Water security

[masser]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

Those who have been paying attention to aquifers in general have been frightfully concerned for decades and decades. I was just listening to a story about a media event from the 1940's (one that is taught in schools as a landmark media event) that had to do with aquifers and water management spanning 100 years before that. I hadn't thought about it like that. It was something I have known about for a while. My ancestors talked about it and it was local lore. There is a plaque at the site and all.

What did we learn from the Dust Bowl?

[Dr Sardonicus]

Farmers are depleting the Ogallala Aquifer because the government pays them to do it

A slow-moving crisis threatens the U.S. Central Plains, which grow a quarter of the nation's crops. Underground, the region's lifeblood – water – is disappearing, placing one of the world's major food-producing regions at risk.

The Ogallala-High Plains Aquifer is one of the world's largest groundwater sources, extending from South Dakota down through the Texas Panhandle across portions of eight states. Its water supports US$35 billion in crop production each year.

But farmers are pulling water out of the Ogallala faster than rain and snow can recharge it. Between 1900 and 2008 they drained some 89 trillion gallons from the aquifer – equivalent to two-thirds of Lake Erie. Depletion is threatening drinking water supplies and undermining local communities already struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid crisis, hospital closures, soaring farm losses and rising suicide rates.

In Kansas, "Day Zero" – the day wells run dry – has arrived for about 30% of the aquifer. Within 50 years, the entire aquifer is expected be 70% depleted.
<snip>

Meanwhile, back in Colorado, Nestle - with the blessing of local officials - is pumping water out of an Upper Arkansas aquifer, putting it in plastic bottles, trucking it all over creation, and selling it. In the Midst of Water Emergency, Nestle Seeks to Export Chaffee County Water

Members of the Central Colorado Climate Coalition will be gathering with supporters to protest at the Chaffee County Commissioners meeting today, July 20, at the Chaffee County Courthouse in Salida. The non-profit has been speaking out against the Nestle Waters North America spring water pumping and bottling operation based in Chaffee County for over a year, and is hoping statewide media is ready to pay attention.

After months of public comments and citizen expert presentations arguing against corporate profiteering on local groundwater, the commissioners convened as the 1041 Permit Authority on July 6 and voted 2-1 with intent to approve the renewal of a 10-year permit. This permit will allow the newly-formed Blue Triton Brands to pump up to 65 million gallons of water from a local aquifer each year, and "replace" the loss to the Arkansas River by purchasing augmentation water from the Western Slope.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by masser

What did we learn from the Dust Bowl?

No, an event that happened later in the 1940's and was largely confined to about 3 days.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

Those who have been paying attention to aquifers in general have been frightfully concerned for decades and decades. I was just listening to a story about a media event from the 1940's (one that is taught in schools as a landmark media event) that had to do with aquifers and water management spanning 100 years before that. I hadn't thought about it like that. It was something I have known about for a while. My ancestors talked about it and it was local lore. There is a plaque at the site and all.

Where?

EDIT: Uncwilly has revealed the actual incident to me by PM. An MP3 of the relevant podcast may be downloaded from here. It is an interview with historian William Deverell, author of Kathy Fiscus: A Tragedy That Transfixed The Nation. The book goes into the history of wells and aquifers in the San Gabriel Valley.

The LA Times had a retrospective 70 years later: From the Archives: 3-year-old Kathy Fiscus falls into abandoned well

On April 8, 1949, Kathy Fiscus, 3, fell into an abandoned well in San Marino. The resulting rescue attempt gripped Southern California. Television stations KTLA and KTTV broadcast live coverage of the rescue efforts.

This is the grandaddy of all "child fell down a well" incidents getting 'round the clock TV coverage. In 1949, TV broadcasting was fairly new, and extended TV news coverage practically unheard of.

Some time around 1970 MAD Magazine pointed out how such incidents transform an obscure youngster into the object of international concern in one of their "So how come..." features, so blanket coverage of such rescue attempts had become the established norm by then.

The 1987 story of the rescue of Jessica McClure ("Baby Jessica") from an abandoned well in Texas led to an interview with Kathy Fiscus's mother: Mother Recalls 1949 Well Accident That Ended In Tragedy With AM-Well Rescue

RANCHO BERNARDO, Calif. (AP) - The rescue of toddler Jessica McClure from a Texas well recalled painful memories for Alice Fiscus, whose 3 1/2 -year-old daughter died in a similar accident 38 years ago.

"You try to forget, each time something like this happens, why it brings it back," Mrs. Fiscus told KFMB-TV as workers still struggled to reach the 18-month-old month old girl. "It's something that's helped us - to think it has helped other children.

"But I do want to send my love and prayers to this family," she added.

Jessica fell into an abandoned well in Midland, Texas, much as did Kathy Fiscus on April 8, 1949, while racing across a field with her sister and cousin in San Marino, a suburb of Los Angeles.

The struggle to free Kathy gripped America, just as did the efforts Thursday and Friday in Texas. But after 49 hours, when Kathy's body was brought up, the world learned she was dead, apparently from injuries suffered while falling in.
<snip>

The story includes a fact mentioned in the Deverell interview - the memorial plaque to Kathy Fiscus isn't at the well she fell into:

Today, the place where Kathy Fiscus fell is the site of San Marino High School. In town, a rose garden and plaque at the city library are Kathy's memorials.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Southern California officials declare water supply alert

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A major Southern California water agency has declared a water supply alert for the first time in seven years and is asking residents to voluntarily conserve.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California took the step Tuesday, hoping to lessen the need for more severe actions such as reducing water supplies to member agencies.
<snip>
California Gov. Gavin Newsom last month asked Californians to scale back water use and many of the state's counties, mostly in Central and Northern California, are already under a state of drought emergency.

Concern about water supplies spread to the state's heavily-populated southern region following a winter of low precipitation and shrinking reservoirs throughout the West.

Newsom on Tuesday said he may put mandatory water restrictions in place in the coming months, the East Bay Times reported.

"At the moment, we're doing voluntary," he said. "But if we enter into another year of drought - and as you know our water season starts Oct. 1 - we will have likely more to say by the end of September as we enter potentially the third year of this current drought."
<snip>
Water levels in Lake Mead, the largest reservoir on the Colorado River, were at about 35% of capacity on Tuesday. The State Water Project, which collects water from rivers and tributaries, has already reduced the Southern California district's allocation to 5% and next year the amount could be zero, officials said.
<snip>

And California has a gubernatorial recall election September 14...

[Dr Sardonicus]

Farmers restore native grasslands as groundwater disappears

MULESHOE, Texas (AP) - Tim Black's cell phone dings, signaling the time to reverse sprinklers spitting water across a pie-shaped section of grass that will provide pasture for his cattle.

It's important not to waste a drop. His family's future depends on it.

For decades, the Texas Panhandle was green with cotton, corn and wheat. Wells drew a thousand gallons (3,785 liters) a minute from the seemingly bottomless Ogallala aquifer, allowing farmers to thrive despite frequent dry spells and summer heat.

But now farmers face a difficult reckoning. Groundwater that sustained livelihoods for generations is disappearing, which has created another problem across the southern plains: When there isn't enough rain or groundwater to germinate crops, soil can blow away — just as it did during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

"We wasted the hell out of the water," says Black, recalling how farmers irrigated when he was a kid — as if it would last forever. Water flooded furrows or sprayed in high arcs before farmers adopted more efficient center-pivot systems that gave the Southwest its polka-dot landscape.

His grandfather could reach water with a post-hole digger. Now, Black is lucky to draw 50 gallons (189 liters) a minute from high-pressure wells, some almost 400 feet (122 meters) deep. He buys bottled water for his family because the well water is salty.

[MattcAnderson]

Hi all,

There are several rivers that flow into Phoenix, Arizona.
These include the Salt River, the Gila River, and the Green River.

Most of Phoenix's water comes from the Salt River Project, and
the Central Arizona Project (Colorado River). These canals are awesome. The Central Arizona Project even pumps water over two mountain ranges. According to Wikipedia, there are 14 pumps that deliver 456 billion gallons every year from the Colorado River to farms and cities in Arizona.

See https://www.phoenix.gov/waterservice...ter-supply-q-a

Phoenix is in the middle of a vast desert.

In My Humble Opinion, as long as populations continue to increase, we will eventually run out of water.

Regards,
Matt

[xilman]

Originally Posted by MattcAnderson

In My Humble Opinion, as long as populations continue to increase, we will eventually run out of water.

IMAO that is bullshit. There is about 0.2 cubic kilometres of water per person. How much more do you want?

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by MattcAnderson

<snip>
In My Humble Opinion, as long as populations continue to increase, we will eventually run out of water.

I find the sentence to be very awkward. I imagine it means something like, "If human population numbers get high enough, there won't be enough water to go around."

This is quite unlikely to be true globally. The sheer amount of fresh water on earth will likely remain ample (in theory) to supply human needs for the foreseeable future.

In practice, however, shortages are very likely in a number of locations in the not-too-distant future. You can't magically transport water from one place to another. It is said that water flows uphill toward money (the Central Arizona Project being a case in point), but there are limits to what is practicable. I doubt the residents of Great Lakes states are going to consent to Great Lakes water being piped to Phoenix any time soon.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

The sheer amount of fresh water on earth will likely remain ample (in theory) to supply human needs for the foreseeable future.

Sure, let the humans use what they want. But, then (even with current usage in some areas) the flora and fauna will suffer. And then there will be consequences for people.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

It is said that water flows uphill toward money (the Central Arizona Project being a case in point), but there are limits to what is practicable.

The limits are entirely financial.

There is nothing, in principle, to stop the inhabitants of Phoenix from building a desalination plant on a convenient bit of coastline and then pumping its product up to the city.