jail-free card that some of us were counting on."
http://www.skepticalscience.com/plants- ... rming.html

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

I missed this documentary done in 2011, but it is holding to predictions just like mine of 2004.
Last Call at the Oasis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzBD6U-mEis

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

wells ruined by hydrocarbon greed, hundreds of thousands, all over Earth;
Wyoming Residents Frustrated With State’s Fracking-Funded Water Contamination Investigation
Brandon Baker | June 16, 2014 11:45 am | Comments

"Wyoming environmental officials continue investigating water wells and whether fracking is the source of water contamination in the tiny town of Pavillion, but some groups in the area are concerned about the credibility of that investigation.

That’s because it’s being funded by Encana, the oil and gas firm those groups believe is responsible for adding methane, hydrocarbons, lead and copper into the local water supply. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency handed the investigation over to the state a year ago, and things have been downhill ever since, according to groups like Earthworks and Pavillion Area Concerned Citizens.

State regulators held a meeting late last week that was meant to provide an update to residents. Instead, it reinforced their lack of confidence in the process."
And the fox is guarding the henhouse

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

I'm glad I have my own pure water, and power from the sun.
Top 10 U.S. Cities Running Out of Water
Anastasia Pantsios | August 14, 2014 1:37 pm | Comments
901 315

33 31K

"Even as we watch the stunning footage of an overwhelmed Detroit drowning under massive rainfall, U.S. Drought Monitor shows other regions of the country parched and longing for more water. The organization releases weekly maps tracking the extent of drought in the U.S., ranking regions on five levels: “abnormally dry,” “moderate drought,” “severe drought,” “extreme drought” and “exceptional drought.”

-2

Its current map documents a huge swath of the western U.S., extending as far east as Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, suffering from drought conditions. It also shows patches of South, Midwest, upper Great Lakes region and even New England having a drier than normal summer, covering more than a third of the continental U.S.

But the areas of “exceptional drought,” the highest category, are localized in four states. California is by far the hardest hit, with 58 percent of the state under “exceptional drought” and 82 percent in the two highest categories. Nevada, Oklahoma and Texas also have patches of “exceptional” drought, surrounded by a sea of less intense drought.

So it’s not surprising that all of its top ten cities with a severe water shortage are in California, located mostly in its fertile Central Valley growing region. Bakersfield, which has seen explosive growth in the last 40 years, tops the list with 90 percent of the city under “exceptional drought.” Unlike most of the other cities in the top 10, it has enacted no water restrictions. The other cities in order of the severity of drought are Hanford, Salinas, Gilroy-Morgan Hill, Santa Maria, Merced, Santa Cruz, Madera, Visalia and Fresno."
http://ecowatch.com/2014/08/14/water-dr ... c-85901709

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

Hi, Dingo! I think we are well passed 'peak water'. Groundwater and aquifer depletion are, and have been, over the recharge rates for this century and half of the last, along with greater and greater surface water pollution and over-use.
"63 trillion gallons of groundwater lost in drought, study finds"
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

Massive Half-Mile-Long Crack Appears in Ground in Northern Mexico
David Manthos, SkyTruth | August 28, 2014 11:04 am

"Last week a video emerged of a giant fissure in the Northern Mexican desert, 3,300 feet long and up to 25 feet deep. Speculation centered at first around an earthquake, but the region is not known for seismic activity. I personally checked out the U.S. Geological Survey earthquake data because the Buena Vista Copper mine (the fourth largest in the world by output) is only about 150 miles north of the enormous crack, and earlier this month they spilled 40,000 cubic meters of sulphuric acid into two rivers during the worst spill in Mexico’s modern mining history. But I found no reports of tremors in the region and authorities were skeptical that this had anything to do with an earthquake.
Fast forward to Tuesday, Aug. 26, the Washington Post posted a story with this headline: Why no one should freak out about the giant crack that opened in the Mexico desert. The Post reports:

The chair of the geology department at the University of Sonora, in the northern Mexican state where this “topographic accident” emerged, said that the fissure was likely caused by sucking out groundwater for irrigation to the point the surface collapsed.
“This is no cause for alarm,” Inocente Guadalupe Espinoza Maldonado said. “These are normal manifestations of the destabilization of the ground.”
I’m sorry, no. These are not normal manifestations of natural activity, this the result of human activity run amok. Just because Cthulhu isn’t clambering out of the breach to wreak havoc on humankind does not mean we shouldn’t be alarmed by the fact we’ve sucked so much water out of the ground that the surface of the earth is collapsing."
http://ecowatch.com/2014/08/28/massive- ... b-85901709

In addition, the glacial loss from Greenland is now 70 cubic miles annually and the Antarctica glacier loss is 30, so a total of 100 cubic miles from the largest sources. Mountain glacial loss is a lot, too. That is the one that affects more people with thirst. Of course the root of the crisis is overpopulation and it has lead to CAGW, which evaporates more water. That water comes back in floods, which pollute more water downstream.

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein

4 Reasons Water Advocates Should Join the People’s Climate March Sept. 21
Gary Wockner | August 31, 2014 2:12 pm |


'I inhabit the river-activist wing of the climate movement, and if you’re a river activist like me, please come to the People’s Climate March in New York City on Sept. 21. The future of the rivers of America is directly tied to our ability to control climate change.
For several decades scientists have known and studied historic “megadroughts” in the Southwest U.S. and Colorado River basin, but not until last week did a scientific paper directly connect potential future megadroughts to climate change.

I run organizations that work to protect and restore the Colorado River of the Southwest U.S. and the Cache la Poudre River of Northern Colorado. Both are at extreme risk as global warming increases."
http://ecowatch.com/2014/08/31/water-ad ... 4-85901709

Fracking
Water

Groundbreaking Study Shows How Demand for Water Could Impact Fracking Worldwide
Anastasia Pantsios | September 2, 2014 2:44 pm | Comments

"On World Water Day, the World Resources Institute (WRI) has released a study that maps for the first time the water resources available to support fracking in the world’s largest shale exploration areas. The study, “Global Shale Gas Development: Water Availability and Business Risk,” found that 40 percent of countries with the largest shale energy resources could suffer from water stress: competing demands on their renewable water supply that could make it problematic to use that water for fracking."
http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/02/water-re ... 0-85901709

What City Will Run Out of Water First?
Anastasia Pantsios | September 3, 2014 9:22 am | Comments

"As drought threatens more areas of the world, we’re hearing a steady stream of stories about cities, towns and regions whose water supply is interrupted temporarily."
http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/03/city-wat ... 0-85901709

Definitely glad to have my own deep mountain well and absolute water rights

_________________
"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein