Thursday, October 27, 2022

‘The Colo. River system is headed for a crash’

 It isn’t just farmers who worry about drought.  Anyone who likes to eat knows the equation between adequate water supplies and resultant food crops.  So the current status between available liquid nutrients and “what’s for supper?” is a correlation most of us have already acknowledged.

 And worried about now that the Bureau of Reclamation has initiated restrictions via a Tier 2a status, effective January 2023 --- the first time in history that the government has pulled that trigger in response to a continually declining Lake Mead.

...While the river provides liquid sustenance for humans in seven Lower Basin states and Mexico, thousands of food producers also reliant on that supply and Tier 2a cuts will represent a shortfall of some 592,000 acre-feet or 21% of the annual river allotment for Arizona.

 ...Ted Cooke, general manager of the Central Arizona Project, puts it this way: “Cuts to the CAP allocation could be near total within just a few years if steps are not taken collectively by Colorado River water users throughout the basin.”

...Although the West is a specific geographic area of concern, these environmental concerns are global in dimension.  Climatologists in China are of the belief that this is the world’s most extreme heat wave on record, saying it is the most intense, most extreme in length, and over an incredibly huge area --- all at the same time.

One scientist noted: “There is nothing in world climatic history which is even minimally comparable to what is happening.”

 ...The coalition of farmers and local water agency leaders are proposing the reduction in their river allocation in exchange for federal financial compensation of $1,500 per acre-foot saved....

...How bad could it get?  Two thirds of Europe’s vegetation is already either under ‘stress’ or ‘warning’ status due to moisture deficit as part of the worst drought in 500 years.

With crop production negatively impacted, hunger stones from previous droughts are being uncovered as lake levels diminish.  Carved rocks are being found bearing messages such as, “If you see me, then weep.”

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Those who think that they can build and build and build without consequences and going to pay the price of hunger and none of us can do anything about it. There is only a finite amount of water in this world and that's it!