The lion’s share is used to grow water thirsty crops in the desert to feed the unsustainable cattle industry.

#Water #MniWiconi #WaterIsLife #ColoradoRiver #ClimateChange #MegaDrought

From: @coloradosun
https://mstdn.social/@coloradosun/110888341479301638

Arizona had set aside groundwater in La Paz County to act as an emergency backup water source for #Phoenix in event of a #megadrought… (hello!) The Land Department ignored water resource planning issued leases to Saudi alfalfa farm operators #fondomonte
AZ Attorney General is hamstrung with poorly written lease and is struggling to unwind this sweetheart deal… this deal is rotten to the core
Was there a crime committed? Stay tuned

by #JakeBittle in @grist:

"Phoenix, Arizona, is facing not one but two water crises. Around a third of the desert city’s water comes from the beleaguered Colorado River. Thanks to a decades-long megadrought fueled by climate change, the city stands to lose much of that supply in coming years as the river dries up and the state faces water cuts.

"Another third of the metro’s water comes from underground aquifers — and that water is running out, too. Earlier this month, Arizona’s water department published a new report assessing how much water remains in the aquifers below Phoenix. The data was alarming: The state found that it has allocated more groundwater to cities and farms over the next hundred years than is actually present in the aquifers. If the Phoenix area keeps pumping water at its current rate, those aquifers will tap out over the next century, according to the department. The total shortfall amounts to almost 5 million-acre feet, or around 1.6 trillion gallons, that were permitted for use over the next hundred years but may not exist at all."

https://grist.org/cities/phoenix-arizona-groundwater-shortage-development-agriculture/

#Phoenix #Arizona #groundwater #water #ColoradoRiver #megadrought #drought #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #climate #Grist

STOP. GROWING. ALFALFA.

#ColoradoRiver #MniWiconi #WaterIsLife #MegaDrought #Water
https://press.coop/@TheAtlantic/110520751584076967

No groundwater, no new homes, as Arizona severely restricts new housing - Enlarge / Aerial view of a subdivision in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale. (c... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1943967 #sustainabledevelopment #climatechange #groundwater #megadrought #science #policy

Ars Technica: No groundwater, no new homes, as Arizona severely restricts new housing https://arstechnica.com/?p=1943967 #Tech #arstechnica #IT #Technology #Sustainabledevelopment #climatechange #groundwater #megadrought #Science #Policy

Of course it’s not, but it is small step in the right direction.

Saving the iconic Colorado River — scientists say latest plan is not enough
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01746-y

Most of the water goes to agriculture and the lion’s share goes to water for animal feed crops (cattle). No one should be growing alfalfa in the desert, one of the most water intensive crops.

#ColoradoRiver #megadrought #water #mniwiconi #WaterIsLife #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #drought #Nature

Colorado #Frackers Doubled Freshwater Use During #Megadrought, Even as Drilling and Oil Production Fell. Oil and gas operators dramatically increased their reliance on high-quality #water for fracking even though they produced enough #wastewater to supply the operations. #pollution #fracking https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22052023/colorado-fracking-wastewater-drought/

Colorado #Frackers Doubled Freshwater Use During #Megadrought, Even as Drilling and Oil Production Fell. Oil and gas operators dramatically increased their reliance on high-quality #water for fracking even though they produced enough #wastewater to supply the operations. #pollution #fracking https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22052023/colorado-fracking-wastewater-drought/

The world’s largest #lakes are shrinking dramatically and scientists say they have figured out why

These significant bodies of water include the Colorado River’s #LakeMead, which has receded sharply amid a #megadrought and decades of #overuse.

By Laura Paddison, CNN

Published May 18, 2023 4:29 PM EDT

The shrinking of many lakes has been well documented, but the extent of change – and the reasons behind it – have been less thoroughly examined, said Fangfang Yao, the study’s lead author and a visiting scholar at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The researchers used satellite measurements of nearly 2,000 of the world’s largest lakes and reservoirs, which together represent 95% of Earth’s total lake water storage.

Examining more than 250,000 satellite images spanning from 1992 to 2020, along with climate models, they were able to reconstruct the history of the lakes going back decades.

The results were “staggering,” the report authors said.

They found that 53% of the lakes and reservoirs had lost significant amounts of water, with a net decline of around 22 billion metric tons a year – an amount the report authors compared to the volume of 17 Lake Meads.

More than half of the net loss of water volume in natural lakes can be attributed to human activities and climate change, the report found.
The report found losses in lake water storage everywhere, including in the humid #tropics and the cold Arctic. This suggests “drying trends worldwide are more extensive than previously thought,” Yao said.

Different lakes were affected by different drivers.

#Unsustainable water consumption is the predominant reason behind the shriveling of the #AralSea in Uzbekistan and California’s #SaltonSea, while changes in rainfall and runoff have driven the decline of the #GreatSaltLake, the report found.

In the #Arctic, lakes have been shrinking due to a combination of changes in temperature, precipitation, evaporation and runoff.

“Many of the human and climate change footprints on lake water losses were previously unknown,” Yao said, “such as the desiccations of #LakeGoodEZareh in Afghanistan and #LakeMarChiquita in Argentina."

#WaterIsLife #WaterWars #Consumption #ClimateCrisis

Read more:
https://www.accuweather.com/en/climate/worlds-largest-lakes-see-sharp-declines/1528645

Who's really using up the water in the American West? https://youtu.be/f0gN1x6sVTc

Colorado River water is over-allocated. #Agriculture uses the most and feed for cattle uses the lion’s share of that. We are literally exporting water globally in those crops.

#Alfafa #MegaDrought #Drought #ColoradoRiver #Water #WaterIsLife #MniWiconi

‘Without the ice cap, we cannot live’: the Andes community devastated by climate crisis | Global development | The Guardian
#IceCap
#Andes
#ClimateCrisis
#QuelccayaGlacier
#Peru
#Phinaya
#Alpacas
#MegaDrought
#Mattos
#Ausangate
#RegionalConservationAreaOfAusangate
#Vilcanota
#GuardiansOfTheGlaciers

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/apr/18/andes-community-devastated-by-climate-crisis-quelccaya-glacier-peru

"More Than a Decade of Megadrought Brought a Summer of Megafires to Chile"

#Chile #Drought #Megadrought #Environment

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09042023/chile-megadrought-megafires/

Nice having water in the river again. It's almost like a real river again.

https://youtu.be/ujPep-odNRA
#SantaFe #River #SantaFeRiver #NewMexico #Ogapoge #Water #Drought #MegaDrought

@SharonCummingsArt I love your art. Had no idea of the problem of #RedTide in #Florida so naturally I looked it up. I knew about some it’s problems from hurricanes to government sides expensive. Where I live in Arizona, we have a #Megadrought worst in 1,200 years so naturally I xeriscaped my yard a long time ago.

https://myfwc.com/research/redtide/statewide/

Changes needed to save second-largest U.S. reservoir, experts say

"As of last week, its water levels fell to 3,522 feet above sea level... If the reservoir drops to 3,490 feet, the dam may be unable to generate hydropower.

" 'We're one bad year away from reaching the point where we can't generate hydropower. That's the first worry here.' - Brian Udall, water and climate scientist."
#water #MegaDrought #ClimateChange
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/18/changes-needed-save-second-largest-us-reservoir-experts-say/

NYTimes: "Cotton farmers in Texas suffered record losses amid heat and drought last year" #climate #heatwave #megadrought https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/18/climate/climate-change-cotton-tampons.html

Like the rest of the West, Utah has a water problem. But #MegaDrought and overconsumption aren’t just threats to wildlife, agriculture and industry here. A disappearing Great #SaltLake could poison the lungs of more than 2.5 million people.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/10/us/utah-great-salt-lake-dust-pollution-weir-wxc/index.html

"The highly anticipated State Water Task Force Report is flowing towards the public. After months in the making, dozens of sets of eyes, and waves of approvals, the Final Report of the #NewMexico #WaterPolicy and Infrastructure Task Force is on display.

"Its goal is to highlight the biggest issues plaguing the state’s #water supply right now, and ways to fix them before the water problems being created by #climatechange go from manageable to cataclysmic.

https://news.unm.edu/news/no-drought-of-solutions-unm-utton-center-aids-state-water-task-force-report #MegaDrought

“If we lose grocery stores tomorrow, what are we going to do?” said Bowannie. He sees backyard gardens as an important part of the answer to this question.

https://civileats.com/2021/10/26/resurgence-waffle-gardens-helping-indigenous-peoples-thrive-amid-droughts-grow-food-less-water/
#Indigenous #FoodSecurity #Regenerative #FarmToTable #BackyardGardens #Environment #ClimateChange #MegaDrought #Zuni #NewMexico #NM #PublicHealth #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateEmergency #ClimateAction