New Mars Forums

Official discussion forum of The Mars Society and MarsNews.com

You are not logged in.

Announcement

Announcement: This forum is accepting new registrations by emailing newmarsmember * gmail.com become a registered member. Read the Recruiting expertise for NewMars Forum topic in Meta New Mars for other information for this process.

#301 2022-08-07 18:56:52

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,431

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

post 297 talks about the monsoon or in this case the flash run off of the quick storms that have dumped it load and the ground just does not absorb it.
Monsoon Rain: Rain Water Run Off loss should be minimized

Understanding monsoon and where all the rainwater goes

Of course, the stream and rivers take that fast-moving water out of the area, so we need to interrupt its flow.
Best Methods for Water Runoff Control

These are also the same techniques to stop roadside work from entering wetlands.

500_12-0086-04-0010-212299.jpg?x=1631478095686

Offline

#302 2022-08-10 17:25:55

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

Here is a report on consideration of desalination in a Florida city...

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/pa … 59364.html

Palm Beach eyes ocean as it weighs options for water supply
Carol Rose, Palm Beach Daily News
Wed, August 10, 2022 at 10:37 AM

West Palm Beach relies on surface water that flows from Lake Okeechobee to Clear Lake, seen here, and Lake Mangonia.

As Palm Beach continues to explore options for its water supply ahead of the end of its contract with the city of West Palm Beach in 2029, attention has shifted to seawater.

Town staff is working to calculate the possible footprint of a desalination plant next to the Intracoastal Waterway to process the water, as well as the feasibility of horizontal saltwater wells.

The wells option was among new alternatives put forward by an engineering consultant, after feedback from residents to earlier presentations, at last month's Town Council meeting. The other alternatives were a desalination treatment plant south of the Port of Palm Beach, a similar plant in Riviera Beach adjacent to the Intracoastal and a transmission pipe in the Intracoastal. The formation of a town-owned water utility also was on the list.

Water disinfection process: West Palm will temporarily change disinfection process for drinking water

No smoking: Palm Beach ban on cigarette smoking at public parks and beaches gets initial OK

Palm Beach staff to look at footprint for desalination plant, saltwater wells

After discussions by council members that included concerns about the challenges the town would face in getting permission to build in Riviera Beach or West Palm Beach, Public Works Director Paul Brazil proposed narrowing the focus. His suggestion: "We work up the square footage that would hypothetically be required for the plant that we would need and (determine) if the horizontal wells would (in fact) work."

With that data in hand, Brazil said, officials could then figure out "how much Intracoastal front property we would need to be able to do a desalinization plant in any location."

Town Council President Maggie Zeidman on Tuesday told the Daily News that using seawater probably is "a non-starter, but I want to know for sure because this is our opportunity to really delve into this and figure out what’s best for the people of this island.

"We don't want to leave any stone unturned so we want the answers. Can it be done?"

Consultant's update had six options that had been researched

At the July 12 meeting, the Town Council received an update about the water feasibility study it had commissioned from national engineering firm Kimley-Horn. That study presented six options that had been researched.

Three of those, labeled as needing "ongoing study," include:

• Continuing the current water-supply contract with the city of West Palm Beach at a cost of $47 million to $70 million;

• Continuing the contract with West Palm and collaborating on a membrane-technology upgrade at its treatment plant, which would cost $547 million to $821 million, with the town paying for a third of the cost ($182 million to $273 million);

• Contracting with the city of Lake Worth Beach to provide water for $263 million to $395 million. The costs would include pipeline and treatment infrastructure.

The other three options, labeled as requiring "no further study," are:

• A town-owned desalination plant at Phipps Park with a projected cost of $352 million to $529 million;

• A town-owned facility on Quadrille Boulevard in West Palm Beach, which would use so-called "nano-membrane" technology at a cost of $269 million to $405 million;

• A contract with Palm Beach County at a cost of $366 million to $443 million.

The costs cover such items as treatment and pipeline infrastructure, utility formation and, in the case of the county option, impact fees.

At the council meeting, Mayor Danielle Moore welcomed the discussion surrounding the desalination alternatives, noting that "if we don't do it, we'll be accused of not doing due diligence."

The town's search for new options took on added urgency last year when the toxin cylindrospermopsin, which is produced by blue-green algae, was detected in its drinking water.

The toxin was first was discovered in low levels on May 3, 2021, and subsequent test results returned two weeks later topped the threshold considered harmful for vulnerable populations. West Palm officials did not notify Palm Beach or issue a drinking water advisory until May 28.

Town officials criticized West Palm Beach staff for that delay. West Palm Beach officials subsequently created a panel of water-quality experts to review its water supply.

A sandy shore on Clear Lake in West Palm Beach Tuesday, May 25, 2021 shows the dwindling water supply as the city can't take water through the L8 canal because of algae blooms. Clear Lake is the source of water for West Palm Beach and Palm Beach.


Palm Beach would face scrutiny from regulatory agencies for seawater option

Any desalination option in Palm Beach would require the town to form its own utility company. The costs have not yet been determined, Zeidman — who also sits on the Public Works Committee — told the Palm Beach Daily News.

But beyond the costs, Zeidman said, the town is looking at the feasibility of getting the required permits for a desalination option.

"Many regulatory agencies will need to weigh in on this," she said, including the Department of Environmental Protection, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Inland Navigation District.

She noted that working with West Palm to upgrade its plant to the membrane option is the simplest choice, "but we have to be on the same page. We can't go through cyanobacteria every year during the summer months and subsequent treatment with chlorine."

But, she said, "the people in their government want the same thing the people in our government want — safe water to drink."

West Palm Beach relies on surface water that flows 20 miles from Lake Okeechobee through canals and wetlands to Lake Mangonia and Clear Lake, just west of the city's downtown.

Palm Beach council member stresses membrane technology for water purity
Council member Bobbie Lindsay, who chairs the Public Works Committee, told the Daily News that "the desire of the council at this point is that whatever option we select would have to include a membrane-based state-of-the-art technology for getting clean water."

While minerals will have to be added back into the water, the process cleans the water, including filtering out salt — in the case of desalination — along with antibiotics and other pollutants that are not yet regulated, such as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), otherwise known as "forever" chemicals, Lindsay said, noting that "the entire world" is moving in the direction of membrane technology.

If the island opts to continue its contract with West Palm Beach, Lindsay said she thinks the town should be a partner rather than a customer. A new deal would mean a relationship for the next 30 years, so "we need to have a seat at the table," she said.

The Public Works Committee is scheduled to meet Thursday, when it is expected to hear details on the footprint of a possible desalination plant next to the Intracoastal Waterway and the feasibility of horizontal saltwater wells, Zeidman said. The committee will bring that information to the council in either September or October, she added.

Carol Rose is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at crose@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach water supply: Is ocean an option? Town Council exploring

This is the first mention I've seen of concern about "forever" chemicals.  Apparently something called 'membrane technology' can deal with these?

(th)

Offline

#303 2022-08-10 19:23:41

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,431

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

Here is another of those water issues in the forever chemicals that have now been seen to be within rainwater which means we are approaching unsafe water all over the earth due to these.
I would ask Flinn since these caused bottled water to be trucked in due to them.

Offline

#304 2022-08-10 20:36:31

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

For SpaceNut re #303

Why would anyone suppose "bottled" water is safe?

(th)

Offline

#305 2022-08-11 20:00:46

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,431

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

The Flint problem not Flinn error on my memory, was not the bottled water but rather the cities piped in water source.
5 Years After Flint's Crisis Began, Is The Water Safe?

"Here's to Flint," Mayor Dayne Walling said as he lifted a glass filled with tap water. Walling and other city and state officials were toasting the switch of the city's drinking water source from Detroit's water system to the Flint River.

The switch was intended to save money, but instead cost the mayor his job.

At first, Flint's nearly 100,000 residents complained their tap water was undrinkable: cloudy, foul smelling and tasting of chemicals or worse. The system also suffered E. coli outbreaks. Eventually, the city acknowledged it was in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Here's what you should know about how to remove 'forever chemicals' from your drinking water

other things that we can do for better water is Filtration Systems With Block Carbon Filters According to EPA, this is the best option for removing herbicides, pesticides, and VOCs. They effectively remove chemicals, fluoride, heavy metals like lead and mercury, bacteria, nitrates, and parasites.

Offline

#306 2022-08-12 12:04:58

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 9,776

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

Breakthrough PFAS Removal Technology Offers Hope for Clean Water Across the U.S.
https://calbizjournal.com/biolargos-bre … ss-the-us/
treatments
https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/in … 6/report/F

Offline

#307 2022-08-15 17:43:21

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/pi … 57586.html

The article at the link above provides what appears to be a reasonably comprehensive summary of proposals that have been made to supply fresh water to the American Southwest.  I note that Calliban's idea of pulling water from the Great Lakes is included. Fortunately the Great Lakes compact prevents such mischief.

USA TODAY
A pipe dream, or a possibility? Water experts debate 1,500-mile aqueduct from Cajun Country to Lake Powell.

Janet Wilson, Palm Springs Desert Sun

Mon, August 15, 2022 at 6:47 PM

Two hundred miles north of New Orleans, in the heart of swampy Cajun Country, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1963 cut a rogue arm of the Mississippi River in half with giant levees to keep the main river intact and flowing to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Old River Control Structure, as it was dubbed, is also the linchpin of massive but delicate locks and pulsed flows that feed the largest bottomland hardwood forests and wetlands in the United States, outstripping Florida’s better known Okefenokee Swamp.

Clouds of birds – hundreds of species – live in or travel through Louisiana’s rich Atchafalaya forests each year, said National Audubon Society Delta Conservation Director Erik Johnson. They include gawky pink roseate spoonbills, tiny bright yellow warblers, known as swamp candles because of their bright glow in the humid, green woods, and more.

This summer, as seven states and Mexico push to meet a Tuesday deadline to agree on plans to shore up the Colorado River and its shriveling reservoirs, retired engineer Don Siefkes of San Leandro, California, wrote a letter to The Desert Sun of the USA TODAY Network with what he said was a solution to the West's water woes: Build an aqueduct from the Old River Control Structure to Lake Powell, 1,489 miles west, to refill the Colorado River system with Mississippi River water.

A BODY IN A BARREL, GHOST TOWNS, A CRASHED B-29: What other secrets are buried in Lake Mead?

Downstream of a Mississippi River control point in Louisiana's Cajun Country, bottomland hardwood forests are home to a richly diverse array of plants and animals that depend on regular water flows.

Downstream of a Mississippi River control point in Louisiana's Cajun Country, bottomland hardwood forests are home to a richly diverse array of plants and animals that depend on regular water flows.

“Citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi south of the Old River Control Structure don’t need all that water. All it does is cause flooding and massive tax expenditures to repair and strengthen dikes,” wrote Siefkes. "New Orleans has a problem with that much water anyway, so let’s divert 250,000 gallons/second to Lake Powell, which currently has a shortage of 5.5 trillion gallons. This would take 254 days to fill.”

The letter and others with an array of ideas generated huge interest from readers around the country – and debate about whether the concepts are technically feasible, politically possible or environmentally wise. Seeking answers, The Desert Sun consulted water experts, conservation groups and government officials.

Engineers said the pipeline idea is technically feasible. But water experts said it would likely take at least 30 years to clear legal hurdles. And biologists and environmental attorneys said New Orleans and the Louisiana coast, along with the interior swamplands, need every drop of muddy Mississippi water.

The massive river, with tributaries from Montana to Ohio, is a national artery for shipping goods out to sea. And contrary to Siefkes' claims, experts said, the silty river flows provide sediment critical to shore up the rapidly disappearing Louisiana coast and barrier islands chewed to bits by hurricanes and sea rise. Scientists estimate a football field's worth of Louisiana coast is lost every 60 to 90 minutes. Major projects to restore the coast and save brown pelicans and other endangered species are now underway, and Mississippi sediment delivery is at the heart of them.

Siphon off a big portion, and “you’d be swapping one ecological catastrophe for another,” said Audubon’s Johnson.

'My water, your water. My state, your state'
Nonetheless, Siefkes’ trans-basin pipeline proposal went viral, receiving nearly half a million views. It’s one of dozens of letters the newspaper has received proposing or vehemently opposing schemes to fix the crashing Colorado River system, which provides water to nearly 40 million people and farms in seven western states.

Fueled by Google and other search engines, more than 3.2 million people have read the letters, an unprecedented number for the regional publication's opinion content.

Many saw Siefkes' idea and others like it as sheer theft by a region that needs to fix its own woes.

CLIMATE POINT:  Subscribe to USA TODAY’s free weekly newsletter on climate change, the environment and the weather

“Let's be really clear here. As a resident of Wisconsin, a state that borders the (Mississippi) river, let me say: This is never gonna happen,” wrote Margaret Melville. “What states in the Southwest have failed to do is curtail growth and agriculture that is, of course, water-driven."

But desert defenders pushed back. John Neely of Palm Desert, California, responded:  "All of these river cities who refuse to give us their water can stop snowbirding to the desert to use our water. The snowbirds commonly stay here for at least six months. Do they thank us for using our water? No. Do they pay extra for using our water? No. They’re all such hypocrites. My water, your water. My state, your state. Last time I heard, we are still the United States of America."

Haul icebergs south? Manufacture rain?
Yahoo, Reddit and ceaseless headlines about a 22-year megadrought and killer flash floods, not to mention dead bodies showing up on Lake Mead’s newly exposed shoreline, have galvanized reader interest this summer.

But grand ideas for guaranteeing water for the arid West have been floated for decades. Haul icebergs from the Arctic to a new southern California port. Run a giant hose from the Columbia River along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to refill Diamond Valley Reservoir. Grab hydrogen and oxygen from the air and make artificial rain.

'WE'RE GETTING FURTHER AND FURTHER BEHIND': Climate change exposes growing gap between weather we've planned for – and what's coming

As zany as the ideas may sound, could any work, and if so, what would be the costs?

Experts say there’s a proverbial snowball’s chance in August of most of these schemes being implemented. Physically, some could be achieved. This is the country that built the Hoover Dam, and where Los Angeles suburbs were created by taking water from Owens Lake. From winter lettuce in grocery stores to the golf courses of the Sun Belt, the West’s explosive growth over the past century rests on aqueducts, canals and drainage systems.

The bigger obstacles are fiscal, legal, environmental and most of all, political.

"The engineering is feasible. Absolutely. You could build a pipeline from the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers. Would it be expensive? Yes. Do we have the political will? Absolutely not," said Meena Westford, executive director of Colorado River resource policy for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. "I think that, societally, we want to be more flexible. We want to have more sustainable infrastructure. So moving water that far away to supplement the Colorado River, I don't think is viable."

She added, "But it's doable. You could do it."

A ramp falls short of reaching the waters of Lake Powell in Utah on June 24, 2021.


In fact, she and others noted, many such ideas have been studied since the 1940s. Most recently, in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation produced a report laying out a potentially grim future for the Colorado River, and had experts evaluate 14 big ideas commonly touted as potential solutions.

The concepts fell into a few large categories: Pipe Mississippi or Missouri River water to the eastern side of the Rockies or to Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, bring icebergs in bags, on container ships or via trucks to Southern California, pump water from the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest to California via a subterranean pipeline on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, or replenish the headwaters of the Green River, the main stem of the Colorado River, with water from tributaries.


While they didn’t outright reject the concepts, the experts laid out multi-billion-dollar price tags, including ever-higher fuel and power costs to pump water up mountains or over other geographic obstacles. They also concluded environmental and permitting reviews would take decades.

"To my mind, the overriding fatal flaw for large import schemes is the time required to become operational. A multi-state pipeline could easily require decades before it delivers a drop of water," said Michael Cohen, senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. He said the most pragmatic approach would only pump Midwest water to the metro Denver area, to substitute for imports to the Front Range on the east side of the Rockies, avoiding "staggering" costs to pump water over the Continental Divide.

But Denver officials have expressed skepticism, because Missouri or Mississippi water is of inferior quality to pure mountain water.

US can't 'engineer our way out' of drought
Not mentioned was the great granddaddy of all schemes for reallocating water, known as the North American Water and Power Authority Plan.

Developed in 1964 by engineer Ralph Parsons and his California-based Parsons Corporation, the plan would provide 75 million acre-feet of water to arid areas in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. An acre-foot is enough water to serve about two households for a year, so it could supply water to 150 million customers.

Ralph M. Parsons designed a massive but never realized plan that would have redistributed water across North America.

The total projected cost of the plan in 1975 was $100 billion – or nearly $570 billion in today's dollars, comparable to the Interstate Highway System. The project would require more than 300 new dams, canals, pipelines, tunnels and pumping stations. Its largest dam would be 1,700 feet tall, more than twice the height of Hoover Dam.

Parsons said the plan would replenish the upper Missouri and Mississippi rivers during dry spells, increase hydropower along the Columbia River and stabilize the Great Lakes. He proposed using nuclear explosions to excavate the system's trenches and underground water storage reservoirs.

TAPS HAVE RUN DRY IN A MAJOR MEXICO CITY FOR MONTHS: A similar water crisis looms in the U.S. too, experts say.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, prodded by members of Congress from Western states, studied the massive proposal. Ultimately the rising environmental movement squelched it – the project would destroy vast wildlife habitats in Canada and the American West, submerge wild rivers in Idaho and Montana, and require the relocation of hundreds of thousands of people.

Environmental writer Marc Reisner said the plan was one of "brutal magnificence" and "unprecedented destructiveness." Historian Ted Steinberg said it summed up "the sheer arrogance and imperial ambitions of the modern hydraulic West."

In China, the massive South-to-North Water Diversion Project is the largest such project ever undertaken. Inspired by Mao Zedong, who in 1952 observed, "The south has plenty of water and the north lacks it, so if possible why not borrow some?" and planned for completion in 2050, it will divert 44.8 billion cubic meters of water annually to major cities and agricultural and industrial centers in the parched north.

When finished, the $62 billion project will link China’s four main rivers and requires construction of three lengthy diversion routes, one using as its base the 1,100-mile long Hangzhou-to-Beijing canal, which dates from the 7th century AD.

Meanwhile, watershed states in the U.S., and even counties have taken action to prevent such schemes.

The Great Lakes Compact, signed by President George W. Bush in 2008, bans large water exports outside of the area without the approval of all eight states bordering them and input from Ontario and Quebec.

Other legal constraints include the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Protection Act and various state environmental laws, said Brent Newman, senior policy director for the National Audubon Society's Delta state programs. A Mississippi pipeline to Lake Powell would need to cut across four states, he and Johnson said, including hundreds of miles of wetlands in Louisiana and west Texas.

THE U.S. IS MAKING A BIG DOWN PAYMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE: Here's what needs to come next.

Large amounts of fossil fuel energy needed to pump water over the Rockies would increase the very climate change that’s exacerbating the 1,200-year drought afflicting the Colorado River in the first place, said Newman, who in his previous job helped the state of Colorado design a long-term water conservation plan. At comment sessions on Colorado's plan, he said, long-distance pipelines were constantly suggested by the public.

"Sometimes there is a propensity in areas like Louisiana or the Southwest, where we've had such success in our engineering marvels, to engineer our way out of everything," Newman said. "I don't think that drought, especially in the era of climate change, is something we can engineer our way out of."

'Arizona really, really wants oceanfront'
But big water infrastructure projects aren't just of interest to the general public.

Arizona, which holds "junior" rights to Colorado River water, meaning it has already been forced to make cuts and might be legally required to make far larger reductions, wants to build a bi-national desalination plant at the Sea of Cortez, which separates Baja California from the Mexican mainland. The resulting fresh water would be piped north to the thirsty state.

Such major infrastructure “is an absolute necessity,” said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, who said he “represents the governor on all things Colorado River.”

Will Thelander, a farmer with Tempe Farming Company, stands at a junction of two irrigation ditches at the farm outside of Casa Grande on August 13, 2021. The declaration of a water shortage on the Colorado River will cut the amount of water that Pinal County farmers receive from the Central Arizona Project Canal in 2022.

Arizona's legislature allocated $1 billion in its last session for water augmentation projects like a possible desalination plant, and state officials are in discussions with Mexican officials about the idea, said Buschatzke.

The state also set aside funds in 2018 to study possible imports from the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers, but to date, the study hasn’t been done, he said.

Others said the costs of an Arizona-Mexico desalination plant would also likely prove infeasible.

"The desalination plant Arizona has scoped out would be by far the largest ever in North America," said Jennifer Pitt, National Audubon Society's Colorado River program director.

Pitt, who was a technical adviser on BLM's 2012 report, decried ceaseless pipeline proposals. "Nebraska wants to build a canal to pull water from the South Platte River in Colorado, and downstream, Colorado wants to take water from the Missouri River and pull it back across Nebraska. It boggles the mind. I can't even imagine what it would all cost."

'CLEAR THE LAKE IS IN TROUBLE': Great Salt Lake breaks record low level for the second time in a year amid drought

Westford, of Southern California's Metropolitan Water District, agreed. "Arizona really, really wants oceanfront," she chuckled.

But Westford and her colleague Brad Coffey contend desalination is needed in the Golden State. Despite the recent defeat of a major plant in Huntington Beach, after the California Coastal Commission said it was too environmentally damaging, "ocean desalination can't be off the table," said Coffey, a water resources manager.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom also touted desalination in a drought resilience plan he announced last week, though in brackish inland areas. All three officials said the construction of a 45-mile Delta Water Project tunnel to keep supply flowing from the middle of the state to thirsty cities in the south is vital. That project, which also faces heavy headwinds from environmentalists, would cost an estimated $12 billion.

Coffey said the project isn't really a pipeline, but more "a bypass for ... an aging 60-year-old" system.

Is this the time for a national water policy?

So what are the solutions to the arid West's dilemma, as climate change heats up and water resources dry up due to reduced snowmelt and rainfall?

Global water scarcity expert Jay Famiglietti said it's time for a national water policy, not to figure out where to lay down hundreds of pipes but to look comprehensively at the intertwining of agriculture and the lion's share of water it uses.

For him, that includes setting aside at least portions of the so-called "Law of the River," a complicated, century-old set of legal agreements that guarantees farmers in Southern California the largest share of water.

Atchafalaya Basin, fed by pulsed flows off the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana, is a critical stop on the Mississippi River flyway used by hundreds of species of birds.


"Should we move the water to where the food is grown, or is it maybe time to think about moving the food production to the water?" said Famiglietti, a University of Saskatchewan hydrology professor who tracks water basins worldwide via NASA satellite data,

In southeastern California, officials at the Imperial Irrigation District, which is entitled to by far the largest share of Colorado River water, say any move to strip their rights would result in legal challenges that could last years. General Manager Henry Martinez also warned that cutting water to Imperial Valley farmers and nearby Yuma County, Arizona, could lead to a food crisis as well as a water crisis.

Martinez, an engineer who oversaw the construction of pipelines in the Sierra Nevada for Southern California Edison, agrees a 1,500-mile pipeline from the Mississippi could physically be built.

But, he said, the days of mega-pipelines in the U.S. are likely over due to lack of environmental and political will.

Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun, and co-authors USA TODAY's Climate Point newsletter. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com or @janetwilson66 on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Climate change has dried the West. Could a pipeline be the answer?

(th)

Offline

#308 2022-08-16 19:51:38

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,431

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

Great Lakes Water levels follow a cyclical cycle, with lakes often declining during the autumn and early winter owing to increased evaporation as temperatures drop and cold air flows over the comparatively warm lake waters. Water levels often rise in the spring as a result of higher precipitation and increased runoff from melting.

Sounds sort of normal but here is the issue

63d05c6fbd73c61365587c3dfa5781fa

St. Marys water level rising in August

As of Friday, Aug. 5, the St. Marys Rapids flow is expected to be approximately 923 cubic meters per second (32.6 thousand cubic feet per second). At these flows, some flooding of low-lying areas, including recreation trails on Whitefish Island, is expected, and officials urge people to use extreme caution in the area.

This appears not be changing any time soon as Great Lakes water levels could increase on average from 19 to 44 centimeters in the next few decades, study says

2010-2019 levels of Lake Superior rising 19 centimeters (7.5 inches), Lake Erie 28 centimeters (11 inches) and lakes Michigan and Huron by 44 centimeters (17.3 inches). Lake Ontario wasn’t included because the outflow from the lake is regulated and at the time, the model used did not incorporate the regulation plans of Lake Ontario.

current greenhouse models are showing

Predictions for the Lake Michigan-Huron system ranged from as low as 16 centimeters (6.3 inches) to as high as 86 centimeters (33.9 inches). Lake Superior ranged from 10 (3.9 inches) to 38 centimeters (15 inches) and Lake Erie from 5 (2 inches) to 51 centimeters (20.1 inches).

Offline

#309 2022-08-18 12:49:09

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

https://www.yahoo.com/news/deeper-water … 43117.html

A deeper water shortage on Lake Mead is hardly the worst thing we're facing

Joanna Allhands, Arizona Republic

Wed, August 17, 2022 at 5:11 PM

The federal Bureau of Reclamation has declared a deeper level of water shortage for Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir.

But that was not the most consequential thing Reclamation announced – or, more accurately, skirted – on Aug. 16.

It’s also not the gargantuan cut that some media reports make it out to be.

If anything, we got off easy.

What did Reclamation declare?

A Tier 2a shortage is the deepest mandatory cut we have made to date, one that entails 592,000 acre-feet – 21% – of Arizona’s apportionment from Lake Mead. Nevada must cut 25,000 acre-feet (8%) and Mexico 104,000 acre-feet (7%).

These are significant amounts of water.

But considering that Arizona has already left 800,000 acre-feet of water in the lake this year – a combination of mandated cuts and voluntary, compensated conservation efforts – it’s not exactly a “drastic” cut, as one headline suggested.

Nor is it something new or unexpected. We’ve been planning for this for years.

Where were we before?

A sign marks Lake Mead's 2002 water level -- with the current shoreline far in the background -- on July 9, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev.

Reclamation declared the first water shortage on Lake Mead last August – a Tier 1 shortage – which was created as part of a 2007 agreement that aimed to cut use when the lake hit certain low levels.

Arizona agreed to take the brunt of the cuts, and in a Tier 1 shortage, Arizona must trim 512,000 acre-feet of use. So, a Tier 2a ratchets that up for us by 80,000 acre-feet.

What's in Lake Mead? 5 bodies, sunken boats and a ghost town – so far

These amounts of water stem from the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan, which ratcheted up cuts when it became clear the 2007 amounts weren’t enough. California agreed to take cuts for the first time as part of that plan, but not until the lake reaches deeper levels of shortage (a Tier 2b shortage, to be exact, but more on that in a second).

Arizona also passed an internal Drought Contingency Plan in 2019 to help lessen the pain of cuts within the state. Pinal farmers – those with the lowest priority rights – were given a bit of water in 2022, plus some funding to help drill wells and transport that water to fields. That hasn’t produced the amount or quality of water that farmers had hoped, but that’s another blog for another day.

How will a Tier 2a shortage play out?
When the Tier 2a shortage goes live in 2023, Pinal farmers will receive no water from the Central Arizona Project, which delivers water to users from Phoenix to Tucson. They must now fully rely on groundwater to survive.

Then again, Pinal farmers were already in line to lose all of their CAP water in 2023, even if we remained in a Tier 1 shortage.

A Tier 2a shortage also will wipe out the next higher priority pool of CAP water – the so-called Non-Indian Agricultural pool. Most of that water goes to central Arizona cities and tribes.

Then again, they won’t necessarily be up a (suddenly dry) creek because the 2019 in-state plan mitigates 75% of their losses. In the grand scheme of things, it could be a lot worse.

Why did we get off easy?

This chart shows the key water levels in Lake Mead, which is used to determine water deliveries for Arizona, Nevada and California.


Shortage declarations are tied to specific lake levels. But Reclamation decided to fudge that with a concept they call “operational neutrality.”

It stems from an emergency action this spring to help prop up Lake Powell. Reclamation kept 480,000 acre-feet in Lake Powell that should have flowed downstream to Lake Mead, then promised to pretend that water was in Lake Mead when determining shortage levels.

The lake has physically reached the threshold to be in a deeper – and more consequential – Tier 2b shortage, one that would ratchet up Arizona’s cuts to 640,000 acre-feet and would require California to cut for the first time, to the tune of 200,000 acre-feet initially.

That’s important because everyone that relies on Lake Mead would be making mandatory cuts, leaving larger, guaranteed amounts of water in the lake as it is rapidly tanking.

Relying on voluntary savings doesn’t always pan out, as we found this year with the 500-plus plan, a separate emergency action (notice that there are a lot of these?) to prop up Lake Mead. The goal was to pay people to leave 500,000 acre-feet in the lake this year, but users only volunteered about half – mostly from Arizona.

The benefits of those savings evaporated almost immediately once they hit the lake. Essentially, we spent millions on actions that did almost nothing for lake levels, which is why subsequent years of that plan are, um, now dead in the water.

So, if anything, a Tier 2a shortage is an underreaction, and at a crucial moment when we need to be doing so much more.

Why is this the least of our worries?
We could make every cut we’ve already laid out, all the way down to a Tier 3 shortage, the deepest for which we’ve planned.

And Lake Mead would still be on a freefall to “dead pool” – the point where lake levels fall so low that water can no longer flow downstream through Hoover Dam to users in Arizona, California and Mexico.

Reclamation’s August 24-month study, which was released at the same time as the Tier 2a shortage declaration, projects the lake will fall below 1,000 feet of elevation in 2024 – more than 20 feet below the minimum protection level that Reclamation had hoped to maintain.

That’s why Reclamation said in June that the full Colorado River basin – all seven states that rely on the river – needed to cut an additional 2 million to 4 million acre-feet of water use in 2023.

Their modeling shows we need to cut at least 2.5 million acre-feet simply to maintain that minimum protection level on Lake Mead (and a similarly low protection level on Lake Powell, which also is tanking quickly).

And that’s on top of every water-saving action to which we’ve previously agreed.

So, what's the takeaway?

We could carry out the cuts in a Tier 2a shortage, or a Tier 2b, or the deepest Tier 3, and it still wouldn’t be enough to keep Lake Mead on life support. We must cut way deeper than that in 2023 – and sustain those deep levels until at least 2026 – if we have any chance of saving it and Lake Powell.

And no, there is no plan yet to do so.

The states couldn’t agree by Reclamation’s mid-August deadline, and while Reclamation promised on Aug. 16 to keep working with states on as many voluntary measures as possible, it did not offer any firm deadlines, water amounts or what exactly it might mandate if states still can’t do enough to fill the giant chasm between supply and demand.

That’s the whole reason we’re in this mess. Despite all that we’ve done so far to trim use, we are still consuming far more water than the Colorado River produces.

A Tier 2a shortage, though painful and consequential, is not enough to solve this problem. Yet it’s unclear how or when we’re going to do enough to keep the lakes from dying.

That’s the problem.

Reach Allhands at joanna.allhands@arizonarepublic.com. On Twitter: @joannaallhands.

If you love this content (or love to hate it – hey, I won't judge), why not subscribe to get more?

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Lake Mead has far deeper problems than a Tier 2a water shortage

As (just about) every member of NewMars knows well, the solution involves expenditure of energy to make up for fresh water that Ma Nature is delivering elsewhere on the planet.

It will be interesting to see how the Americans who are caught up in the developing situation will respond.

So far, the few attempts to see into the future, and to provide meaningful alternatives, have not done well.

(th)

Offline

#310 2022-08-18 15:07:15

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

https://www.yahoo.com/news/dried-texas- … 00177.html

This report includes a brief reference to a trend that is likely to continue, to produce cattle who are content to be confined.

That is going to be the situation for cattle on Mars, assuming they are imported there by some ambitious soul.

The Hill

DRIED UP: Texas cattle industry faces existential crisis from historic drought

Saul Elbein
Thu, August 18, 2022 at 5:30 AM

The American West is experiencing its driest period in human history, a megadrought that threatens health, agriculture and entire ways of life. DRIED UP is examining the dire effects of the drought on the states most affected — as well as the solutions Americans are embracing.

AUSTIN, Texas — The megadrought in the Western U.S., the region’s worst in 1,200 years, is threatening America’s cattle heartland: withering pastures, wrecking feed harvests and endangering a quintessential way of life.

The drought is forcing ranchers here in Texas and across the Southern plains to make an agonizing decision: Sell early now for less money than they planned on — or hold on, pray for rain and risk losing everything.

“We’ll keep selling cows till it rains,” Texas High Plains rancher Jim Ferguson told Amarillo station KAMR, which collaborated with The Hill on this story.

For now, Ferguson is just selling his oldest calves, for which he’ll be able to get the best price. But with no rain in the forecast, and therefore no prospect of lush winter pastures for his herds to eat, “it won’t be long before we start getting into the younger ones.”

The drought is echoing through beef supply chains, resulting in higher prices for consumers for at least the next two years — and likely serving as the final blow to many small, family-run cattle herds that represent a key part of the industry.

“The lack of water in general, it’s hurting us all the way around. Any way you can think of,” cattle buyer Josh Sturgeon told KAMR, which is owned by The Hill’s parent company, Nexstar Media.

Sturgeon had come to auction in search of deals from ranchers such as Ferguson, forced to liquidate their herds for lack of water to grow cattle feeds — or the money to buy them.

But “you’re almost afraid to buy,” Sturgeon said. “Cattle drink a lot of water, especially this time of year. With this drought, they’re drinking a lot of water. Cattle are dying because of this. Even the best of cattle are struggling.”

The sudden bump in sales as the drought worsens are “intense, protracted — it’s nothing like we’ve seen in the last 15 years,” Walter Kunisch of consultant group Hilltop Securities told The Hill, adding that many farmers are even selling off their breeding stock, which they rely on to produce the next generation of cows.

“That’s a big signal to me that, you know, that future supplies at some point are going to run tight,” Kunsich added.

Shrinking herds follow declining rains
More than 80 percent of the West is in severe drought this year, according to the National Drought Monitor — up from just 20 percent last year. According to a survey by the U.S. Farm Bureau, more than three-quarters of farmers in drought-stricken states have pulled farmland out of production, and 85 percent of ranchers reported selling off some portions of their herds.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s cattle report last month found that herds are down by 2.4 percent nationwide since last year. That’s a decrease of 750,000 cows, and a fall of 2 million since the national herd peaked in 2018 — just before the drought began to worsen across much of the West.

Over the last two weeks of July, the national cattle sale rate also jumped to 120 percent above 2021 levels — an average that reporting by The Hill and KAMR suggested conceals even higher frenzies of sales in some markets.

The sales are playing out against the background of declining rains and falling levels of underground water in the massive Ogallala Aquifer, which stretches beneath much of the Great Plains and which the regions’ vast agricultural footprint — much of it devoted to protein-rich feeds for cattle — is steadily and irrevocably soaking up.

Cattle’s role in the situation is complex: They are also a substantial global contributor to climate change, which means they are playing some role in worsening the drought that is killing their own feed crops.

Beef and dairy cattle make up 62 percent — a little under two-thirds — of the 8.1 gigatons of global greenhouse gas emissions released worldwide by livestock, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. With around 5 gigatons released, that makes the global cattle industry responsible for more emissions than the entire U.S., which emitted 4.8 gigatons in 2021.

The last bastion of the American cowboy
Small, family-run cattle operations are in many ways the last survivors of the vast consolidation of the American agricultural system over the last 40 years, which has driven the structure of farm ownership towards ever-larger operations producing bigger and more specialized arrays of crops.

Cow-calf producers — ranching companies such as Ferguson, which raise cattle to sell to buyers like Sturgeon, which fatten them for slaughter in feedlots — have stood as a partial exception to the sweeping vertical integration of animal protein.

Since the 1990s, chicken and pork markets have been transformed from diverse regional markets to ones dominated by a few massive corporations that control enormous flows of company-owned animals, raised on company-owned feed and antibiotics, through enormous, confined feeding operations.

Meanwhile, through a system of secret deals that many farmers complain are illegal, huge meat packers such as the Brazilian-owned JBS and Marfrig drove a similar consolidation in the feedlots where cattle were fattened for slaughter.

But because it remains very difficult to breed beef cattle in confinement, cow-calf producers — the closest thing that still exists to the classic image of the cowboy — have stood apart as a last, romantic image of both Western independence and the structure of farming as it used to be.

About 27 percent of all cattle sold in America come from herds of less than 50, run by people who use them as part of a diversified family income stream that may include other crops, contract work or a separate job in town, according to data from the Department of Agriculture.

Those small producers are “a pretty darn important part of the system of beef production, because I mean, the only way we produce 27, or last year, 28 billion pounds of beef is because we have all of these people with cows,” David Anderson, an agricultural economist at Texas A&M University’s Agrilife Extension Service told The Hill.

They are also the sector of beef producers being hit hardest by the drought, said agricultural economist Brock Thompson of Hilltop Securities.

As in previous rounds of drought, “it’s your smaller herd sizes that are having to liquidate — those ranchers who may not have family that are coming back into the business, and they’re tired of fighting the cycles, are tired of battling the regulations,” Thompson said.

“In agriculture, we’ve lost a lot of attractiveness to a younger generation to come back and take over the farm,” he added.

The ‘hollowing out of rural America’
In cow-calf states such as Texas and Missouri, those small cattle operations help support an entire ecosystem of businesses, from gate and fence installers to large animal veterinarians.

But consolidation has squeezed all this, and the drought is squeezing it even more, exacerbating the “hollowing out of rural America,” said Joe Maxwell, rancher and president of Farm Action.

“The cattle market has just really not been good for a long time,” Maxwell said. “The meat packers just control that price, and so the farmers haven’t had a lot of money in their pocket. So this drought is kind of like the final straw for a lot of them, they’re completely dispersing their herds.”

He added that the drought also gives large conglomerates such as JBS an excuse to charge higher prices — which they don’t pass on to farmers — and then use the rising prices as justification to import more beef from countries such as Brazil and Australia.

That’s something Maxwell’s allies at the United Food and Commercial Workers Union warned about earlier in the drought. The union, which includes meatpackers, is worried about any decline in domestic American beef production and the economic dislocation that ripples out from it.

Data from the last serious drought to hit Texas — between 2008 and 2011 — support their concerns. After that drought, the state herd fell from 5.1 million head to 3.9 million.

“Even after almost a decade of recovery from the drought a decade ago, we didn’t get all the cows back,” Anderson, of Texas A&M, said.

Around Maxwell’s home in Missouri, derelict feedlots and silos still sit like bleached bones on the land of the farmers who once ran small feedlot operations, where they bought and fattened up the local cattle they sold on to now-defunct regional packers.

“These communities are becoming older, and we see more and more rural hospitals closing because of the depopulation and the wealth is out, and they can’t keep the doors open,” Maxwell said. “My local hospital just closed. We’ve got to go 45 miles to go to a hospital. The pharmacist closed. The whole infrastructure of the rural community is devastated.”

Similar situations can be seen from Texas all the way to the Canadian border.


‘Big and more severe fluctuations’
This summer, Montana rancher Gilles Stockton faced the same buy-or-sell conundrum as ranchers across the West. In a community “drying up like a tumbleweed,” Stockton had held onto his herd, gambling that the rains would come — and his bet paid off with heavy downpours in June.

But the precarity was new and alarming: If he had bet wrong, his business would have been wiped out, Stockton told The Hill. When drought returned this month, even his own irrigation setup to draw water from a nearby river didn’t make him feel confident.

He sold off 20 percent of his herd. Many ranchers he knows have gotten out of the business entirely. His neighbors aren’t talking about climate change, exactly.

“Most of them are climate change deniers. But what they do see is these big and more severe fluctuations that they can’t deny,” he said.

Stockton argued that the transformation of agriculture from relatively small, diverse and local to big, specialized and global had cut meat prices at the expense not only of rural civic health, but also of climate preparedness and resilience.

“The way to survive when your climate is glitchy and you don’t know what’s going on, and you want to keep producing food — is to be diversified.”

For ranchers, he said, that once looked like “you got cattle, everybody around here used to have sheep; you could raise a few pigs. Instead of just hay, you raised some barley to feed the pigs. You have these different options that you can jump in and out of depending on the climatic situations that you’re faced with.”

On the macro level, however, industry and regulatory pressure overwhelmingly go the opposite direction, favoring the big and specialized, Anderson said, creating a feedback loop in which farmers need ever more land to pay off the cost of ever more expensive and specialized equipment.

“And we have lost diversity and sort of the gene pool in those that might have given us more ability to be more flexible in a changing climate,” Anderson said.

KAMR’s David Gay contributed to this report.

Previously in this series:

(th)

Offline

#311 2022-08-20 19:52:40

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,431

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

I see in the news that the area is going to get dumped on possibly tonight and into tomorrow.
The majority of Arizona and New Mexico are under flood watches through Saturday night, leaving more than 10 million Americans on alert.

Offline

#312 2022-08-30 11:42:17

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

https://azgovernor.gov/governor/news/20 … ter-future

From our Arizona contact, here is a link to the $1 billion bill recently approved in Arizona...

Senate Bill 1740 gives the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) additional authority and tools that will empower the state to be proactive in bringing in new water sources.

This bill will allow our state to make significant investments in water conservation and innovative technologies such as desalination, as well as identify and develop new innovative long-term water sources. WIFA will administer additional funds for water augmentation, supply development, conservation projects and more.

(th)

Offline

#313 2022-08-30 19:09:16

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,431

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

It's been 6 months since the announcement and still little has become of the billion set aside to do anything to make a change.
I am sure that lost economy will be greater as the years pass....

Offline

#314 2022-08-31 14:50:49

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

For SpaceNut re #313

In a government bureaucracy, six months is a blink of an eye ....

I doubt anything will happen for at least a year, because even though funds are provided, the care with which they are to be disbursed requires meeting after meeting.

Here is a report on what appears to be increased understanding of the nature of the problem.

I am interested in ** any ** solution that involves a combination of desalination and either nuclear or solar power.  That combination is applicable to the Mars problem.

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/th … 21524.html

There are hints here and there that folks are starting to take water shortage seriously.

AZCentral | The Arizona Republic
'There's simply not enough water': Colorado River cutbacks ripple across Arizona
Debra Utacia Krol, Arizona Republic

Wed, August 31, 2022 at 2:29 PM

A view of the Hoover Dam and the Colorado River.

Up and down the Colorado River last week, the state, local and tribal leaders in charge of water supplies for more than 40 million people waited to see if the federal government would impose deeper cuts to river allocations.

The Bureau of Reclamation had given states and tribes an Aug. 15 deadline to find ways to conserve 2 to 4 million more acre-feet of water to stabilize the drought-stricken river and its two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Without such a plan, the bureau said, it would act.

The deadline passed with no agreement in place.

And on Tuesday, the government presented its 2023 water forecasts and said based on projected water levels at the two reservoirs, it would institute the next level of water reductions already agreed upon by the seven states and 30 federally recognized tribes within the Colorado River basin. The Drought Contingency Plan outlines specific steps Reclamation would take if the river flows continue to decline.

The next round of cuts to the three lower basin states and Mexico means that Arizona will have to do with 21% less water than in previous years. Nevada lost 8% of its delivery and Mexico's allocation was reduced by 7%. The only lower basin state to be spared cuts is California, which holds senior rights to the river.

The bureau did not impose the deeper cuts as some had anticipated. Instead, Interior Department officials said talks would continue to come up with additional reductions as needed. The agency noted that the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act included $4 billion in money to address drought.

Few people were entirely satisfied with the government's announcement, but one stakeholder went further than the others in expressing disappointment, introducing a new wrinkle in talks among the river's water users.

The Gila River Indian Community said it would no longer voluntarily leave part of its Colorado River allocation in Lake Mead, an arrangement that helped Arizona meet the requirements of a regional agreement last year. Instead, tribal officials said in a statement Tuesday, Gila River would return to banking its water.

Tribes, agencies upset
In December 2021, the Gila River Indian Community and the Colorado River Indian Tribes signed onto an agreement to leave a combined 179,000 acre-feet of their river allotment in Lake Mead as a way to prop up the reservoir.

The agreement was part of a larger pact by several states and water districts to conserve 500,000 acre-feet per year in Lake Mead, where water levels were dropping rapidly. The pact was in addition to other conservation measures and was known as the 500+ plan.

The initiative was a pledge by the Interior Department as well as water agencies and tribes in the three Lower Basin states and stretched through 2023. The two tribes’ contributions made Arizona’s contribution to the effort possible.

Hoover Dam (top right) and Lake Mead on May 11, 2021, on the Arizona and Nevada border. A high-water mark or bathtub ring is visible on the shoreline. Lake Mead is down 152 vertical feet.
Hoover Dam (top right) and Lake Mead on May 11, 2021, on the Arizona and Nevada border. A high-water mark or bathtub ring is visible on the shoreline. Lake Mead is down 152 vertical feet.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources committed up to $40 million to the plan over its two-year period, while the Central Arizona Project, the Metropolitan Water District in California and the Southern Nevada Water Authority each ponied up $20 million. The federal government matched those contributions for a $200 million pool  to fund fallowing fields and other conservation measures.

But the failure to move forward on a longer term plan to firm up water supplies didn't sit well with Gila River.

"The Community has been shocked and disappointed to see the complete lack of progress in reaching the kind of cooperative basin-wide plan necessary to save the Colorado River system," said Gila River Governor Stephen Roe Lewis.

"We are aware that this approach will have a very significant impact on the ability of the State of Arizona to make any meaningful commitment to water reductions in the basin state discussions," Lewis said, "but we cannot continue to put the interests of all others above our own when no other parties seem committed to the common goal of a cooperative basin-wide agreement."

Lewis also praised the Southern Nevada Water Authority's general manager, John Entsminger, for his plain speaking in an Aug. 15 letter to the Interior Department.

"What has been a slow-moving train wreck for twenty years is accelerating and our moment of reckoning is near." Entsminger wrote. "The unreasonable expectations of water users, including the prices and drought profiteering proposals, only divide common goals and interests."

Entsminger also outlined several steps the states, tribes and water agencies could take to minimize their use of Colorado River water, including agricultural efficiency enhancement, removing lawns, investing in water reuse, recycling and desalination programs and habitat restoration.

“We appreciate the support of Governor Lewis and the Gila River Indian Community for the recommended actions Nevada has put forth," Entsminger said in an emailed statement. "Nevada stands ready to work with any partners who seek solutions based upon real world, equitable and sound scientific principles to the monumental challenges facing the Colorado River.”

In Arizona, officials looked for ways to repair the rift.

"The Gila River Indian Community has a been a big part of the positive actions Arizona has taken to protect Lake Mead in recent years," the Central Arizona Project said in an emailed statement.

The agency praised the tribe for their work to develop the Drought Contingency Plan and in conserving water.

"We are understanding of the Community’s position that others need to be part of the Colorado River solution," the CAP statement said. "We are hopeful that if a broader plan for taking action comes together that Arizona can support, the Community will choose to  participate along with other Arizona water users."

The Arizona Department of Water Resources declined comment on the statement.

The Colorado River Indian Tribes said it would continue to make water available for conservation through 2023.

"The Colorado River Indian Tribes are also development a multiyear farming and fallowing plan that includes additional conservation measures to be implement during 2023 and for many years thereafter," said CRIT Chairwoman Amelia Flores.

Colorado River: Deep cuts loom as water levels plunge. Who will feel the pain most?

Feds should act 'to avoid catastrophe'

Other water agencies and elected officials said they would continue to work with Reclamation to develop a longer-term plan to stabilize the reservoirs and assure at least some water would continue to flow.

Phoenix officials said in an emailed statement that although their water customers would not be affected by the cuts, the lack of action by federal officials was "disappointing." The city gave up 23% of its river allocation to stabilize Lake Mead and support Pinal County farmers who lost river water when the first round of cuts was announced a year ago, the statement said.

The city is acting to ensure water deliveries and reduce dependence on the Colorado, officials said. A $300 million pipeline will move water to North Phoenix, which currently relies on the Colorado River for water. Phoenix is also restoring ecosystems in the Salt River, which provides 60% of the city's water, the statement said. And, the city is beefing up infrastructure.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., said she would work with her newly-created water advisory council, state stakeholders and neighboring states to ensure a secure water future.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis (Gila River Indian Community) talk during the Water Advisory Council meeting, Aug. 8, 2022, in the Hoover Dam Spillway House, 75 Hoover Dam Access Road, Boulder City, Nevada.

"Arizona’s future depends on the strength and resiliency of our water supply," she said via a spokesperson. "As the West continues experiencing historic drought, Arizona has led the way identifying short and long term solutions while shouldering a disproportionate share of this crisis."

Sinema said that $13 billion had been secured for drought resiliency funding over the past year through several bills including the most recent act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and other legislation.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., wrote the Interior Department last week calling for the agency to outline its options to implement mitigation actions to prevent "drastic consequences for Arizona and other Colorado Basin states." If the reservoirs' levels continue to drop, those consequences could include the loss of hydropower generation and even to deadpool conditions, where no water would flow out of Lake Mead.

“In 2022 alone, Arizona farmers, cities, and tribes have pledged resources to conserve over 800,000 acre-feet of water — an amount equal to nearly one-third of our state’s full allocation,” Kelly said in the letter. He added that Arizona has offered to put more "wet" water on the table to be conserved than other states.

At least one congressman also called for more action from the federal government.

“The Colorado River is in crisis, and talks among basin states to fairly spread the pain of much-needed cutbacks are going nowhere," said Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz.. "The federal government must play a stronger role. I’m urging the Administration to take immediate action to avoid catastrophe.”

Stanton said in a letter to President Joe Biden that the cuts announced Aug. 16 were already mandated by the Drought Contingency Plan, while in June, Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton said that unless another 2 to 4 million acre-feet were cut, the government would take action.

"Yesterday's announcement proved that commitment hollow," Stanton wrote.

One of the largest single water users on the river said it was ready to collaborate on further solutions. The Imperial Irrigation District in southern California manages an allocation of 3.1 million acre-feet, including pass through water, larger than Arizona's entire Colorado River allocation of 2.8 million acre-feet.

Since 2003, the utility has conserved more than 7 million acre-feet of water according to an Aug. 16 statement. The district said it would work to conserve water and to help restore the Salton Sea, which has declined rapidly in recent years as the utility slashed agricultural runoff that fed the lake.

Lake levels: Report: Modify Glen Canyon Dam or risk losing the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon

'We have to take it seriously'

A view of the Colorado River as it flows through the Colorado River Indian Tribes' Ahakhav Tribal Preserve in Parker on Nov. 13, 2021.

At least one water expert said he doesn't believe the situation will improve in a year.

"The Colorado River is going to continue to decline," said David Feldman, a professor at the University of California, Irvine and director of Water UCI, an institute that studies water problems facing the nation and the world.

He said many of the problems that have arisen from the plunging levels of Lake Mead and Lake Powell will be ongoing.

"So you have to start from the baseline that is simply not going to be any more surface water available from this point forward, at least not for the foreseeable future," Feldman said. "The next steps, I believe, should be that each state should figure out a way to get user groups, local governments, water agencies, irrigation districts together in conversations about how they would negotiate targets for prescribed cutbacks based on water availability figures."

Feldman said he understands Gila River's stance.

"The drought did not cause the angst of tribal nations towards allocation agreements," he said, but the drought has exacerbated it. "The tribes have been frustrated. The Navajo Nation, Hopi, others have been concerned for decades now about water allocation agreements on the Colorado and its tributaries."

In depth: Tribes take a central role in water management as drought and climate change effects worsen

He also said the West is still not quite at the point to have a serious conversation about the future of water, "about our children and our children's children." Feldman said that if, as many forecasts predict, climate change is permanent and not just cyclical, water officials will need to plan far ahead.

"What are we going to do about the the water and the water needs and how are we going to plan to aggressively conserve?"

Strategies from recycling and reuse to landscaping all need to be on the table, he said, since outdoor irrigation accounts for one-third to one-half of urban water use. But just reducing urban outdoor use won't be enough to address the shortages to come.

He also disputed some assertions that cities shouldn't exist in arid lands. "The Mesopotamians did okay," Feldman said, as well as the Huhugam in the Salt River Valley. Living in the desert, or having a lot of people, doesn't by itself cause the problem, he said. "It's how we live in that environment."

Feldman pointed out that other arid parts of the world have done well, including Israel. "The Israelis have really become very savvy in the sense of not only developing the technologies, but then realizing there's a market for it," he said.

"We can live in a water scarce environment without sacrificing our quality of life," Feldman said. "But we have to take it seriously."

Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at debra.krol@azcentral.com. Follow her on Twitter at @debkrol.

Coverage of Indigenous issues at the intersection of climate, culture and commerce is supported by the Catena Foundation.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Colorado River: What happens next after water reductions?

(th)

Offline

#315 2022-08-31 19:10:42

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,431

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

You might think that 6 months is a blink but before that period of time you had more water available and now its near zero. The delay of construction does cost money and depending on the complexity that cost will sharply rise with the delay.

This one indicated a 20% cost rise
https://chamberlainbros.com/2018/11/02/ … on-delays/

This one was higher
https://tungsten-capital.com/how-much-d … n-projects

sure, these were not water projects but if you look a nuclear delay these end up in the billions...

found this for water
https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/g … KRYTEZPYU/

Offline

#316 2022-09-05 19:02:08

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,431

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

Another place trying to control its destiny Las Vegas isn't betting on Mother Nature to solve its water problems. Here's how it intends to win

First up are zoning law changes in at single-family homes, "build giant swimming pools or spas".

Second is the recycling, “That dish is going to go through the dishwasher – all of the dishwasher water gets reclaimed and recycled back to Lake Mead.”

Third is turning off outdoor fountains and other such water evaporation sites.

Continue reading for the others...

Offline

#317 2022-09-08 07:43:22

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

For SpaceNut re #316 and topic in general

Thanks for including the report about Las Vegas in the topic!  I have suggested to our contact in Phoenix that sea water might be salable to wealthy individuals or corporations who want the benefits of water for aesthetic reasons, and are willing to pay extra for shipment and treatment.  However, our contact appears to be skeptical of prospects for success of this idea as a business.  I am disappointed at this reaction, but recognize that he is far more knowledgeable about the potential market in his area than I am.

However, the reason for ** this ** post is to report on a scare that hit our street (in a large city) yesterday.  I'd gone out shopping, and noticed some road closed signs in the neighborhood, but assumed they were just more of the curb repair being done recently.  When I got home, there was no water from the tap.

I was surprised at my reaction.  A steady flow of clean, potable water from the tap in a major city is something that residents may take for granted.  I found that ** I ** certainly did.  I drew some water from the hot water heater for an immediate need, and began to ponder how long ** that ** resource would last.

The folks in Flint, Michigan, and now in Jackson, Mississippi, have a much LONGER outage to face. 

But even ** those ** extended outages are small compared to what is happening in South Africa and elsewhere on Earth, including most recently in Pakistan.

The water came back on a few hours later.  I deduce the City had performed some emergency service on the water line, but I ** really ** noticed the absence.

The entire Mars enterprise is going to be characterized by a constant and unrelenting concern about supply of fresh water, along with oxygen, energy and food.

That list is too short .... it should include pressure and radiation protection, and probably other needs that I've overlooked.

(th)

Offline

#318 2022-09-08 19:38:44

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,431

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

I had a smile on my face when I read your post as to the community service that you provided.

Of course, if the law was being enforced the grounds keep and the quite possibly the owner would have been fined as its not lawful to move even snow back into the street that a snowplow removes from the streets into your driveway.


As for the proposed business look at how you would fill out a F1040 and documents for how to see if it could be done.

First estimate what you want to see after all is said and done for a profit.
Use a 1 with x number of zeros
Next the gallon of water price with up that same number of zeros.
After that cost of the water and all of the equipment to do so amortized and depreciated that would end up in the schedules and other places.
Figure out the taxation and wages to fill in for other places as well as insurance and other such items.

What you are left with is the price - cost to figure business taxation on from the table less that amount leaves of what you will pay into the IRS and what you have remaining is the profit for the effort.

If all the numbers were correct you end up with what you wanted for the effort.

Offline

#319 2022-09-11 12:14:52

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

https://www.yahoo.com/news/disconnected … 02324.html

The report below is NOT about the drought, but instead about the challenge of trying to maintain a large fresh water supply system, and the tension between the public good and the cost of service.

I would expect this situation will be compounded on Mars, where absence of water will be a death sentence.

This is a long article, so it will take some time for anyone to read it.

The author(s) dive deep into the problems, and offer interviews with everyone involved.

Disconnected and 'dehumanized': How thousands across Phoenix survive without running water
Zayna Syed, Arizona Republic
Sun, September 11, 2022 at 10:30 AM
Tim Wiedman, left, and his mother Pam Wiedman, describe their troubles due to lack of water and plumbing they experienced during the summer at their home in Mesa.
Tim Wiedman, left, and his mother Pam Wiedman, describe their troubles due to lack of water and plumbing they experienced during the summer at their home in Mesa.
Tim Wiedman caught COVID-19 last December. A few days later, he developed bronchitis. A double whammy, he called it.

The illnesses sapped his energy so much that, for six weeks, he could barely get off the living room couch in the two-bedroom apartment he shares with his mom in Mesa.

In late January, when Wiedman finally felt strong enough to stand for a shower, a third whammy hit him: The tap was dry. Mesa had shut off his water after the landlord failed to pay the water bill for two months.

“I’m more the ‘life’s going to happen, so wait for the other shoe to drop at any moment. Be prepared as best as one can be,’” said Wiedman, who's 31. “But for this, it caught us off guard and we couldn't be prepared. … It was just one long stretch of being bedridden, and then this.”

On Mars, renters will be responsible for the full suite of needs:

Water
Oxygen
Power
Heat if separate from power
Communications
Building maintenance (includes habitat)

(th)

Offline

#320 2022-09-21 17:59:36

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

This article does not seem directly applicable to the situation in Phoenix.

It might be applicable to Baha, California, and thus perhaps indirectly lead to fresh water for Phoenix ...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topst … 1be9074e93

Pretty simple idea. Might be a challenge to scale up.

View Profile
How sunlight could turn seawater into freshwater for coastal communities
Nell Lewis - Yesterday 12:58 PM
121 Comments

A summer of extreme heat and drought around the world has been a reminder that water scarcity is a pressing issue and one that will only get worse with climate change. Already, more than two billion people worldwide lack easy access to clean water, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

For some countries, desalination plants offer a solution – removing salt from seawater to satisfy their freshwater needs. The Middle East has the highest concentration of these in the world. But such plants, still mostly powered by fossil fuels, are energy-intensive and the process creates an extremely salty wastewater known as brine, which can damage marine ecosystems and animals when it’s pumped back into the sea.

That’s why some startups and researchers are updating centuries-old solar still technology, which uses only sunlight to purify water. While the technology is still a long way off from producing the volume of freshwater generated by desalination plants, it could prove valuable for off-grid or coastal communities.

How sunlight could turn seawater into freshwater for coastal communities
© Provided by CNN

Manhat, an Abu Dhabi startup, is developing a floating desalination device. - Courtesy Manhat

Abu Dhabi-based startup Manhat, founded in 2019, is developing a floating device that distills water without requiring electricity or creating brine. It consists of a greenhouse structure that floats on the surface of the ocean: sunlight heats and evaporates water underneath the structure – separating it from the salt crystals which, are left behind in the sea – and as temperatures cool, the water condenses into freshwater and is collected inside.


Continue reading

(th)

Offline

#321 2022-09-21 18:52:47

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,431

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

Small volumes are achieved by the thermal evaporative achieved inside a sort of Lense system that allows the water to condense of the surface and slide down into a trough around the unit's edge.

Offline

#322 2022-09-21 19:07:40

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

For SpaceNut in #321

Thanks for noting the work done in Abu Dhabi.

It seems possible that this system (whatever it is) might work for your iron laden well water.

It needs only solar power to work, and it might not work in the winter where you live, but it should work for most of the year.

(th)

Offline

#323 2022-09-21 19:39:24

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 29,431

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

The issue for solar up north is the number of high noon time when the sun is its strongest for use as its half what you to kbd512 receive (3hrs but you get 5.5hrs) and shrinks in winter by an hour from that so I would need to use concentrating to make it work.

Offline

#324 2022-10-05 18:24:58

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

This article is about the Salton Sea .... There is no topic exclusively for the Salton Sea, and the Sea has found a place here in the past.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/salton-sea-s … 33507.html

There was a single comment after the article.  It asked why the sea water wasn't allowed to flow by gravity from the Sea of Cortez.  That has ** always ** seemed (to me at least) the obvious solution to the problem.

As Salton Sea faces ecological collapse, a plan to save it with ocean water is rejected

Ian James

Wed, October 5, 2022 at 8:00 AM

An aerial view of the community of Desert Shores on the northwest side of the Salton Sea.
The community of Desert Shores on the northwest side of the Salton Sea. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

For as long as the Salton Sea has faced the threat of ecological collapse, some local residents and environmentalists have advocated a radical cure for the deteriorating lake: a large infusion of ocean water.

By moving desalinated seawater across the desert, they say, California could stop its largest lake from shrinking and growing saltier and could restore its once-thriving ecosystem. Without more water, they argue, the lake will continue to decline, and its retreating shorelines will expose growing stretches of dry lake bed that spew hazardous dust and greenhouse gases.

"The Salton Sea is drying up, along with water for our people and the environment," the Salton City nonprofit the EcoMedia Compass says on its website. "Let's ensure water resource sustainability for future generations, and import water from the ocean."

But advocates of tapping ocean water were dealt a significant blow when a state-appointed panel of experts rejected the idea after a yearlong review.

The seven-member panel analyzed proposals that would involve desalinating seawater in Mexico, at the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, and sending it north across the border. The panel concluded that California shouldn’t pursue such a plan, citing costs estimated in the tens of billions of dollars, harm to the coastal environment and a construction timeline that would take many years before any water would reach the lake.

“It’s not feasible,” said Brent Haddad, an environmental studies professor at UC Santa Cruz who led the panel's research team. "The panel feels that the state should no longer consider water importation from the Sea of Cortez to restore the Salton Sea."

The panel presented its conclusions in two reports and discussed the findings in a virtual meeting last week.

The analysis has drawn condemnation from advocates of importing seawater, who argued that it was deeply flawed and seemed geared toward ruling out the concept.

Two people in a rubber raft on a lake

Researchers from UC Riverside use a corer to collect sediment samples from the lake bottom to study the effects of runoff from farms. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

“It's a travesty," said Tom Sephton, board president of the EcoMedia Compass. "What they did is essentially find a way to eliminate ocean water import from consideration for the indefinite future.”

Sephton, who runs a small demonstration desalination project at the Salton Sea, submitted one of the proposals that the panel considered. He strongly disagreed with the panel’s approach and cost estimates, calling the conclusions “completely bogus.”

The debate reflects a long-standing and entrenched rift over how California should deal with the Salton Sea's worsening condition as the state adapts to recurrent droughts compounded by the effects of climate change.

While rejecting the idea of piping in ocean water, the panel instead recommended that the state negotiate a deal with the Imperial Irrigation District to pay farmers who would voluntarily leave farmland dry and contribute water to the lake.

Such an approach, which state officials have yet to endorse, would face major hurdles. Farmers in the Imperial Valley are already under pressure to reduce water use as part of efforts to prevent the Colorado River’s reservoirs from dropping to dangerously low levels.

The historic shortage on the river, amid a 23-year megadrought amplified by climate change, has left water agencies scrambling to secure water cutbacks to shore up Lake Mead, which stores a dwindling supply for California, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.

A large white bird takes flight

An egret takes off from marshland at the Salton Sea. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

The Salton Sea covers more than 300 square miles in Imperial and Riverside counties. It is nearly 240 feet below sea level in the Salton Trough, which over thousands of years has cycled between filling with Colorado River water and drying out.

The flooding river filled the Salton Sea from 1905 to 1907; it has since been sustained by water draining off farms in the Imperial Valley. The lake has been shrinking since the early 2000s, when the Imperial Irrigation District began selling a portion of its water to growing urban areas under an agreement with agencies in San Diego County and the Coachella Valley.

The lake’s level has declined about 11 feet since 2003. Its water is now about twice as salty as the ocean and continues to get saltier with evaporation, a shift that has caused drastic declines in fish and bird populations.

Along the dry shorelines, windblown dust contributes to harmful air pollution in low-income, predominantly Latino communities, where people suffer from asthma at high rates.

California’s 10-year plan for the Salton Sea, which came out in 2017, called for building nearly 30,000 acres of dust-control projects and wetland habitat around the lake by 2028.

After years of delays, workers with heavy machinery have been moving soil at the southern end of the lake as part of a 4,110-acre project aimed at suppressing dust and creating habitat for fish and birds.

In October 2021, state officials appointed the panel of experts, including water researchers and engineers, to study water importation concepts. The panel considered 18 ideas and found that all but three had “fatal flaws.”

A flock of birds in flight over water

Shorebirds take flight near the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge at the south end of the Salton Sea. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

In its summary report, the panel said that because the three proposals had similarities, they were combined into a single concept. This included building a large desalination plant at the Gulf of California, discharging the brine byproduct offshore and sending fresh water flowing 190 miles north through two steel pipelines. The concept also called for building a desalination plant at the Salton Sea to gradually reduce the salt content.

The panel estimated the initial cost at $65.7 billion or $78.4 billion, depending on the scenario, and rejected the concept “based on its high cost, environmental damage, minimal benefits to Mexico” and other issues.

The panel rejected an alternative that would have involved desalinating water in Mexico and exchanging the resulting fresh water for Colorado River water.

It instead recommended that the state work with the Imperial Irrigation District to develop a “voluntary, compensated fallowing program,” in which farmers would be paid to reduce water use. The goal would be to secure 145,000 acre-feet of water per year for the lake — more than 5% of the 2.6 million acre-feet that the IID diverts annually.

This approach would also include building a desalination plant that would take in water from the Salton Sea and put fresh water back. The brine would flow into evaporation ponds, and the dried salt would be loaded onto trains and shipped to landfills.

The panel estimated the initial cost at $17 billion.

Robert Glennon, a panel member and University of Arizona law professor, said the idea of importing water from the Gulf of California or the Pacific Ocean “didn’t make sense when there were alternatives for a fraction of the money, without the environmental harms, and that could be implemented much sooner.”

Glennon said speed is crucial to prevent the lake's salinity from reaching “frightening levels.” He said the group’s recommendations would achieve salinity levels that enable fish to survive and birds to return and would include an “aggressive campaign of dust suppression.”

State officials said they will consider the panel’s findings as they prepare a long-range plan for the Salton Sea.

During the virtual meeting, Haddad said the panel recommends “stabilizing the sea at a smaller but still large volume and focusing on rapidly lowering its salinity.”

As he spoke, the Zoom chat filled with angry criticism. One listener wrote: “It is the worst possible solution.”

Some argued that the idea of asking farmers to fallow their fields is unrealistic given the Colorado River shortage. Haddad replied that doing this would be a “trade-off.” He said it would be up to the state to decide and to pursue negotiations with the Imperial Irrigation District.

Kerry Morrison, founder of the EcoMedia Compass and a longtime supporter of importing ocean water, said the original proposals were far cheaper than the one the panel analyzed.

“You didn't take into account the economic feasibility of this,” Morrison told the panel. “We know it's doable.”

Sephton, whose proposal was rejected, asked why the team decided on expensive pipelines instead of a canal, which would be far more economical. Sephton accused the panel of trying to make water importation appear impractical and expensive, saying it created a concept that was "designed to fail."

“They vastly overinflated the cost of everything,” Sephton said.

Jenny E. Ross, a research affiliate of the Stout Research Center, said the panel recommended a “seriously misguided plan” that wasn’t previously disclosed and would rely on “unsustainable use of Colorado River water.”

Ross said the plan would result in shriveling the Salton Sea to a fraction of its size, worsening hazardous dust, and would cause large emissions of greenhouse gases. In her research, Ross has said that the collapse of the ecosystem and exposure of vast areas of lake bed — including sediment loaded with organic matter from decomposed aquatic life — would likely lead to a major increase in emissions of carbon dioxide and methane.

She said restoring the Salton Sea and reviving its ecosystem would have a positive effect by capturing and storing carbon.

“Ocean water importation is the only approach that can actually achieve true long-term restoration of the Salton Sea,” Ross said in an email. She said it’s also the only plan that would use a “guaranteed water supply independent of the Colorado River, thereby enabling the restored lake to be immune to the future vagaries of climate change and to increasing aridification.”

Proposals to pump ocean water between the Gulf of California and the Salton Sea have been discussed since the 1990s, initially to address rising salinity.

In the 1950s and 60s, when the Salton Sea was much less salty, it attracted tourists who fished and went boating and waterskiing. But by the 1990s, the lake’s eutrophic conditions were leading to mass die-offs of fish and birds. In recent years, rising salinity has further limited food sources for birds.

Some remnants of the lake’s heyday, including old buildings and docks, stand abandoned near the retreating shores.

Michael Cohen, a senior researcher with the Pacific Institute, has long criticized water import proposals, which he says are a “distraction from the real work that faces us, which is getting projects on the ground now.”

Cohen said that after years of delays, the state’s efforts are “starting to move in the right direction,” with funding and projects that will create thousands of acres of habitat and suppress dust.

He expects that the proposal to fallow farmland for the Salton Sea won’t happen at a time when California is already discussing the need for large cutbacks in Colorado River water. But the panel’s conclusions, he said, help “focus on the importance of near-term, feasible efforts” that can rely on available water supplies.

“We need to come to grips with the aridification of the West, in which there's simply less water available,” Cohen said. “We need to live within our means. We can’t rely on pumping in large amounts of water from somewhere else.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

(th)

Offline

#325 2022-10-13 20:43:29

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 19,383

Re: Phoenix Arizona Fresh Water Supply vs Mars City Fresh Water Supply

The link below points to an article about unexpected approval of a small desalination plant in California.

The regulators just blocked a larger project.

The difference seems to be: (a) intake is below the surface, instead of at the surface of the ocean and (b) the brine is to be mixed with wastewater effluent from an existing wastewater treatment plant. Those differences, combined with the smaller size, seem to have been persuasive.

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/am … 11303.html

This is a small success in a sea of failure to address the looming fresh water deficiency that is facing the US (and much of the world).

(th)

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB