Kari Lake’s recent op-ed in the Star set forth her platform for the “most urgent issue” facing Arizona and the South-west: water. I agree, which is why it’s so disappointing that she has so little to offer. Let’s unpack her three main ideas. First, Lake attacks the Biden Administration for policies she thinks will “put farmers out of business.” As the Colorado River Basin suffered through a 22-year- drought, states and then the federal government began to offer users of the Colorado River financial incentives to reduce their draw on the river. These incentives encourage land fallowing as a short-term…
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Colorado River states bought time with a 3-year water conservation deal – now they need to think bigger – Robert Glennon
Supreme Court rules the US is not required to ensure access to water for the Navajo Nation, by Robert Glennon
The Navajo Nation, the largest Native American reservation in the U.S., covers 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometers) in the Southwest – an area larger than 10 states. Today it is home to more than 250,000 people – roughly comparable to the population of St. Petersburg, Florida, or Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Unlike those cities, however, 30% of households on the Navajo Reservation lack running water. Hauling water can cost 20 times what it does in neighboring off-reservation communities. While the average American uses between 80 and 100 gallons (300-375 liters) of water per day, Navajo Nation members use approximately seven. Since the 1950s,…
Restore the Salton Sea not to its former size but to its role in the ecosystem – Brent M. Haddad and Robert Glennon
California’s largest inland body of water is in trouble. Inflows to the Salton Sea have decreased, salinity is growing, the ecosystem is collapsing, and neighboring communities are suffering high rates of respiratory illnesses caused, many believe, by contaminants in dust blowing off the exposed former seabed. It’s not possible to import enough water quickly enough to save the ecosystem and cover the contaminants. The solutions must be more practical: Fixing the salinity will be the key to saving this crucial habitat. A targeted approach can also reduce dust. After decades of neglect, a foreseeable problem has devolved into an urgent crisis.…
Rethinking a finite resource
National Hockey League teams in the United States and Canada annually use 300 million gallons of water to operate their arenas. Most facilities use a surprising amount of water. Yet facility managers, much like everyone else, might take water for granted. When people turn on the tap in the morning, out comes a limitless supply of high-quality water for less than the cost of cell phone service or cable television. Most people think that water is like air, infinite and inexhaustible. On the contrary, it is finite and exhaustible. Even though water is critical to the operations of facilities, most…
A water strategy for the parched West: Have cities pay farmers to install more efficient irrigation systems
“Are you going to run out of water?” is the first question people ask when they find out I’m from Arizona. The answer is that some people already have, others soon may and it’s going to get much worse without dramatic changes. Unsustainable water practices, drought and climate change are causing this crisis across the U.S. Southwest. States are drawing less water from the Colorado River, which supplies water to 40 million people. But levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the river’s two largest reservoirs, have dropped so low so quickly that there is a serious risk of one or both…
What is dead pool? A water expert explains
Journalists reporting on the status and future of the Colorado River are increasingly using the phrase “dead pool.” It sounds ominous. And it is. Dead pool occurs when water in a reservoir drops so low that it can’t flow downstream from the dam. The biggest concerns are Lake Powell, behind Glen Canyon Dam on the Utah-Arizona border, and Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam on the Nevada-Arizona border. These two reservoirs, the largest in the U.S., provide water for drinking and irrigation and hydroelectricity to millions of people in Nevada, Arizona and California. Some media reports incorrectly define dead pool as the point at…
Water is cheap…should it be?
SYLVIE DOUGLIS, BYLINE: NPR. (SOUNDBITE OF DROP ELECTRIC SONG, "WAKING UP TO THE FIRE") SALLY HERSHIPS, HOST: All this week, we are talking about water or the lack of it. The climate crisis means intense heat, drier weather and drought, and today at least one uncontained fire, which is causing evacuations in Lake Tahoe. And California and Nevada have both declared a state of emergency. But despite these extreme consequences from water scarcity, often, we do not seem to treat this incredibly valuable commodity with the respect it deserves. ROBERT GLENNON: The water for your flush toilet is something you…
As Colorado River Basin states confront water shortages, it’s time to focus on reducing demand
The U.S. government announced its first-ever water shortage declaration for the Colorado River on Aug. 16, 2021, triggering future cuts in the amount of water states will be allowed to draw from the river. The Tier 1 shortage declaration followed the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s forecast that the water in Lake Mead – the largest reservoir in the U.S., located on the Arizona-Nevada border – will drop below an elevation of 1,075 feet above sea level, leaving less than 40% of its capacity, by the end of 2021. The declaration means that in January 2022 the agency will reduce water deliveries to the Lower Colorado…
Containing the Spread of COVID-19: The Importance of Continued Wastewater Testing and Surveillance
We seem to have turned a corner on COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. Infection and death rates are way down. Multiple vaccines, developed in record time, seem to be helping. More than a hundred million American have been fully vaccinated. More than half of all Americans have received at least one dose. But this horrible virus and accompanying disease are not going away anytime soon. We're nowhere near herd immunity. The delta variant is more infectious and virulent. Pockets of resistance to getting vaccinated exist for various reasons, including fear and mistrust. More than a dozen European countries suspended the use…