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Wasting less wastewater

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Ultra-pure water is essential for multiple industries, for example semiconductors, batteries, and pharmaceuticals, as well as food and beverage companies.  Such water is produced by various processes including desalination plants that use reverse osmosis.  The byproduct of the processing is industrial brine:  salty wastewater.

The brine produced by desalination is generally dumped into the ocean if the desalination plant is located at the seashore, but if the plant is inland, such as in places like Arizona, that isn’t an option.

Nestle runs a water desalinating plant near Phoenix that generates more than 50,000 gallons of brine every day.  Concentrated brines must be carefully managed and disposed of. 

Researchers at Arizona State University are developing a mobile, closed-loop water recovery demonstration system that aims to recover 50%-90% of previously unusable water from industrial brine and reduce the remainder to solid salt. 

The team’s approach involves pretreating Nestle’s brine to remove larger particles.  It then goes through a reverse osmosis process that results in a stream of high-quality water and a salty concentrate.  The salty concentrate goes through a special membrane that recovers even more pure water.  The highly concentrated brine is then dried and crystalized into a solid salt product.  Atmospheric water harvesters capture any remaining water vapor during the drying process.

In places like Arizona where freshwater is a scarce commodity, finding sustainable ways to separate water from salt is both a scientific challenge and an economic necessity.

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Squeezing every last drop out of wastewater

Photo courtesy of the Global Center for Water Technology.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Volcano monitoring

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Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the U.S. Geological Survey have developed a radar-based volcano monitoring system.  The purpose is to provide situational awareness of volcano behavior and identify volcanoes that are becoming restless before other more obvious indications like earthquake activity occur.

The system is called VolcSARvatory and makes use of interferometric synthetic aperture radar to detect ground movement changes as small as one centimeter.  It utilizes two or more radar images from satellites taken at different times.  The images are used to create a time series of data from a single location.

The system has been in operation since early 2022 and proved to be valuable in studying the unexpected activity at the long-quiet Mount Edgecumbe volcano near Sitka, Alaska where conventional monitoring was not taking place.

According to the researchers, the technology has evolved to the point where it can be operational at a national level.  The goal is to provide a consistent approach to monitoring active volcanoes.

Volcanoes are not a rare and unlikely source of potential danger in this country.  The volcanoes of Hawaii are the best-known active volcanoes in the United States, but Alaska has about 140 volcanoes that are technically classified as active, with more than 50 that have been active within the past 300 years.  In total, 169 U.S. volcanoes are classified as active including ones in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

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Alaska-developed volcano monitoring system will expand across U.S.

Photo, posted March 18, 2013, courtesy of Jeffrey Wickett / USFS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A big year for battery storage

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A decade ago, the ability of utilities to store large amounts of electricity in batteries was basically nonexistent.  In the past several years, growth in battery storage systems has exploded.  As of the end of November, the US had about 24 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity in place.  This is 71% more than just a year ago.  Nearly half of the battery storage in the US is located in California.  Texas, Arizona, and Nevada are also leaders in deploying battery storage.

Battery storage allows solar and wind generating plants to keep operating when there is reduced demand for their output and have the electricity that they produce be available later when demand rises.  Storing this excess electricity essentially extends the hours of the day when clean energy can be used.

Equally important, the existence of battery storage reduces the need for peaker plants, the fossil-fueled power plants that only turn on at times of peak demand, such as during hot afternoons.

There are 1,000 peaker plants in the US and they are generally heavily polluting, inefficient, and expensive to operate.  Some 63 million people live within a three-mile radius of one of them and are exposed to harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide.  Peaker plants also release more greenhouse gases than other power plants do for every unit of electricity they generate.

Many battery storage facilities are co-located with, or otherwise support, solar energy plants.  The amount of solar energy in the US is growing rapidly and surpassed the 100-gigawatt mark in 2024.  As solar power continues to expand, so will battery energy storage.

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Battery projects soared again in 2024

Photo, posted August 3, 2024, courtesy of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Solar energy on federal land

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Officials at the federal Bureau of Land Management announced late in August that they had finalized a plan to add Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming to the Western Solar Plan, which started during the Obama era.   The plan, created in 2012, provides permitting for solar projects on federal land.  The original plan included Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

The Western Solar Plan is a major expansion for clean energy production in the Bureau of Land Management’s land leasing portfolio.  For decades, the BLM has leased tens of millions of acres of federal land to fossil fuel companies for oil, coal, and natural gas exploration and production.

The new addition includes 1.1 million acres of land in Oregon, an area larger than the entire state of Rhode Island.  The land selected is deemed to be of low risk for any adverse environmental effects from solar installation, and the plots of land are all within 15 miles of existing or planned electrical transmission lines.  A little over 50% of Oregon’s land is owned by the federal government and is managed primarily by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.

The publication of the finalized plan at the end of August initiated a 30-day period for any participants in the initial planning to voice objections.  The governors of the 5 new states are reviewing the plan.  Final approval and adoption are expected later this year.

Western states need to expand solar and other clean energy production to meet their climate goals and federal lands will have to play an important role.

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Plan would make 1 million acres of federal land in Oregon available for solar energy projects

Photo, posted May 20, 2024, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Giant batteries and the grid

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All across the country, electric utility companies are starting to use giant batteries to counteract the biggest weakness of renewable energy; namely, that the sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow.  Solar panels and wind turbines can keep generating energy when people don’t need it and batteries can store up that energy for when they do.

Over the past three years, battery storage capacity on US grids has grown by a factor of ten adding up to 16 gigawatts.  This year, it is expected to double again, led by massive growth in Texas, California, and Arizona.

California generates more electricity from solar power than any other state.  But it has a timing problem:  solar power is plentiful during the day, but it disappears in the evening when people get home from work and start using lots of electricity.  The previous solution was to burn lots of fossil fuel to produce it.

This has been changing thanks to battery storage.  Since 2020, California has installed more giant batteries than anywhere else in the world other than China.  Batteries are gradually replacing fossil fuels for California’s evening power needs.  On the evening of April 30th, for example, batteries supplied more than 20% of California’s electricity.  This is equivalent to the output of seven large nuclear reactors.

Batteries have multiple uses in the grid.  They handle big swings in generation from renewable sources, they reduce congestion on transmission lines, and they help to prevent blackouts during heat waves.  Batteries are starting to eat into the market for fossil fuels and will play an ever-growing role in the electricity grid.  As the role of renewables grows, so will the role of batteries.

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Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity

Photo, posted December 5, 2022, courtesy of Jonathan Cutrer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Natural hydrogen

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Hydrogen is considered to be a potential substitute for conventional fossil fuels in applications where electricity cannot easily be used such as in blast furnaces, cement works, industrial heating, long-distance aviation, and shipping.  But most hydrogen is manufactured by separating it from methane, which is energy-intensive and produces carbon dioxide.  So-called green hydrogen is made by splitting water using electricity.  It is a carbon-free process if the electricity is from renewable sources, but it is pretty expensive.

A small community in Mali gets its electricity by burning natural hydrogen, which bubbles up from underground into a village well.  It has long been known that processes in the Earth’s crust can make hydrogen gas from water under certain circumstances.  But conventional wisdom has been that this occurrence is rare and that the hydrogen produced is either inaccessible or seeps away.

An increasing number of geoscientists now are convinced that there is actually an enormous quantity of hydrogen beneath the planet’s surface and that we just haven’t been looking for it in the right places, or at all, for that matter.  Some say that there could be trillions of tons of hydrogen, and more is being generated all the time.

Prospectors have recently been drilling for hydrogen in France, Australia, Morocco, Brazil, and in the United States, in Nebraska, Arizona, and Kansas.  Will extracting natural hydrogen be practical at the scale required and will it be economical?  The jury is still out on all of this, but if it turns out as proponents claim, natural hydrogen could be a very big deal.

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Natural Hydrogen: A Potential Clean Energy Source Beneath Our Feet

Photo, posted November 4, 2012, courtesy of Heather Paul via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

What did the record warmth of 2023 mean?

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2023 was the warmest year in the 174 years of global temperature record-keeping.  According to some analyses, it may have been the warmest year in the past 125,000 years.

There were incredible heatwaves in Arizona and Argentina.  There were relentless wildfires across Canada.  The wintertime ice coverage in the seas surrounding Antarctica was at unprecedented lows

The global temperatures in 2023 did not just beat prior records; they smashed them.  Every month from June through November set all-time monthly temperature records. The US Northeast saw springlike temperatures at the end of the year.  The high temperature in Buffalo, New York on Christmas Day was 58 degrees.

Climate scientists have been predicting the warming trend that has been ongoing over the past several decades.  Indeed, computational models for 2023 called for a warm year.  Various models had a variety of projected temperatures and 2023’s heat was still broadly within the range of what was projected, although certainly at the high end.

The question is whether last year was an indicator that the planet’s warming is accelerating faster than we expect or that it just was a particularly warm year because of cyclical factors such as the El Niño that appeared last spring.

One theory that is being explored is that various types of industrial pollution have previously actually served to cool the atmosphere over time and as those sources are reduced for public health reasons, the warming effects of greenhouse gases have accelerated.

Currently, there is no consensus about why it seems to be getting warmer even faster than many climate models predict.  What there is no doubt about is that it is not a good thing.

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Earth Was Due for Another Year of Record Warmth. But This Warm?

Photo, posted June 8, 2023, courtesy of Anthony Quintano via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Solar Panels On Canals | Earth Wise

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There has been growing interest in installing solar panels on top of reservoirs to make use of the available space to make electricity and reduce evaporation.  There has been far less interest in installing solar on canals and aqueducts.  But that is changing and a new project in California is part of that change.

A study by the University of California, Merced estimates that 63 billion gallons of water would be saved by covering California’s 4,000 miles of canals with solar panels.  All that installed solar would generate a significant amount of electricity.

The idea is going to be tested in the Turlock Irrigation District in Central California with Project Nexus, which is the installation of solar panels over 1.8 miles of canals that are between 20 and 110 feet wide.  The panels will sit between 5 and 15 feet off the ground.  UC Merced researchers will study impacts ranging from evaporation to water quality and use the results to make recommendations with respect to wider use of the technology.

California isn’t the first place to put solar on a canal.  India pioneered it on one of the largest irrigation projects in the world.  The Sardar Sarovar dam and canal project brings water to hundreds of thousands of villages in the dry, arid region of India’s Gujarat State.

Meanwhile, the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona received funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to install solar panels on their canals in an effort to save water and reduce stress on the struggling Colorado River.

The world of water infrastructure does not embrace change easily but covering canals with solar panels is an idea whose time may have come.

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Solar panels on water canals seem like a no-brainer. So why aren’t they widespread?

Photo, posted December 11, 2005, courtesy of Dave Parker via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Phoenix Is Frying | Earth Wise

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The mythical Phoenix is a bird that repeatedly dies in a fire of its own making.  During July, the five million inhabitants of greater Phoenix Arizona may have felt like they were reliving that myth as multiple temperature records were shattered in a massive heatwave.

On June 30, the high temperature in Phoenix was 110 degrees.  From then on, the daily highs were relentlessly at or above 110 degrees, topping out at 119 on July 20.  The previous record for consecutive days at or above 110 was 18 set in June 1974.  The streak continued all the way until July 31, when incoming desert monsoons resulted in the high temperature dropping to 107 degrees – ending the streak at 31 days.  Along the way, there were 16 days with temperatures at or above 115 degrees. 

During the month, there were 17 consecutive days when the lowest temperature in Phoenix was at least 90 degrees.  The previous record for that was 7 days, set in 2020.  Because of these lofty low temperatures, July was also the hottest month in terms of average temperature with a reading well above 102 degrees.  It was the first time that the average temperature has ever been in three digits.  The previous record was 99.1 degrees in 2020.

Phoenix is an extreme case, but it was not alone in having a hot July.  Globally, it was the hottest July on record that included major heat waves in the U.S., Mexico, China, southern Europe, and elsewhere.  The daily record for the hottest average temperature on Earth ever measured was also broken several times during the month.

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Phoenix heat wave is shattering temperature records

Photo, posted September 22, 2022, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Water For Arizona | Earth Wise

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The Phoenix area is the fastest growing region in the country.  Arizona’s two major sources of water – groundwater and the Colorado River – are dwindling from drought, climate change, and overuse.  Officials in the state are considering a radical plan to construct a desalination plant off the Mexican coast that will take the salt out of seawater, and then pipe that water hundreds of miles, much of it uphill, to Phoenix.

The project is the brainchild of the Israeli company, IDE, which is one of the world’s largest desalination companies.  IDE has asked Arizona to sign a 100-year contract to buy water from the project. 

There are multiple complications surrounding the plan.  Desalination plants are common in California, Texas, and Florida, and in more than 100 other countries.  But the Arizona project is unusual because of the distance involved and because the state is landlocked.  The water would have to travel 200 miles and climb 2,000 feet along the way.

There is also the issue of waste brine, which is a major output of desalination plants.  In this case, the brine would flood the northern Gulf of California, potentially threatening a productive fishery.  In addition, the pipeline, as well as electrical transmission lines, would have to go through the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

The plant would be located in Puerto Peñasco, a struggling town with its own water problems.

With booming home construction going on in the Phoenix area, the need for more water continues to grow.  Whether this plan will be approved by Arizona and by Mexico remains to be seen.

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Arizona, Low on Water, Weighs Taking It From the Sea. In Mexico.

Photo, posted September 26, 2008, courtesy of Dan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Harvesting Fresh Water From Ocean Air | Earth Wise

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Roughly three-quarters of the world population has access to a safely managed water source.  That means that one-in-four people do not have access to safe drinking water.  Even in the wealthy United States, persistent drought in the west is creating problems in places like Phoenix, Arizona.

Water is plentiful on Earth but more than 99% of it is unusable by humans and many other living things because it is saline, frozen, or inaccessible.  Only about 0.3% of our fresh water is found in the surface water of lakes, rivers, and swamps.

There is an almost limitless supply of fresh water in the form of water vapor above the oceans, but this source is untapped.  Researchers at the University of Illinois have been evaluating the feasibility of a hypothetical structure capable of capturing water vapor from above the ocean and condensing it into fresh water.

Existing ways to obtain fresh water like wastewater recycling, cloud seeding, and desalination have met only limited success and present various problems with regard to cost, environmental impact, and scalability.

The researchers have proposed hypothetical large offshore structures measuring 700 feet by 300 feet to capture water vapor that is continually evaporating from the ocean in subtropical regions.   Their modeling concluded that such structures could provide fresh water for large population centers in the subtropics.  Furthermore, climate projections show that the amount of water vapor over the oceans will only increase over time, providing even more fresh water supply.

This is only a theoretical study at this point, but the researchers believe it opens the door for novel infrastructure investments that could address global water scarcity.

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Researchers propose new structures to harvest untapped source of fresh water

Photo, posted June 28, 2009, courtesy of Nicolas Raymond via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Climate A Winner In The Elections | Earth Wise

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The dominant issues in midterm elections in November were the economy and abortion rights, but at the same time there were also ballot initiatives in various cities and states across the country related to climate.  What some describe as the ‘silent surprise’ of the election was that these initiatives generally passed and, in some cases, by large majorities.

The most significant of these ballot measures was in New York, where two-thirds  of voters passed the largest environmental bond measure in state history.  The measure funds up to $4.2 billion for environmental improvement projects including increasing flood resiliency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, electrifying school buses, and creating more green and open spaces.

The Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act provides up to $1.5 billion for projects aimed at climate change mitigation.  Another $1.1 billion is targeted for flood risk reduction and waterway restoration.  $650 million goes for water quality and infrastructure improvement. 

Rhode Island voters passed a green bonds act that will allow the state to invest in climate resiliency at the municipal level, as well as local recreation, open space protection, brownfields remediation, and forest and habitat restoration. 

Other climate-related ballot measures passed in Boulder, Colorado and in El Paso, Texas.  There were however a few climate measures that lost.  Proposition 30 in California that would have taxed very high-income residents to encourage sale of electric vehicles failed.  So did Arizona Proposition 310, which would have increased sales taxes by 0.1% to fund fire districts.

But overall, it was a good election for the climate.

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Voters pass historic climate initiatives in ‘silent surprise’ of US midterms

Photo, posted September 24, 2021, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Tepary Beans | Earth Wise

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Tepary beans are an ancient crop native to the northern part of Mexico and the southwestern part of the U.S..  They have been grown in those places by native peoples since pre-Columbian times.  They are still grown in Native American reservations in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert.  One can purchase them from some small farms in that region. 

What sets tepary beans apart from other beans is that they are among the most drought- and heat-tolerant legume crops in the world.  They can be grown without irrigation under conditions that are not viable for other crops.  They can be consumed by people like many other kinds of beans, and they can also provide forage for livestock with better nutrition content than many other plants.  They seem to be a very attractive option for a crop in the changing climate.  What is lacking, at present, is large supplies of tepary seeds to be planted.

Researchers at Texas A&M have been funded to bring tepary beans into modern cropping systems and diets.  The goal is to develop tepary bean cultivars with high biomass and yield that are still well-suited to drought and heat conditions.  Getting the beans to the point of widespread commercialization will take several years.  The end result should be of interest to pulse growers, seed industries, and food companies across the U.S.

Tepary beans are higher in fiber and protein than most other beans.  They come in several different colors, each of which has unique flavor and texture characteristics.  The white ones have a naturally sweet flavor.   The brown beans are slightly nutty in flavor and are similar to pinto beans.  If the Texas program is successful, we may all be eating tepary beans some day.

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Tepary Beans Offer Producers A Low-Input, Climate-Resilient Legume Alternative

Photo, posted August 25, 2017, courtesy of Katja Schulz via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Bringing Back Bison | Earth Wise

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Over the past few decades, research has identified the importance of large mammals like bison as ecosystem engineers.  These animals shape and maintain various natural processes and, in the process, are responsible for the sequestering of large amounts of carbon.  But large mammals – both herbivores and predators – have seen their numbers dwindle over time.  At this point, nearly two-thirds of large carnivores are threatened with extinction.   Overall, less than 6% of worldwide ecosystems have the extensive, intact large-mammal communities that were dominant 500 years ago.

Conservationists around the world have embarked on programs of “rewilding”- reintroducing large mammals into ecosystems.  Some of the animals involved in these programs include brown bears, wild horses, jaguars, reindeer, Eurasian beavers, elk, moose, wolverines, tigers, hippos, and bison.

A group of bison raised in South Dakota have recently been transplanted to the Chihuhuan Desert at the US-Mexico border across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.  There used to be huge bison herds in that region, but it has been largely bison-free for 150 years.

Perhaps more remarkably, wild bison are also being reintroduced into a forest near Canterbury, England.  There haven’t been bison in the United Kingdom for thousands of years.  But conservationists are introducing European bison into the British forest to knock down trees, trample shrubs, and create space for a greater diversity of flora and fauna. 

Apart from the ecosystem goals of the British project, people in the UK, for the first time in over a thousand years, will be able to experience bison in the wild.

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Gone for Thousands of Years, Wild Bison Return to the UK

Photo, posted December 31, 2018, courtesy of Marco Verch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Record Low For Lake Mead | Earth Wise

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Lake Mead is the reservoir that was formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.  The lake spans the Arizona-Nevada border.  It is the largest reservoir in the United States in terms of water capacity.  The lake is part of a system that supplies water to at least 40 million people in seven states and in Northern Mexico.

As of August 22, this year, Lake Mead was filled to just 35% of its capacity.  This low water level is happening while 95% of the land in nine Western states is under some level of drought conditions and 64% of the land is under extreme drought conditions.  A so-called megadrought has been going on for 22 years and may be the worst dry spell in the region in twelve centuries.

As of the end of July, the water elevation at the Hoover Dam was 1,067 feet above sea level, the lowest it has been since April 1937 when the lake was still being filled after dam construction.  The level has dropped by 132 feet since July 2000.  At maximum capacity, Lake Mead reaches an elevation of 1,220 feet and holds 9.3 trillion gallons of water.

With Lake Mead at 35% of capacity, Lake Powell on the Colorado at 31%, and the entire Lower Colorado system at 40%, water allocations for the coming water year are being cut back. Mexico will see a 5% reduction, Nevada will be cut 7%, and Arizona will lose 18% of its apportionment.   This unprecedented official declaration of a water shortage demonstrates the severity of the drought and low reservoir conditions.

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Lake Mead Drops to a Record Low

Photo, posted August 7, 2018, courtesy of Renee Grayson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Dangerous Fire Season | Earth Wise

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The western United States is entering the fire season under much worse drought conditions than last year.  Last year, 15,800 square miles burned in the U.S., mostly in the West.

The western U.S. is in the midst of a 20-year mega-drought.  Rainfall in the Rocky Mountains and farther west was the second lowest on record this April.  The soil in the western half of the country is the driest it has been since 1895.

The situation is particularly bad in California and the Southwest.  In March, less than a third of California was experiencing extreme or exceptional drought.  Now, 73% of the state is.  A year ago, a record-breaking fire season burned 4% of the state and, at that time, only 3% of California was in a state of extreme drought.

A year ago, no parts of Arizona, Nevada, or Utah were in extreme or exceptional drought.  Now, more than 90% of Utah, 86% of Arizona, and 75% of Nevada face severe drought conditions.  At this time last year, only 4% of New Mexico faced extreme drought but 77% does now.

These extreme drought conditions, which are believed to be linked to climate change, are causing increased tree mortality among many species, ranging from junipers in the Southwest even to drought-tolerant blue oaks in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Conditions are extremely ripe for a lot of forest fire this year.  Last year was a terrible year for wildfires in the West and we are heading into a fire season with much drier fuels than there were last year.  The risks of great damage from wildfires are higher than ever.

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US West Enters Fire Season Facing Extremely Dry Conditions

Photo, posted September 18, 2020, courtesy of USFS/National Interagency Fire Center via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Widespread Drought | Earth Wise

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As the U.S. enters the last part of the summer, fully one-third of the country is experiencing at least a moderate level of drought.   Much of the West is reaching severe drought conditions and New England has been unusually dry and hot.  In total, over 50 million Americans are living in drought-affected areas.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor program, more than 93% of Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico are experiencing drought to some degree.  More than 60% of both Utah and Colorado are in severe drought.   More than three-quarters of Oregon, Arizona, and Wyoming are also in drought.  And most of these areas had no sign of drought this time last year.

Severe drought conditions result in stunted and browning crops, limited pasture yields, dust storms, reduced well water levels, and an increase in the number and severity of wildfires.

Warm air temperatures and minimal snowfall in spring set the stage for this summer’s drought conditions.  A ridge of high pressure over the northeastern Pacific Ocean pushed the jet stream farther north than usual.  And, once again, there has been a failure of the southwestern monsoon in Arizona and New Mexico and the Four Corners region.  Monsoon rains provide half of the year’s precipitation in many of those areas. 

Instead, there has been extreme heat in the region.  Phoenix has already smashed the record for the most days over 110oF in a calendar year (42 as of August 18), with five months to go.  Las Vegas hasn’t seen measurable rainfall since April, and Cedar City, Utah has recorded a record low of 0.05 inches of rain this summer.

Conditions are not expected to get better for a couple of months.

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A Third of the U.S. Faces Drought

Photo, posted May 7, 2014, courtesy of Tyler Bell via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Conserving The Colorado River | Earth Wise

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Last year, we talked about the troubles facing the Colorado River.  Nearly two decades of drought conditions have reduced the water levels of the two largest reservoirs of Colorado River water and have threatened the water supply of millions of people in the region.  Clear scientific evidence shows that climate change is constricting the iconic river and will do further damage as temperatures rise.

Faced with these facts, water resource managers have been implementing conservation policies in the region and the results so far are very encouraging.

The use of Colorado River water in the three states of the river’s lower basin – Arizona, California, and Nevada – fell to a 33-year low in 2019.  The three states consumed just over 6.5 million acre-feet for the year, which is about 1 million acre-feet less than the three states are entitled to use under the legal agreement that allocates Colorado River water.

The last time water consumption from the river was that low was in 1986, which is the year that Arizona opened a large canal that extracts river water for its entitlement. 

A key indicator of river health is the depth of Lake Mead, the largest reservoir of Colorado River water.  It has been steadily dropping in recent years, but last year, with the reduced consumption, the water level actually increased by 12 feet.

According to water managers, the steady drop in water consumption in recent years is a sign that conservation efforts are working and that there are strategies that can deal with chronic shortages on the river in the future.  It represents an important demonstration that it is possible to use less water in a region that irrigates 5 million acres of farmland and has 40 million people in 2 countries and 29 tribal nations.

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Remarkable Drop in Colorado River Water Use a Sign of Climate Adaptation

Photo, posted July 7, 2015, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Urban Agriculture And Sustainability Goals

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In 2016, the City Council of Phoenix, Arizona adopted eight Environmental Sustainability goals for 2050 that lay out the desired long term requirements in order to become a Sustainable Desert City.  Recently, a group of researchers from Arizona State University assessed how urban agriculture can help Phoenix, a desert city of 1.6 million people, meet those sustainability goals.  

Using public records and high-resolution satellite imagery, researchers analyzed the potential benefits of growing crops in three types of urban areas in Phoenix: vacant lots, rooftops, and building facades.  The study, which was supported by the National Science Foundation and the USDA, estimated that there are 28 square miles (or 5.4% of city space) available for urban agriculture.  The data-driven analysis found that 71% of the available areas for urban agriculture would come from existing buildings as opposed to vacant lots. 

All this available space for urban agriculture in Phoenix could supply the city with nearly 183,000 tons of fresh produce annually, which would allow for the delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables to all of the city’s existing food deserts. In fact, the city’s own urban-agriculture output could meet 90% of the fresh produce demand that currently exists in Phoenix. 

In addition to producing food, rooftop agriculture could also reduce the energy use in buildings by 3% per building per year, and displace more than 55,000 tons of CO2 annually.  The use of vacant lots could increase the total Phoenix green space by 17%, and reduce the number of areas lacking green space by 60%.   

This study demonstrates the many different ways that urban agriculture can benefit a city. 

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Urban agriculture can push the sustainability

Photo, posted May 10, 2011, courtesy of Stephen Zank via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

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