The Strain on the Colorado River and Water Conservation
The current strains on the Colorado River are well documented and expected to do nothing but worsen over the coming decades. The Colorado winds over 1400 miles and supplies water to seven states. A drought coupled with population growth have put supply demands upon the river that it cannot maintain. In fact, a recent study conducted by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego stated there is a 50% chance that the massive Lake Mead could run dry by 2021.
Bottom line is that the current usage levels are simply not sustainable at all. Without fundamental shifts in water management, the result will be shortages and difficult decisions about who in the seven states the river serves will get water and who will go without, said Dave Wegner, science director for the Glen Canyon Institute.
Last year, officials from the seven states and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne signed an agreement aimed at conserving and sharing scarce Colorado River water. The 20 yr plan formalized rules for cooperating during the ongoing drought.
It is clear that water conservation will become more and more important over the coming years and that the future of the Colorado River and Lake Mead's functionality is at risk.
The massive oil skimmer A Whale is being tested and readied to join the fight cleaning up the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Read More
Concerns are growing as Hurricane Alex gains strength in the southern Gulf of Mexico as to how it could effect the ongoing efforts to stem and cleanup the oil spill off Louisiana.
Read More
President Barack Obama is demanding BP set aside billions of dollars to pay damages from the Gulf oil spill catastrophe. He is seeking to counter an image of detached leadership in the oil spill.
Read More
The terrible oil slick reached the pristine Florida peninsula beaches Friday and President Obama finally took off the gloves and lashed out at British Petroleum.
Read More
Everything we have thrown at the spewing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has failed and it looks like the leak could continue for weeks and even months.
Read More