Tuesday, July 14, 2015

WATER WARs the future is scary. First the Farmer then the people




 Even if you don't believe is global warming, the issue of water needs to be addressed . Drinkable water , aquifer depletion  are all going to effect us and our Children 

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/of-drought-and-men-in-the-west/#


Farming in the northeast corner of Colorado used to be simple: plant corn and watch it grow, irrigated by the massive Ogallala aquifer. Today the sprinklers at Marvin Pletcher’s farm in Yuma County, about 120 miles from Denver, put out half as much water as a decade ago, and he keeps them low to the ground to prevent evaporation. Half of Pletcher’s 1,300 acres are planted with wheat, sorghum, sunflowers, and pinto beans—crops that are less thirsty than corn, but also less profitable. “I have four wells in operation. In 10 years I’ll be lucky if I have one,” says the fourth-generation farmer. “We’re all drinking from the same bowl of water here, and when it’s gone, it’s gone.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-02/great-plains-water-crisis-aquifer-s-depletion-threatens-farmland


Our fisheries are also  being threatened, not only by over fishing . Our waste is killing our rivers and the oceans .

Every year about this time, the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone develops (Figure 1).
It's one of many that form at river deltas across the world (Figure 2).
In the southern US, a large one normally shows up at the Mississippi River outlet .
As the 2,300 mile long Mississippi river flows from the northern part of the US through New Orleans, it carries pollution consisting of runoff from storm drains, water treatment plants, factories and fertilizers just to name a few and drains them into the Gulf of Mexico.
Once there, the pollutants especially phosphates and nitrogen from fertilizers stimulate the overgrowth of algae (Figure 4).
Eventually, the algae sinks and dies.  The resulting decomposition consumes the water's oxygen supply and kills much of the marine life.
This year, flood waters flowing into the gulf from Texas and Louisiana may increase the extent of the Dead Zone.  It could expand west toward the Colorado, Brazos, Trinity, Sabine and Atachafalaya deltas.
http://www.ktbs.com/story/29523527/growing-gulf-of-mexico-dead-zone

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