If only life could be so easy. In many parts of the world, population centers and water supplies are not located in the same place. Areas from California to China go to great lengths and costs to move water from where it is (relatively) abundant to the population centers and farmland. One of the largest diversion projects in the world, China’s South-North Water Transfer Project just opened its second branch to the Beijing area in December. The project theoretically will bring almost 12 trillion gallons of water from the Yangtze River Valley north to the mega-cities surrounding Beijing. But the project will also bring with it controversy – mainly over the sustainability of this water supply and the pollution issues that already plague China’s dwindling water supplies. Continue reading
Category Archives: Colorado River Basin
A Look at Colorado’s 2015 Water Plan
Colorado’s water situation looks much less dire in 2015 than it did two short years ago. In February, 2013, exceptional drought covered almost 25% of the Centennial State. Severe drought covered 100% of the state. When we fast forward to today, the situation fortunately is much less dire. (please see the map below for details.) Some portions of Southeastern Colorado face extreme drought conditions. The severe drought that covered the entire state two years ago now only covers 12.26%. However, Colorado is not resting on its laurels to plan for future water crises. Continue reading
The Implications of the Drought in the Colorado River Basin on Arizona’s Water Supply
The most recent US Drought Monitor released on December 30th finally shows a small glimmer of improvement for California’s drought. Over the last few weeks, a series of major storms dropped significantly higher than normal rains across much of Northern California. In fact, rain in some major Bay Area cities fell at the fastest clip ever recorded there. Oakland received 455% higher than average rainfall in December. San Francisco recorded 424% higher than average rainfall, and San Jose recorded an astonishing 736% of its average rainfall this December. Unfortunately, all of this rainfall put only a small dent in the drought conditions that mire the state. According to the US Drought Monitor, exceptional drought covers 32.21% of the state this week versus 55.08% at the beginning of the December. Continue reading
What Will Become of Groundwater in the West as the Drought Continues to Deplete this Resource?
Since the beginning of this year, water managers in states such as California have relied on both surface and groundwater storage to make it through the unprecedented drought. In many cases, these managers point to the large groundwater aquifers and surface water storage that some areas of the Western United States have to give us much needed water during the last few years. The proponents of using storage argue that during dry years, we can draw down our reserves from these sources to get us through even the prolonged drought we are now facing. However, some recent studies suggest that these practices may not be sustainable over the long term in the drier Western United States. In this piece, I will review the most recent research on groundwater depletion in the Western United States. In a follow-up piece next week, I will look at the latest legislation moving through California and Texas to address the groundwater depletion issues. Continue reading