Flexibility and reform may prove key to dealing with the ongoing drought
By John Upton and Climate Central | April 14, 2015
Unlike its golden-brown neighbor further south, Washington state was blessed with relatively generous storms over winter. But, as was the case in drought-stricken California,...
Climate officials are warning that this winter’s El Niño weather pattern is likely to be one of the strongest on record, bringing huge storms and a cold, wet winter for many – but nowhere near enough rainfall to reverse the disastrous long-term drought in the western US.
Any heavy rainfall will be ...
We live in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. It’s not a Mad Max landscape, but there’s a water shortage around here. With drought and warming summer temperatures, we decided to share five ways we’re conserving water.
1. Make berms and basins
We learned this a few years ago from Brad Lancaster—rainwater ha...
Hey, Seattle. Remember last winter? How pleasantly warm and dry it was, almost like you live somewhere reasonable and not in a pool of tepid water near Canada? Well, you’re paying for it now.
In a new article on Investigate West, reporter Robert McClure looks at the future of the city’s dwindling s...
by Elias Garcia
California looms at the precipice of a water crisis unseen in the history of the region. While many commentators and politicians are quick to blame markets for over-consumption, the current management system represents anything but open markets. For years, the government ...
About 38 million people in California, Nevada, Arizona, four other states and Mexico depend on the Colorado River for their water supply. As increased usage and years of drought diminish the river's flow, states are forming strategies to deal with what some experts call peak water--the point at whic...
Hugh Beggs of Santa Rosa, Calif., searched for coins in the middle of the Russian River in Healdsburg, taking advantage of the below-normal water flow.
By Adam Nagourney and Ian Lovett NEW YORK TIMES FEBRUARY 02, 2014
LOS ANGELES — The punishing drought that has swept California and much of ...
By Joby Warrick August 17, 2014
WILLOWS, Calif. — When the winter rains failed to arrive in this Sacramento Valley town for the third straight year, farmers tightened their belts and looked to the reservoirs in the nearby hills to keep them in water through the growing season.
When those faltered,...
Drought, and the resulting shortage of melting snow, is driving the historic water shortages across much of the American West.
By Dennis Dimick, National Geographic
PUBLISHED APRIL 06, 2015
Last week, California Governor Jerry Brown announced his state’s first-ever mandatory water restricti...
By Dennis Dimick, National Geographic
PUBLISHED AUGUST 21, 2014
Aquifers provide us freshwater that makes up for surface water lost from drought-depleted lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. We are drawing down these hidden, mostly nonrenewable groundwater supplies at unsustainable rates in the western ...
Americans tend to take it for granted that when we open a tap, water will come out.
Western states have been dealing with water problems for a while, but they won't be alone for long.
As drought, flooding, and climate change restrict America's water supply, demands from population growth and energ...
Nearly three-quarters of new Oregon residents come from western states, many of which are suffering from severe water shortages.
PORTLAND, Ore. – It’s no surprise that Oregon, especially Portland, is a hot destination for transplants from around the country. Anyone who sits in Portland’s increasing...
In 1922, seven Western states — Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming and California — drew up an agreement on how to divide the waters of the Colorado River. But there was one big problem with the plan: They overestimated how much water the river could provide.
As a result, each sta...
