Great Plains Running Out of Water

I have been sounding the alarm about this since I lived in TX - over a decade ago. People there use water like there's no tomorrow to have the grass, flowers and trees they grew up with in the Northern states. I was disgusted by their lack of respect for an exhaustable supply of water, particularly given the state's history during the dust bowl years.

They need to change the way they irrigate, WHAT they irrigate and how often. This is a massive task that must be successfully accomplished if we, as a nation, are going to continue feeding ourselves.

Excerpts:

People have been warning about the aquifer's depletion for years, but coordinating conservation programs among farmers has proved difficult. Recently, Texas has imposed state controls on the amount of groundwater that farmers can pump, requiring 16 groundwater districts to each provide a target for an acceptable groundwater level in 50 years.

"The magnitude of this is incredible," he continued. "We're talking about, for the last 20 years, 20 percent of the irrigated acreage of this nation is over the Ogallala."

For an idea of what a severe drought could do to the communities of the Great Plains, consider the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, when gigantic "black blizzards" ravaged farms and forced thousands of families to give up their land and try to make a living elsewhere.

Australian Drought

From Sidney News

AFTER years of claims and counter-claims, new figures show cotton became the thirstiest crop in the whole Murray-Darling Basin two years ago, guzzling 20 per cent of all the water used for agriculture in region.

A groundbreaking report on the Murray-Darling by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals cotton was "consistently the crop with the highest water consumption" from 2000-01 to 2005-06, followed by dairy farming, growing pasture for livestock and rice.

And in key districts such as the Gwydir River in northern NSW, cotton used a whopping 87 per cent of the agricultural water in 2006. The numbers from the Border Rivers catchment, covering southern Queensland, reveal a similar story, with cotton using more than 80 per cent of agricultural water from that system.

The head of Cotton Australia, Adam Kay, said the figures on water use by the cotton industry reflected a choice by farmers in those years to use their water allocations to grow the most profitable crops. But as the drought deepened and farmers' water allocations dropped, cotton production fell and last year saw the smallest crop in 30 years.

"This year wheat is almost as competitive as cotton," Mr Kay said yesterday.
The new report comes as the political fight intensified over how to save the vital region that holds almost 40 per cent of Australia's farms, produces all its rice crop, half its wheat and apples, almost all its oranges, most of its pigs and a large number of dairy cattle.

Yesterday the South Australian Premier, Mike Rann, wound up the pressure, saying that anyone illegally diverting water in the Murray-Darling during the crisis, was engaging in "terrorism".

Mr Rann said he would ask the next meeting of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, which includes representatives from the state and federal governments, to impose jail sentences for large-scale water theft. "It is a criminal offence, and anyone siphoning water off illegally, in my view, should be locked up, rather than the fines that I am told are currently in place."

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is battling claims that Queensland has seriously added to the basin's water crisis and is being bailed out by his Government, which is planning to step up the buyback of water entitlements from heavy using irrigators.

At Thursday's cabinet meeting in Adelaide Mr Rudd said he would hasten his planned $400 million water buyback in an effort to get more water flowing from Queensland and NSW to the mouth of the Murray in South Australia, where the Lower Lakes and the world-famous wetlands of the Coorong are in crisis.

He bowed to pressure from the independent senator Nick Xenophon for an independent audit of water in the struggling Murray-Darling system that flows from Queensland to South Australia, but is largely in NSW.

The plan to step up buybacks was called a "knee-jerk reaction driven by loud minority groups" by the Irrigators Council. So far, the buybacks have largely been on paper as there is little water to buy because of the drought and low dam levels.

Mr Rudd is examining, with state governments, buying big properties with high water use.
Environmental groups have welcomed the buybacks and the independent water audit.

The National Farmers Federation backed the plan but stressed there was little water to buy back. "People must understand there simply is no water available to pump into ailing systems," said Laurie Arthur, who chairs the federation's water taskforce.

Theories On The Environment

10/26 Theory On Drought Monitoring
8/28 Desertification
8/20 Wind Turbines Along Highways - updated 8/29
Genetically Engineered Plants Destroying Bees?
Radio Frequencies and Bees
Global Warming

TN Town Ran Out Of Water

Tennessee Town Runs Out of Water
By GREG BLUESTEIN,
Posted: 2007-11-01 22:30:40
Filed Under: Nation News
ORME, Tenn. (Nov. 1) - As twilight falls over this Tennessee town, Mayor Tony Reames drives up a dusty dirt road to the community's towering water tank and begins his nightly ritual in front of a rusty metal valve.With a twist of the wrist, he releases the tank's meager water supply, and suddenly this sleepy town is alive with activity. Washing machines whir, kitchen sinks fill and showers run.

About three hours later, Reames will return and reverse the process, cutting off water to the town's 145 residents.The severe drought tightening like a vise across the Southeast has threatened the water supply of cities large and small, sending politicians scrambling for solutions. But Orme, about 40 miles west of Chattanooga and 150 miles northwest of Atlanta, is a town where the worst-case scenario has already come to pass: The water has run out.The mighty waterfall that fed the mountain hamlet has been reduced to a trickle, and now the creek running through the center of town is dry.

Three days a week, the volunteer fire chief hops in a 1961 fire truck at 5:30 a.m. - before the school bus blocks the narrow road - and drives a few miles to an Alabama fire hydrant. He meets with another truck from nearby New Hope, Ala. The two drivers make about a dozen runs back and forth, hauling about 20,000 gallons of water from the hydrant to Orme's tank.

"I'm not God. I can't make it rain. But I'll get you the water I can get you," Reames tells residents.Between 6 and 9 every evening, the town scurries. Residents rush home from their jobs at the carpet factories outside town to turn on washing machines. Mothers start cooking supper. Fathers fill up water jugs. Kids line up to take showers.

"You never get used to it," says Cheryl Evans, a 55-year-old who has lived in town all her life. "When you're used to having water and you ain't got it, it's strange. I can't tell you how many times I've turned on the faucet before remembering the water's been cut."

"You have to be in a rush," she says. "At 6 p.m., I start my supper, turn on my washer, fill all my water jugs, take my shower."

During its peak in the 1930s, Orme (rhymes with "storm") boasted a population of thousands, a jail, three schools and a hotel. But those boom times are long gone.

After the coal miners went on strike in the 1940s, the company shut down the mine and the town has never been the same. Not a single business is left in Orme. The only reminder of the town's glory days is an aging wooden rail depot that sits three feet above the eerily quiet streets.

Although changes are coming - cable TV arrived just a few years ago - cell phones still don't work there. The main road into town is barely wide enough for two cars to pass one another. Dogs wander the streets, farm animals can be heard all around town, and kids gather outside the one-room City Hall to ride their bikes.

"It's like walking back in time. It's Never-Never Land here," says Ernie Dawson, a 47-year-old gospel singer who grew up in Orme.

Water restrictions in Orme are nothing new. But residents say it's never been this bad.

Even last summer, as the water supply dwindled, city leaders cut off water only at night. But in August, Reames took the most extreme step yet and restricted use to three hours a day.

Elected in December, he has now spent $8,000 of the city's $13,000 annual budget to deal with the crisis. Most of the money went toward trucking water from Alabama.

He has tried to fill the gaps with modest fundraisers, but it hasn't been easy. A Halloween carnival last week cleared about $375 and a dog show two weeks ago made $300.

The town has received a $377,590 emergency grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that Reames hopes will be Orme's salvation. A utility crew is laying a 2 1/2-mile pipe to connect Orme to the Bridgeport, Ala., water supply. The work could be finished by Thanksgiving.

"It's not a short-term solution," Reames says. "It is THE solution."

He says the crisis in Orme could serve as a warning to other communities to conserve water before it's too late.

"I feel for the folks in Atlanta," he says, his gravelly voice barely rising above the sound of rushing water from the town's tank. "We can survive. We're 145 people. You've got 4.5 million people down there. What are they going to do? It's a scary thought."


11/6 - From The Grist.org

The Weight of Water U.S. states face water shortages The catastrophic California wildfires got all the press, but it's worth paying attention to an equally intimidating but slower-moving threat: water shortages. From Georgia to Massachusetts, Florida to New York, the Great Lakes to the West, U.S. states are getting thirstier. In fact, the government predicts that at least 36 states will face challenges from inadequate water supplies within five years, thanks to a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, sprawl, waste, and overuse. "Is it a crisis? If we don't do some decent water planning, it could be," says Jack Hoffbuhr of the American Water Works Association. Officials hope that measures such as water recycling, efficiency, and desalination will save the day. In the meanwhile, local officials are tightening their grasp on any available supplies, and debates over how to address the problem are simmering.

Theory From Leslie
http://kermitsteam.blogspot.com/2007/09/theory-on-drought-monitoring.html

Another Theory From Leslie
http://kermitsteam.blogspot.com/2007/08/desertification-theory.html

Theory on Drought Monitoring

10/24
I keep mulling this over and just don't know quite how to express it, so here it is anyway. LOL
The articles below point to a term I hadn't heard before, but had been sitting in the back of my mind every time it rained (which it is now).

Impervious Ground Cover. Basically that means anything that keeps water from absorbing into the ground where it falls. This includes roof lines, cement, asphalt. It doesn't even go into the semi impervious of decking, brick walks, etc.

If, as these reports state, most urbanized or urban sprawled areas have 50% of their property - commercial, industrial and private - covered with impervious ground cover, the run off is incredible. At least 40%, right?

The reason I'm saying 40% is that maybe 10% of the water gets absorbed into adjacent ground before it runs off into creeks, storm drains, etc.

However, just as our greenspaces for wildlife are becoming more and more isolated, so is our lands' ability to absorb water for the water tables.

Add the substantial increased use of water by urban sprawl and the earth is in a constant state of drought even when we have "normal" or "average" seasonal rainfall. I understand why meteorologists must report the averages. But I think they need to start taking some additional responsibility in reporting what's needed, how far below normal the water table lies and how people can increase their property's ability to absorb water.

If you think of a bed sheet and you only water in a few spots, it takes a very long time for all of that water to wick throughout the sheet. So goes our property. And, it will dry very quickly, with no reserve to keep it moist, leaving all plants in a constant state of stress.

Ha! I found THE best policy article

It totally substantiates what I'm saying. I've been talking about the great plains aquifer since I lived in Dallas TX 7 years ago. I'm going to try to write a letter to the editor on this subject. If anyone comes up with an eloquent way of saying this in 150 words or less, let me in on it!
Leslie

10/30 Great Blog Post From The Grist.org

Excerpt from article on Shoreland Preservation
Bruce Ferguson, an authority on stormwater management from the University of Georgia,
noted that roads and parking surfaces cover approximately twice the area of their
associated buildings and represent a good 50% of a built up urban area. For this reason
alone, it is important that everyone involved in land development take seriously the
emerging technologies of porous pavement systems.

Study of Salt Lake City area by 'zoning' (V - vegetation, I - Impervious, S - soil and dead vegetation) Figure 5 on Page 5 - very telling.

Study of Atlanta's loss of canopy and gain in impervious cover:
Over the last decade, Metro Atlanta has experienced unprecedented population growth. This change in population has resulted in an increase in impervious surface and a decrease in forest canopy. Overall Metro Atlanta is accumulating 28 acres per day of impervious surface and losing 54 acres of canopy per day, resulting in a ten year loss of 196,921 acres of tree canopy and a gain of 103,273 acres of impervious surface.

Editorial Letter Water Management

Sending this to my local paper. 142 words - well within parameters of most papers...

To Whom It May Concern:

Our nation is running out of potable water. Rivers are failing to reach the ocean. The Great Lakes are shrinking. Aquifers are drying up. Locally, streams run dry annually - unheard of in our parents’ youth.

Overuse, single-use, and rapid runoff are all to blame. Each can be remedied if people know how and why. The news media, meteorologists specifically, must increase their role to educate and not just pontificate.

Redefine drought to include more variables than precipitation. Explain impervious ground cover and ways to lessen its impact. Teach proper irrigation (including NO irrigation) to the entire community. Introduce reuse (greywater) for many water needs.

Our children will see the day when water is sold on the world market much as oil is today. It is already happening in the Plain States and South West.

Let’s change that starting here and now.

Sincerely,


Resources
http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/Out/ch6_water.pdfhttp://narsal.ecology.uga.edu/atl_landcover/landcover.html

Yellow Legged Frog Extinction

http://www.californiaherps.com/frogs/pages/r.muscosa.html
Threatened in the Sierra Nevada, where it is absent from a significant part of its historic range. Endangered in Southern California, where it is absent from 99 percent of its historic range. No frogs have been seen in the San Bernardino mountains or on Mt. Palomar since the 1970's. The fires of 2003 appear to have destroyed the remaining populations and they are now considered extinct in the San Bernardino mountains. Only a few creeks have been found with frogs in the San Gabriel and San Jacinto mountains. The decline has been attributed to many factors, including bullfrogs, trout, airborne pollution, cattle grazing, ozone depletion, mining pollution, off road vehicle disturbance, public dumping, chytrid fungus, fires, and excessive flooding. For more information on the decline of this frog click here.

http://www.usaweekend.com/07_issues/070930/070930science.html
Why we should care if the mountain yellow-legged frog becomes extinct
Why should we care if a frog becomes extinct?

"Like losing a rivet on an airplane, the extinction of a species weakens the interconnected web of the ecosystem," says Reid Harris of Virginia's James Madison University. "Eventually, the plane can lose enough rivets so the plane falls apart and drops out of the sky. Figuratively, the same thing happens when enough species become extinct and the ecosystem collapses."

Frogs are a link in the food chain for mammals, birds and fish. Their loss can reduce the numbers of other species and, in turn, lead to their extinction. Not to mention the effect on humans: Animals and plants provide substances used in important medical drugs. Frogs, specifically, devour insect pests that devastate food crops.

The species that Harris and Vance Vredenburg of San Francisco State University are trying to save is California's mountain yellow-legged frog. "Unless things start turning around for this frog, it is headed for extinction," Vredenburg says. "Just five years ago, it was possible to see the mountain yellow-legged frog populations with thousands of adults and tens of thousands of tadpoles. Today, that is nearly impossible to find."

A deadly fungus is killing off the frog. The good news: Harris discovered a skin bacteria found on red-backed salamanders abundant in Virginia that may kill the fungus.

-- John K. Borchardt

http://cres.sandiegozoo.org/projects/rb_frog_yellow.html
Mountain Yellow-legged Frog Recovery Program
In April 2005, representatives from California Department of Fish & Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) met with staff from the San Diego Zoo's Herpetological Department and CRES. The goal was to develop a captive breeding and translocation plan for the only remaining frogs known from the San Bernardino Mountains, as part of an integrated program of captive propagation, headstarting, and release that will ensure the long-term viability of the species in the wild.

The original goal of the program was to attempt captive-breeding of three adult pairs at CRES in large aquaria equipped with specialized filtration and chiller units to provide the frogs with a normal range of winter temperatures. Seven adult frogs were transferred to CRES, but all died due to pre-existing infection. After meetings with the government agencies listed above, it was decided that CRES provided optimal care and the best environment and expertise to manage this species and would be primarily responsible for captive propagation of the species. Removal of individuals in the wild would be at the discretion of USGS and USFWS biologists, but would include both tadpoles and adult frogs.

In August 2006, 75 tadpoles were emergency-salvaged from a drying streambed and transferred to the care of CRES. Some of these will be released back to the wild when conditions are deemed appropriate, while others will remain to establish a captive breeding program once they reach reproductive age. We plan to headstart tadpoles until two years of age, just after metamorphosis and after reaching a less vulnerable stage in the life cycle, then release them back to the wild. The project will end when USFWS determines that captive propagation is no longer useful for recovery efforts, an outcome we expect to be more than 10 years in the future.

Desertification Theory

Work with me here.... (don't EVER let me do math when I'm tired)

The average human weighs 72.5 kg (old stat, but we'll use it anyway).
70% of the human body is water. That makes each human 50.75 kg of potable water.
1 kg = 1 l so that's 50.75 liters of water.
In 1900, only 1.65 billion people roamed the Earth. That's only 8.1 x 10 to the 11 liters of water.

There are currently 6.6 billion people (rounded down) 6.6 x 10 to the 9
That's 330,000,000,000,000 (or 3.3 x 10 to the 11) liters of potable water.

There are roughly 192,000 people added to the Earth every day. (I rounded down).
That makes the amount of potable water taken up by NEW human bodies 9.7 million liters daily. (9.7 x 10 to the 6)

Add the average daily (world, not US) use of water at 83 liters per person per day and you get another 5.5 x 10 to the 11 that the Earth does not have access to on any given day to create weather.

I'm not even going into the estimated liters trapped in trash heaps, landfills, etc., or in "modern" burial of bodies.


The Great Lakes in the US hold 6 quadrillion (6 x 10 to the 18) gallons (or 2.27 x 10 to the 19 liters) of fresh water; one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water (only the polar ice caps and Lake Baikal in Siberia contain more).

Now - when you look at these HUGE numbers, the amount in human bodies doesn't seem like that much.

But when you look at it in terms of an incredibly delicate balance that IS the Earth, the numbers add up. You can't take this much water out of circulation and expect the Earth to continue raining like before.

Looking at the future - 2050 say - predictions of between 9 and 9.4 billion are being bantered about. So, 9.2 x 10 to the 9 people using, both in their little jars of bodies or in their use, 1.2 x 10 to the 12 liters of water.

Am I advocating that every adult human become sterile for, say, a 10 year period? Not really.

What I am saying is that it shows humans, even without global warming, even without burning rain forests, even without poor crop management, are creating a very direct impact on desertification. Even if we did everything perfectly, irrigation, stop burning rain forests, proper crop management (retaining topsoil), we would still see deserts increase, droughts increase and huge swings in the rain cycle pendulum.

What can we do? I don't know. Strive for perfection in irrigation, crop management, rain forest restoration. That will at least slow the process.

If my math is off, PLEASE correct me. I did this on paper and am rusty with my exponents.

I've gone over it again and fixed the numbers. I'm sure I'll keep looking it over....