Where will Arizona get its water when the Colorado River dries up? (food, pine)

[Tall Traveler]

Originally Posted by thrillobyte

In Era of Drought, Phoenix Prepares for a Future Without Colorado River Water


Title of the article says it all. I have relatives living in Phoenix. I'm worried about them. They're too old to move. Every year the Colorado River looks smaller. What is Arizona going to do for water? Do they have any other sources that can adequately provide water for 7 million inhabitants?


https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-p...do-river-water

Don't worry, Phoenix has an abundance of water. Water for such uses as agriculture probably need to be curtailed. The suburb where I live has sufficient water for the next 100 years even if it grows 4 times larger.

[BeerGeek40]

Originally Posted by thrillobyte

In Era of Drought, Phoenix Prepares for a Future Without Colorado River Water


Title of the article says it all. I have relatives living in Phoenix. I'm worried about them. They're too old to move. Every year the Colorado River looks smaller. What is Arizona going to do for water? Do they have any other sources that can adequately provide water for 7 million inhabitants?


https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-p...do-river-water

One interesting item I took from the article was this one:

Then in 1276, tree ring data shows, a withering drought descended on the Southwest, lasting more than two decades

If the same thing happens now....it will be blamed on "climate change".

Food for thought.

[phetaroi]

Originally Posted by BeerGeek40

One interesting item I took from the article was this one:

Then in 1276, tree ring data shows, a withering drought descended on the Southwest, lasting more than two decades

If the same thing happens now....it will be blamed on "climate change".

Food for thought.

Well, in 1276, that would be climate change, too. Climate change doesn't only happen because of man. Food for thought.

[teddyearp]

Originally Posted by phetaroi

Well, in 1276, that would be climate change, too. Climate change doesn't only happen because of man. Food for thought.

You must be ignoring the underlying fact that today 'climate change' means something different than climate change meant then. When people call out "climate change" or "Global Warming" they are actually calling out something that has been infused with almost more political meaning than it does environmental.

[waltcolorado]

Then in 1276, tree ring data shows, a withering drought descended on the Southwest, lasting more than two decades.

This was interesting because 1276 would have been during the Medieval warm period (see the image below from this reference (author By RCraig09 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...curid=87832845 )

Global average temperatures show that the Medieval Warm Period was not a planet-wide phenomenon

so exactly what happened in the SW during this drought isnt known - except the tree ring data. Most of the temperature data records from that long ago would have come from Greenland and Antarctica ice core readings.

But. current global temperatures are considerably higher than during the medieval warm period. What that means for droughts.. who knows but we have added energy to a complex nonlinear system and weird things can happen.

We live near a tributary to the Colorado river during the summer and witnessed something unusual this last October. We drove by Blue Mesa Reservoir on the Gunnison river in Colorado which feeds into the Colorado river. I took the picture at the bottom of the post this last October and looked into why the lake was so low. Google found this link from Sept 3, 2021 https://www.cpr.org/2021/09/03/blue-...#39;s%20bottom

From the article

Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the U.S., hit its lowest level ever recorded earlier this summer.

The states that share Colorado River water agreed to this plan in 2019. Low levels in Lake Powell would trigger an emergency release from three reservoirs upstream.

The water taken from Blue Mesa is being used to make sure hydroelectric power turbines at Lake Powell can keep spinning and generating electricity for millions of people in the West, including customers in Colorado.

John McClow, a lawyer for the Upper Gunnison River Conservancy District, said this scenario is what Blue Mesa and the other reservoirs were built for in the 1960s — drought emergencies, not recreation. It’s a bank of water that states can tap when they need to.

I usually dont worry about this much but things like Lake Powell hitting historic low levels requiring draining some big upstream lakes to keep the electricity flowing is at least something to watch. FYI, this lake normally is down somewhat in the fall but this is WAY down.

[NORTY FLATZ]

You know, it seems every once in a while, a "news" paper/organization must publish the "sky is falling" to sell newspapers. Otherwise, their "self-importance" diminishes. And they can't have that!
I don't know how many droughts I've lived thru. I don't see this drought markedly different than the previous drought. Or, the one before that one.

Usually, they are followed by "Record setting flooding" or some such. (Then, to beat their own drum even more, they have the audacity to tell us "We're NOT outta the woods yet, on the drought" as they show live video of the aquifers spilling over their banks and "releasing" water because they're afraid the dams will bust.)

Actually, it's comical to sit back and watch them work their audience. They're almost as smooth as those TV evangelists...

Those cats are POLISHED!

[kell490]

One of the problems no one is talking about is the Nuclear power plant gets all its water from treated sewage water using 40k gallons a minute in the winter and 60k gallons a minute in the summer.

With reductions in water usage being applied to homes, and business's that plant will receive less water. I don't know what the limits are but I do know last year the plant tried to get well water, but it was not approved.

https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2020/...ear-water-use/

[509]

Originally Posted by phetaroi

And do keep in mind that it is a "desert river". As a person with two degrees in geology, I've seen many streams that were once defined a "perennial" that are now dry.

Serious question...........which streams??

[tijlover]

Wise old saying: Water will always arise to $$$!

Lots of excess water in Canada! If they can send oil downward, why not water?

Pipe it down along the Pacific coast to Southern California, then they won't the need for Colorado River water, and that water can be shared with AZ and NV!

Let me repeat myself: water will always arise to $$$

And those in other parts of the country, due to an extended drought, they could be without water also. It almost happened to Atlanta 10+ years ago!

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by tijlover

Wise old saying: Water will always arise to $$$!

Lots of excess water in Canada! If they can send oil downward, why not water?

Pipe it down along the Pacific coast to Southern California, then they won't the need for Colorado River water, and that water can be shared with AZ and NV!

Let me repeat myself: water will always arise to $$$

And those in other parts of the country, due to an extended drought, they could be without water also. It almost happened to Atlanta 10+ years ago!

Never going to happen.

This article explains why.

"“Whenever anybody actually studied the feasibility of these things, they’d get about a nickel back for every dollar invested, so neither country took them very seriously,” he said. That’s because water is heavy, and moving it uphill, out of a river basin, requires a lot of energy. That cost alone far surpasses what you’d get for selling the water to the agriculture industry, the largest potential customer."

https://www.hcn.org/articles/could-c...nias-drought-1

A letter to the editor of the LA Times.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...he-great-lakes