It may be time to stop describing south-eastern Australia as gripped by drought and instead accept the extreme dry as permanent, one of the nation’s most senior weather experts warned yesterday.
“There is absolutely no debate that Australia is warming,” said Dr Jones. “It is very easy to see … it is happening before our eyes.”
The [...]
Posts under ‘drought’
Expert. Australia drought may be permanent
Boat loading ramp. Lake Lanier GA
Environmental Economics shows us how severe the drought is in Georgia.
Security implications of global climate change
In August 2007, a Russian adventurer descended 4,300 meters under the thinning ice of th North Pole to plant a titanium flag, claiming some 1.2 million square kilometers of the Arctic for mother Russia. Not to be outdone, the Prime Minister of Canada stated his intention to boost his nation’s military presence in the Arctic, [...]
Water shortages on Rio Grande
The Rio Grande has no excess water left to give, so border cities are looking at desalination.
“The Rio Grande is one of the most stressed river basins in the world and water use is already at its limit,” said Casey Walsh, a water specialist.
El Paso, some experts say, could run out of water by 20 [...]
Drought in China
Nearly one million people lack drinking water in a southern Chinese province that is suffering its worst water shortage in more than 50 years due to insufficient rain.
The hidden cause of many water shortages, whether they be in China or Atlanta, is the increased population size. 50 years ago such droughts probably would [...]
How not to manage a drought situation
Atlanta is in a severe drought, yet a Pepsi plant in Atlanta slurps up 70.8 million gallons a month while a Dasani plant in Marietta uses 8.4 million gallons a month to produce bottled water – which residents are being told to stockpile in case the drought gets worse!
And, the more water these big users [...]
What happens when the water is gone?
Within our lifetimes, much of the west coast will be uninhabitable desert.
That’s because the spring snowpack in the Rockies is expected to be gone by 2040. And that’s where much of the water for the American southwest comes from.
Read more
Cokes, nukes, and droughts
With a Coca-Cola plant in Atlanta sucking up huge amounts of water and a nuclear reactor and coal power plant down the river doing the same, the southeast faces major problems because of the drought. How do you cut back? Why if the unthinkable happens and the drought becomes semi-permanent? Celcias asks this and more [...]
As the world burns
There are droughts worldwide now, with the US southwest and southeast suffering badly from them. TomDispatch has a long, thoughtful post about this asking, what happens if water really does run out somewhere? And doesn’t come back?
Brisbane cuts water uses 47%
In the face of serious drought, Brisbane residents have cut water use nearly in half. Dave Riley, who lives there, says let’s use this as a model for all resource management, for power consumption, recycling, and garbage. Then expand further to include public transportation and, of course, climate change.
Brisbane’s major advantage is that exercises like [...]
U.S. drought portal
In a real sign of the times, the US government has started a drought portal, with current stats, predictions, and more.
Tennessee town has run out of water
The volunteer fire chief of Orme Tenn. wakes up at 5:30 am three days a week and makes a dozen round trips to a fire hydrant in Alabama, filling a fire truck with water, and bringing it back. At 6 pm the mayor turns on the water for the town’s 145 residents for three hours. [...]
Town in San Diego has no water left
Firefighters drained the Ramona reservoir to fight the fire. Now there’s no water left and little possibility, considering the ongoing serious drought, that it will be replenished any time soon. What happens to a town of thousands when there’s no water?
Another serious problem the fire burn areas will face once the fires are out and [...]
California has enough water
The trick is to conserve the valuable state resource, make wise decisions about how to use it and cut waste.
Here’s how:
Conservation. (Drought-tolerant plants. Metering. Smart watering systems.)
Store groundwater more efficiently. (Especially during years with surpluses)
Reuse wastewater (Right now, it all flows into the ocean. Use it for irrigation, industry, let it seep into aquifers) )
Stop [...]
The future is drying up
Thoughts and quotes from the superb New York Times magazine feature story on drought in the southwest.
The problem
Lake Mead, the enormous reservoir in Arizona and Nevada that supplies nearly all the water for Las Vegas, is half-empty, and statistical models indicate that it will never be full again.
“As we move forward all water-management actions based [...]
