Politics in the Zeros

The East – West divide is quite pronounced, isn’t it? Virtually all the West is in drought except for the northern border. The heartland and parts of Texas have been in Exceptional drought for way too long. Worse, water forecasts this year for California snowpack, the Colorado River, and the Rio Grande are way below [...]

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The Sacramento Delta ecosystem will be devastated if the Bay Delta Conservation Plan happens, says the Sacramento News Review, being considerably more charitable towards Gov. “Bulldoze everything and screw you” Brown than I am. To date, the state has been unable to produce scientific evidence to support claims that operation of the tunnel system would [...]

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The problem is California state pay for water workers is so much lower than industry standards that state employees with experience immediately get hired for substantially more pay at private utilities. The result is a growing California water worker shortage This costs the California tens of millions, not just in lost training money, but also [...]

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A new study highlights areas in the country with the greatest potential for water shortages. I have a problem with their methodology because they only include water from local precipitation in the results and exclude water from rivers or water pumped from distant locations. Plus we have bizarre results like Boston being included while Las [...]

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Should big hydropower be counted as renewable energy towards meeting a Renewable Portfolio Standard for a state? It generally isn’t, but that could be changing as states scramble to meet their RPS goals. Construction of big dams is indeed destructive to surrounding area. Really massive dams can heighten the risk of earthquakes. However, virtually all [...]

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Via Zenpundit who has links to the originals. The amount of drinkable water on the planet seems vanishingly small as the population keep rising. Water and population are inextricably linked, and not just for drinking . Water is also heavily used in manufacturing and generating electricity. Many areas in that population bubble are already severely [...]

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California Governor Jerry Brown wants to build two massive tunnels to siphon water away from the Sacramento Delta to Central Valley agriculture and Los Angeles. Despite much pious and evasive posturing, it’s clear Brown will cheerfully let the Delta die. A top water aide let this slip saying the tunnel plan “is not about, and [...]

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A judge ruled that the Klamath tribe can cut water supplies to valley agriculture in order to restore fish population. Things are so tense Klamath tribe vehicles are unmarked to avoid having tires slashed and windows broken. One of the nation’s fiercest water wars is on the verge of erupting again. New water rights have [...]

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jfleck brings baleful news about water levels in two crucial lakes, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, that feed into the Colorado. Ever the journalist in search of gloomy extremes, I just noticed that total storage in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two largest reservoirs used to manage flows on the Colorado River, is currently [...]

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Sierra snowpack measurements are a crucial determinant of how much water California will have. This year the snowpack is a dismal 17% of normal. Among other things, this means Central Valley farmers will get even less water, perhaps as little at 20% – this from water they have paid for assuming a 100% allotment. But [...]

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