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Posts published in “Day: July 11, 2023”

Nary a drop

For many a decade, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Washington have stood solidly united to protect Northwest water.  "Nary a drop," they've said repeatedly as the Southwest states pounded on the door.

 

Well, now the issue in some of those thirsty states has turned to a battle within.  A battle of who gets what as demand for water exceeds supply.  And, it's getting a bit nasty.

Southern California is a vista of farmland.  Farmland irrigated for decades, underwritten by very old water rights.  But now, as cities in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada continue amazing growth, many of those water rights are being sold.  Sold to investors who are building pipelines to where the people are congregating.  Sold to support growth which will return rich rewards to those investors as they sell - or lease - water to municipalities.  Or just hold onto 'em.

While this new supply of "liquid gold" serves that growing population demand presently, those farmlands of cotton, alfalfa, hay, potatoes and other needed crops are beginning to look like the desert from which they came.  And, farmers are getting out of the business.

The water which formerly grew those crops is now going into municipal reservoirs, many of which have been losing capacity given the new and ever increasing demands.

One investment groups is Greenstone which recently bought out 485 acres of Arizona farmland just for the water rights.  That water will be diverted and land which, historically, had been verdant, will now be useless.

Greenstone and similar ventures have bought out nearly nine-thousand acres in three Arizona counties.  Yuma County residents on Arizona's Southwest corner are getting worried about having enough of a water supply in what remains.

The state's largest newspaper - the Arizona Republic - did some document-searching and found two major investment outfits have taken title to about six-thousand acres in Arizona.  The accompanying water rights are being diverted to where the people are - feeding a thirsty population and not the thirsty - formally verdant - Arizona desert.

It's doubtful this new source of diverted water will continue to indefinitely fill the growing need in Southwest states.  That means pressure for an even greater supply will continue in the Northwest.

Water tables in the Southwest are dropping to new lows at record rates.

Most cities and counties are trying to make people aware of the situation in flashy media campaigns.  They're also cracking down on large, wasteful users when they can.

The community in which I lived a year ago boasts of it's "award-wining" system of re-injecting excess water into the vast, declining underground source from whence most of it came.  Fine.  Even great!   Except that underground supply is dropping month after month.  Wells are being drilled deeper than ever before.  The source - even re-supplied by good use practices -  is dropping, caused by the pressures of new growth.

Which poses a problem for the vast network of retirement communities in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.  The big, BIG selling point offered new retirees is golf.  Literally thousands of lush 18-hole courses.  All are kept a beautiful green by golf professionals and their crews.  All watered from various sources.  Sources which are slowly running out.

According to a golf pro I talked to, an 18-hole course in hot Arizona can use one-billion gallons a year!  Yes, a billion!  Even if it uses re-injection.  Now, consider a retirement community with eight courses.  Yes, eight!  Then, add 45 courses in one county.

So, if you take a golfing community with nine 18-hole courses and start cutting back on either the number of courses or the number of holes - what's left to draw newcomers?  And, what happens to property values of those who bought into the golf lure?  Where will the next generation of buyers come from?

So, farmlands are being lost.  Lifestyles are being changed.  New and often harsher penalties for wasting water are likely.  Recreation availabilities are already being limited.  Shortages of water - not by the glass, but by the drop -  heading into our foreseeable future.

Never thought I'd says this.  But, large portions of this country may not be habitable in the distant future.  Direct sources of water may determine where we live and how many of us can be sustained.  Sure looks that way.

(image/Wikimedia Commons, division-CSIRO)