Essay

Now Arizona is not the typical state that has a lot of precipitation and rain yearly, but it depends off other reservoirs, lakes, and rivers located in other states to for their water supply. After searching and conducting research, it was found that the main impact Arizona is suffering from the drought is decreasing water levels is from Lake Mead (located in Nevada), and the Colorado River, which flows North to South through several U.S. states. Research and data found shows that the Bureau of Reclamation releases water into the Colorado River below Lake Mead to meet water demands of downstream users in Arizona and California, and also to satisfy treaty obligations to the Republic of Mexico. Findings by the Bureau of Reclamation show that Lake Mead water level’s peaked at 1,214.26 in January of 2000. Almost a decade and a half later, recorded in January 2014, the water levels of Lake Mead are now 1,108.75 (Smith, 2014). This findings show that Arizona is continually getting a decline in water from Lake Mead every month that passes, affects thousands of residents living in Arizona, which already lacks water to begin with. If this continues, this can cause many civilians to both stand by and bare the drought as long as they can, or decide to move out of Arizona to states with a better water supply, so they won’t be burdened with the continual burden of having to ration and conserve water. The state has

4. Inventory Resources and Identify Groups at Risk- It is crucial to take an inventory of natural, biological, and human resources. For obvious reasons water is the most valuable natural resource in this situation; its location, accessibility, and quality. The biological resources refer to the quality and quantity of grasslands or rangelands, forests, wildlife, and so forth. Human resources are the labor needed to develop water resources and haul water, process citizen complaints, provide technical assistance, and direct citizens to available services. It is important to define the exposure of various parts of the region to drought hazard to determine which groups are at risk (Wilhite, Hayes, & Knutson, 2005).

Administrators at the CAP Strategic Initiatives and Public Policy Office predict that the 2.8 million acre feet of water delivered to Arizona, will soon decline. The CAP issue brief states, “…there is a significant probability of an official declaration of shortage in the Colorado River water supply starting as early as 2016 or shortly after” (CAP, 2014). An official declaration of a shortage would be determined by the Secretary of the Interior, and the decision is based on the elevation of the water in Lake Meade. The person in this position checks the status of the Colorado River annually. The Secretary of Interior can either call a

The farmers need water for their crops and I don’t think that they want to grow less crops, also the people that don’t get a lot of water or anyone that does should get the water.

“California’s water future is increasingly uncertain,” says Heather Cooley, in her article California Needs Better Water Management and Pricing Policies (Source A). Agriculture uses 80 percent of California’s constrained water supply and proves to be the primary source of California’s drought. There has been no permanent and largely successful conservation effort to save water. However, with a reformed water management and conservation system, California’s largest industry, agriculture, can thrive while saving water at the same time.

Though most are blaming the drought for these frustrating new norms, the farmers are not buying it. Not with controversial legalities such as the Endangered Species Act blatantly standing in between them and available water. Environmental regulations and the United States laws are receiving backlash for their representation of the resources exploited by human production. Though farmers and consumers will be forced to continue to adapt, regulations protecting highly underrepresented species and habitats should not be overlooked in order for Americans to continue to live blind to the fact that resources are limited. We can only resist adapting to accommodate species other than ourselves for so long before reality humbles us to the point of our own devastation.

There is an alarming situation emerging in the Southwestern United States where record setting drought conditions persist and the forecast for the future warns of continued drought conditions. Effects of the drought are as visible as they are alarming; Lake Mead, one of the largest reservoirs in this region is well below its high water mark leaving officials to wondering how they can continue to provide both water and electricity to the region. According to the National Climate Assessment 2014, ninety-two percent of this region uses irrigation to water crops accounting for seventy-nine percent of the water withdrawals (Garfin). In addition, a study by NASA concludes droughts in the Southwest United States may be longer and drier than previous droughts in the last one thousand years (Cole). The ongoing drought in the Southwestern United States is driving water reserves to dangerously low levels, adversely affecting an agricultural system that will have ripple effects throughout the entire country, unless the farmers of this region can learn to farm without water they may not survive.5

The debate concerning where California’s water supply should go, is between allowing farmers to have it, or sending it to streams to help the Chinook Salmon. Since California’s drought has been going on for 5 years now, where the water should go is a great concern to most. If the unassigned water in California is not sent to the farmers then jobs will be lost, food prices will rise even more so than they already are, and the groundwater and surface water will be negatively affected.

Innovative agricultural enterprises such as Sundrop should be funded by the Government in order to address South Australia’s increasing water shortages. Sundrop is an agriculture business, running greenhouse practicing various technology solutions to produce crops with small dependence on finite resources than orthodox farming. One of the primary arguments to support this is due to the fact that South Australia’s agriculture is a vital part of the nation’s economy. In fact, statistics show that from 2015 to 2016, agriculture has generated $18.6 billion in revenue, which is 45% of the state’s total merchandise exports (Economic Priorities, 2017). Sundrop’s initiatives to harvest and desalinate sea water has been coined as one of the greatest

“It is forecasted that agriculture will use the most water with about 400 billion cubic meters” (Document C). “Power uses the most water in the agriculture sector with 30%” (document D). In the future, it is forecasted that agriculture will still be using the most water and power is said to be using the most water. This problem helps explain China’s water shortage, so they can cut back on some water for power, and it also helps the government knows what is driving the water shortage and now that they know what the problem is they can find ways to solve it and cut back agriculture amount of

The Murray Darling Basin is Australia’s food bowl, producing over 50 per cent of Australia's irrigated produce in 2012-13. To produce all of these foods a lot of water goes into the process of caring for them, just one apple is 125 litres of water. Imagine how much water an irrigator would use if he had an orchard with 50 apple trees in it, each producing hundreds of apples per year. For the MDB to continue producing so much food and being Australia’s food bowl it needs water so that irrigators can water their crops and then sell the food around Australia. The Murray Darling Basin Plan aims to increase environmental flows and cut back on farmers allocated water amounts. Some farmers reject this idea completely as they need all the water they

The effective management of water quantity is an urgent issue facing Australia. Therefore, in response, various groups have been involved in the decision making process addressing the issue. Supplying Sydney with fresh, abundant and high in quality water is a significant geographical issue. A range of organisations have the responsibility for water management and addressing the issues that come along with it. Different groups target different issues such as the quality, quantity, recycling the water, conserving it and educating communities about the issue. Various groups that have been involved in the decision making process include The Australian Water Association, Water Group, Every Drop Counts Business Program and The water management (WM) chair group. The

To start with the first policy option an effort must take place to test the efficiency of current allocation rates. In an attempt to do so, a simple model will be used to determine what an efficient allocation would be. To further simplify the model, it will consist of only Upper and Lower basins, averaging statistics taken from the states located within each basin. This simple model will allow variables to be changed to help identify how they interact with the efficient allocation of water. To perform this model, it is necessary to have a demand

In this present world, some emerging issues should be taken in consideration for future planning as these issues are going to increase day by day in near future. These most important issues are: rising population, increasing urbanization, growth in development and climate change. According to United Nations Department of Economy And Social Affairs (UNDESA), the projected increase of global water

Water covers approximately seventy percent of the Earth surface, but less than one percent of that is available for human use. The world must share this small amount for agricultural, domestic, commercial industrial and environment needs. Across the globe, water consumption has tripled in the last fifty years. Managing the supply and availability of water is one of the most critical natural resource issues facing the United States and