Tag Archive for 'drought'

Page 2 of 4

Water crisis pushes Israel to approve world’s 2nd-largest desalination plant

Published on 05/25/2011 in desalination, drought, management and water technology. 0 Comments Tags: desalination, drought, israel, peakwater, SDL, Soreq, Water, water crisis.

Retrieved from: merco press

“The Finance Ministry has approved the construction and operation of a desalination plant in Soreq in southern Israel. Officials said the facility would contain a capacity to produce 150 million cubic meters of drinking water per year, or the second largest desalination plant in the world.

“On completion of the plant, which is one of the world’s biggest desalination plants, the desalinated water will constitute over 65 percent of the economy’s domestic water consumption,” Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said. “This step will make a significant contribution to solving Israel’s water crisis.”

“On May 23, the ministry signed an agreement for the $400 million project with an Israeli-led joint venture, SDL. SDL was owned by Israel’s IDE Technologies and the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Water International Holdings, winners of a desalination tender.

“Officials said the desalination pant would be completed in 2013. They said the 100-dunam facility, designed to operate on reverse osmosis technology, would be based on the so-called build-own-transfer model, designed to avoid government ownership. Investment in the project has included the European Union’s European Investment Bank.”

Sharing Lake Okeechobee’s declining water supply stresses environment

Published on 05/19/2011 in drought, lakes and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: drought, everglades, Florida, lake Okeechobee, Palm Beach, peakwater, Water.

Retrieved from: sun sentinel

“Lake Okeechobee’s declining water level strains urban and environmental water supplies alike, as South Florida waits for drought-quenching summer rains to bring relief.

“Lake Okeechobee serves as South Florida’s primary back-up water supply, but on Wednesday it neared the point where it would drop too low to keep sending water south.

“That heightens the difficulty for the South Florida Water Management District to meet the sometimes competing water needs of the environment, agriculture and community supplies.

“The lake hit 10.57 feet Wednesday, 4 feet lower than this time last year and 2.7 feet below normal.

“At 10.5 feet the lake would be too low for gravity to keep sending water to the canals that deliver lake water that sugar cane growers and other agriculture rely on for irrigation.

“Those canals also deliver lake water to the Everglades water conservation areas, west of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

“In addition to hydrating the northern reaches of the Everglades, water in the conservation areas helps supplement community water supplies in southeast Florida.

“As of mid May, more than 60 percent of the land in the vast Everglades water conservation areas was dry.

“It becomes very difficult to move water,” Susan Sylvester, district director of operations, said about the lake’s continued decline. “We are really looking for those wet season rains to kick in.”

“The district can temporarily install pumps to keep water flowing south after the lake drops below 10.5 feet, but those pumps move less than half what the canals can usually provide.”

Lake Mead to receive extra water from feds

Published on 04/10/2011 in drought, rivers, water diversions and water shortage. 1 Comment Tags: Colorado River, Colorado River running dry, drought, Lake Mead.

Photo retrieved from: hikearizona.com

“The federal government will release enough extra water into drought-stricken Lake Mead in the coming months to avoid shortages on the lower Colorado River for as long as five years.

“The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said Friday that runoff from snow in the mountains of Wyoming and Colorado is expected to increase storage on the river enough to adjust water levels at two key reservoirs and avert drought restrictions.

“The decision comes just six months after Lake Mead dropped to within 7 feet of a level that would have triggered drought restrictions. Under those restrictions, Arizona would have lost about 11 percent of its allocation for at least one year.

“Arizona officials had prepared contingency plans that included forfeiting a small amount of the state’s allocation as a hedge against larger losses. Those plans are no longer necessary.

“”We still want to be somewhat cautious,” said Tom McCann, assistant general manager of the Central Arizona Project, which delivers Colorado River water to Phoenix and Tucson. “We’ve been in drought for 11 years. We’ve had a good year, and that’s very helpful. It pushes us further away from shortages, but it doesn’t mean the drought is over.”

Water managers brace for more dry times

Published on 02/28/2011 in desertification, drought, management and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: drought, Rio Grande, river restoration, water management.

http://www.alhann.com/NM2007/Day9/RioGrande_1200h.jpg

Photo retrieved from: alhann.com

“His boots dusty from walking along the banks of the Rio Grande, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael Connor scanned the water’s edge and watched a flush of ducks pass before listening to a detailed explanation of the recent work that went into revitalizing this stretch of river in central New Mexico.

“The ground remained bare where earth was moved to lower the banks to a more natural state. The dry skeletons of cottonwood trees were place in the river to provide cover for endangered fish. And behind Connor, the thinned forest of cottonwoods and willows showed signs of recovery after a few years of not having to compete with invasive nonnative vegetation.

“The restoration work along Sandia Pueblo’s section of the Rio Grande is just the latest effort by tribal, state and federal water managers as they grapple with persistent drought across the West, the uncertainties of climate change, endangered species concerns and growing demand for a limited resource.”

Fighting For Water In Arid Imperial Valley

Published on 02/11/2011 in agriculture, dams, desertification, drought, lakes, peak water, rivers, water conservation, water diversions and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: california water policy, Colorado River, drought, flood irrigation, Imperial valley, over consumption, peak water, water diversion.

An irrigation channel brings Colorado River water from the All American Canal to a newly planted lettuce field.

Retrieved from: NPR

“Southern California’s Imperial Valley produces about 80 percent of the nation’s winter vegetables. But years of drought, and a population boom in the Southwest, now threaten the water supply in the desert region — and all those cheap winter greens.

“The next time you eat a salad this winter, picture the valley Vince Brooke is driving through: a beige desert set against glittering fields of green.

“The water is from the Colorado River — the lifeblood of a billion-dollar agricultural industry in the Imperial Valley. The system works, thanks to the giant cement Imperial Dam.

“In a newsreel from 1930, a narrator describes “the Imperial Valley, once dry and barren, with the help of water from the Colorado yields rich crops when irrigated.”

“There was just one problem. When Imperial Dam was built, the region was in the midst of the wettest period of the past millennium, and the Colorado River was mighty.

“But 11 years of drought — and more thirsty Southwest sprawl than the newsreel narrator could’ve dreamed — mean trouble for Imperial farmers. Soon, there may not be enough water to go around and still make the desert bloom.

“That could bring an end to the area’s days of growing sweet corn, onions, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli.

“The strategy was pretty much “first come, first served.” And Imperial Valley farmers got served a torrent — priority rights to almost a fifth of the entire river. That represented more water than Arizona and Nevada received combined.

“Lake Mead — the reservoir that holds Colorado River water for the Imperial Valley and most of the Southwest — has a 50 percent chance of drying up in as few as 10 years, according to climate researchers. That’s assuming the region’s water use doesn’t undergo fundamental change.”

Aztec, Bloomfield oppose water rights settlement

Published on 02/01/2011 in desertification, drought, policy, rivers, water diversions and water rights. 0 Comments Tags: aztec, bloomfield, drought, san juan navajo rights settlement, san juan river, Water rights.

Photo retrieved from: tripwow.tripadvisor.com

“Fearful of losing water rights to the Navajo Nation, Aztec and Bloomfield have joined forces to oppose sections of the San Juan Navajo Water Rights Settlement before it is brought to the 11th District Judicial Court.

“The two cities are expected to be joined in their litigation by thousands of San Juan County residents, all of whom hope to modify the amount of water granted to the Navajo Nation in a settlement which has been battled since the 1960s.

“”Bloomfield and Aztec aren’t opposed to the settlement. They just want to make sure the settlement amount of water proposed is fair,” said Richard B. Cole, attorney for the cities of Aztec, Bloomfield and Farmington.

“The settlement, which was signed in December by former Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr. and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, has been resolved between the state, the United States and the Navajo Nation. It grants approximately 600,000 acre-feet of diversions and 325,670 acre-feet of depletions from the San Juan River to the Navajo Nation. One acre-foot is approximately 43,560 cubic feet.

“The amount of water that Aztec and Bloomfield will contest is undecided, but the goal is to secure the cities’ surplus storage usually used in drought years.”

Prompted By Scarcity, Colorado River Basin States Examine Their Lifeline

Published on 01/30/2011 in drought, management, tap water, water shortage and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: Colorado River, drought, peak water, water crisis, water scarcity.

Retrieved From: Circle of Blue

“The worst drought in the 105-year historical record of the Colorado River has opened a new era of water scarcity that is prompting state and federal water managers to evaluate never before considered options for increasing water supply and reducing demand.

“The new ideas for managing the seven-state river basin, which supplies water to 30 million residents and thousands of farms, have attracted increasing attention from agricultural users and other big water interests, particularly in the upper basin states that counted on receiving more water under the region’s near-century-old water use agreement.

“New options for managing the Colorado include establishing provisions for year-to-year agreements with states and farmers to avoid shortages. They also include improvements in the efficiency of river operations, or by river augmentation, which means adding new supplies from a slew of sources—some viable, some expensive, and some fanciful: desalination, river diversions, and weather modification, respectively.”

Lingering drought may cut water supply in east China province

Published on 01/28/2011 in drought, tap water and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: china, drought, water shortage.

Photo retrieved from: seawayblog.blogspot.com

“Water supplies to nearly one million people will cease if a drought in east China’s Shandong Province lasts until the end of March, disaster prevention officials warned Thursday, as much of China’s northern region continued to experience less than average rainfall, which started months ago.

“The drought is the worst in six decades, said Yang Zhendong, director of the provincial flood and drought control office.

“Little rain has fallen in the province since September, with only 12 millimeters since September 23, about 15 percent of the normal level, he said.

“Officials said some 3.2 million people across the province have been affected by the shortage.”

California water wars focus on Salton Sea, Colorado River pact

Published on 01/17/2011 in agriculture, desertification, drought, groundwater, tap water and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: California water crisis, Colorado River, drought, management, Salton Sea, tap water.

“The evaporating Salton Sea is the flashpoint for the latest dispute in California’s water wars, testing an uneasy alliance of farmers and city dwellers to wean the state from reliance on Colorado River water.

“California officials agreed in 2003 to stop taking more than its share from the Colorado, ensuring that Arizona and Nevada don’t get shortchanged. The plan’s centerpiece called for shifting enough water from the agricultural Imperial Valley to serve nearly 600,000 San Diego area homes.

“The huge farm-to-city water transfer threatened California’s largest lake . More than 200 feet below sea level, the Salton Sea survives on water that seeps through the soil of Imperial Valley farms.

“For seven years, the solution has been to pump enough water into the Salton Sea to offset what was lost to San Diego. The 350-square-mile lake is evaporating at a rate of roughly 450 million gallons a year, but the thinking was to prevent the San Diego transfer from hastening its demise.”

PAKISTAN: Harvesting rain, restoring dignity

Published on 04/24/2010 in drought and rainwater harvesting. 0 Comments Tags: drought, pakistan, rainwater collection, rainwater harvesting, Thardeep Rural Development Programme, UNICEF.

“Tharparker District in Sindh Province, southern Pakistan, is among the most arid regions in the country. Limited rainfall, brackish underground water and the private ownership of wells by an elite minority have made access to potable water very difficult for much of the district’s 900,000 mostly rural inhabitants.

“However, an innovative project by local NGO Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP) in conjunction with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Sindh is helping alleviate Tharparker’s drought problems.”