Water Wars - Mexico

Israel goingbto desal water and pump to lakes

Israel is pumping water from the Med to refill a lake - CNN

 

Wyoming girds for a fight over Green, Little Snake River water (msn.com)

A water fight is brewing in the West, and Wyoming water officials want to prepare for it with a study aimed at parsing and defining the state’s consumption from its Colorado River tributaries.

Anticipating a drier future and either voluntary or imposed restrictions, Wyoming should undertake a “conveyance-loss study,” Jason Mead, interim director of the Wyoming Water Development Office, told the state Water Development Commission on Oct. 6. The goal, State Engineer Brandon Gebhart told the WWDC, is to have a “defensible consumptive-use number to take to the other states,” when and if push comes to shove and Colorado River Basin water users face cuts to irrigation, industrial or municipal uses.

When Colorado River Basin water rights were divvied up starting in 1922, officials overestimated the amount of water the system would produce each year and ultimately promised more water to stakeholders than actually existed. Climate change, drought, shifting weather patterns and a population explosion in the region have exacerbated that initial over-subscription.

Further complicating the picture, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation — the government’s Western water agency — admits there’s “an inability to exactly quantify these uses.” This “has led to various differences of opinion” regarding who gets to use how much water, the BOR states in a 2022 accounting of the river’s flows and uses.

 

Middle eastern countries shippng millions of gallons of water in alfalfa to the ME to feed their cattle while private and muni wells go dry. Large scale food and crop production needs to relocate out of arid climates

Wells are running dry in drought-weary Southwest as foreign-owned farms guzzle water to feed cattle overseas | CNN

Now frustration is growing in Arizona’s La Paz County, as shallower wells run dry amid the Southwest’s [COLOR=var(--theme-paragraph__link-color)]worst drought in 1,200 years[/COLOR]. Much of the frustration is pointed at the area’s huge, foreign-owned farms growing thirsty crops like alfalfa, which ultimately get shipped to feed cattle and other livestock overseas.

You can’t take water and export it out of the state, there’s laws about that,” said Arizona geohydrologist Marvin Glotfelty, a well-drilling expert. “But you can take ‘virtual’ water and export it; alfalfa, cotton, electricity or anything created in part from the use of water.”
Residents and local officials say lax groundwater laws give agriculture the upper hand, allowing farms to pump unlimited water as long as they own or lease the property to drill wells into. In around 80% of the state, Arizona has no laws overseeing how much water corporate megafarms are using, nor is there any way for the state to track it.

 

feds proposing to cut water rights to states receiving Colorado River water unilaterally and equally. seems reasonable

Biden's Colorado River Proposal Will Cut Water to Three States (msn.com)

The Biden Administration is taking action to preserve the dwindling water in the Colorado River, a proposal from the United States Department of Interior (DOI) revealed on Tuesday.

Stressed by population growth, overuse and parched by a years-long drought that has plagued the region, the Colorado River is suffering. States in the lower Colorado basin have been negotiating for months to draft a plan that would preserve the valuable resource while continuing to provide water service to millions of residents and fuel the nation's agricultural industry.

Required water cuts have already been implemented and increased in severity this year for Arizona and Nevada. Western states are scrambling to come up with a solution that preserves their access to Colorado River water while uniting the region on a path to recovery for the drought-stricken river and its associated reservoirs.
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One of the solutions proposes equal cuts for three states in the lower Colorado River basin: California, Arizona and Nevada. The decision would impose cuts on California, which has thus far emerged from the Colorado River allocation changes relatively unscathed. California water officials have previously spoken out against proposals reducing water allocation in the Golden State, reasoning that the proposals violate the Law of the River, which respects state's water rights based on seniority.

 

seems foolish to distribute full commitments while still ahving to withdraw water from the Colorado.

California to deliver all of requested water supplies for first time in 17 years (msn.com)

April 21 (UPI) -- California's Department of Water Resources expects to deliver 100% of the state's requested water supplies this year with reservoirs close to full capacity and snowmelt runoff beginning.

After years of drought, it's the first 100% allocation in 17 years.

"Water supply conditions and careful management of reservoir operations during this extreme winter allows DWR to maximize water deliveries while enhancing protections for the environment," said DWR Director Karla Nemeth in a statement. "DWR is moving and storing as much water as possible to the benefit of communities, agriculture, and the environment."
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Despite the full reservoirs, southern California still depends on water from the Colorado River system, which is in a 23-year drought. So the DWR urged California residents to continue to use water wisely "to help the state adapt to a hotter, drier future."