Water is life. Knowledge is power.
There is a limited and shrinking supply, growing demand, and a long-run picture that looks, from many angles, hopelessly apocalyptic. Inside the elaborate, diverse, and ever-evolving effort to manage water in what some have called “America’s least sustainable city.”
An hour north of Phoenix, Arizona, Chip Norton drives his truck toward the Verde River. Norton spent the last decade of his career as a public works contractor for water facilities. … [more…]
About 71 percent of the Earth is covered by water, and most of that is ocean. Only 2.5 percent is fresh water, and only a fraction of that—1 percent—is easily accessible. The world’s population of 7.6 billion is expected to grow to 9.8 billion by the year 2050, which means by that year, more than half the people on Earth will live in water-stressed areas. The demand for potable and … [more…]
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) – It was 83 years ago this week, when 23 car and truck-loads of migrant families were reported to have crossed the California-Arizona border in a single day. They were among tens of thousands of poverty-stricken families who found themselves without water in 1936, as drought and erosion in the Southern Plains swept through about 100 million acres of … [more…]
Araceli Silva moved to her colonia near Yuma decades ago 27 years ago. She’s struggled with her wells, which have run dry more than once. A new study finds that wells that bring groundwater to the surface are being dug deeper to tap dwindling aquifers. (Photo by Maria Esquinca/News21)
PHOENIX – Wells are drying up because groundwater is being depleted, and that affects food production and access to drinking water. … [more…]
Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Wyoming wants to modify the Fontenelle Dam so it can use an extra 80,000 acre-feet of water from a tributary of the once-mighty Colorado River. At its headwaters, Denver Water hopes to expand a reservoir’s capacity by 77,000 acre-feet of water. And several hundred miles south, Utah is trying to build a pipeline that can funnel another 86,000 acre-feet out of the river.
There … [more…]