Water shortages in the West

How long can we keep this up? Not long, especially in the intermountain West. John Wesley Powell pointed out the folly of trying to continue traditional agriculture in a land which is largely desert, and that was late in the 19th century. One need not buy the AGW package to know that the West cycles between extremely dry and somewhat less dry conditions. The Anasazi had a flourishing agricultural civilization for hundreds of years in the Southwest, only to see it vanish when the climate cycled into a lengthy dry spell. There is a reason why the pioneers traveled for many hundred miles of very difficult terrain to get to the damp side of the Cascades in Oregon and Washington; there's not enough water for non-irrigated agriculture from the 100th meridian to the crest of the Cascades. (And, truth to tell, the summers on the damp side of the mountains up here are usually quite dry; we generally don't get much rain from mid-June til October.) The irrigated civilization that exists in much of the West is a product of relatively cheap energy, and will eventually suffer the same fate as the Anasazi.

Don't even think about tapping *our* water ;-)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Great_Lakes_from_space.jpg

We are going to have to live more sustainable lives, and it is going to be a wrenching change everywhere. Many of our current partisan disputes are going to seem trivial and strange when we realize humanity can't go on consuming on an industrial scale.

So far, this year has not been particularly "typical" along the Front Range as precipitation goes. Winter was unusually warm and dry, but we're very close to having had record amounts of rain this June (which is why everything's so green right now).

That's helped the supply of water in the reservoirs (Denver Water is currently reporting that they are sitting at 102% of full), both by replenishing the water captured and by cutting back on usage (check out the details here (PDF)). There's an interesting chart in that PDF showing how average daily water consumption has declined in the Denver area over the last ten years, in peak months by almost 100 million gallons a day, even as the city has been growing (over 14% since 2000). So maybe we're getting a little smarter.

I agree that there are way too many green lawns out there. But I'm not sure why your friend is having so much trouble growing other things. My (admittedly small) vegetable garden is coming along just fine, and since I water by hand after dinner each day, the consumption isn't all that bad.

Just a comment on the dust problem in the mountains, while much of it is a local issue as your sources discussed, it's also a global one. We've had researchers here finding soot deposited on the snow pack here that originated with (almost entirely unregulated) coal-fired power plants in China.

Lawns certainly are one of the worst aspects of suburbia's wastefulness. Aside from the ridiculous amounts of water they consume, which is both costly and damaging to local aquifers, butworst of all they waste TIME. How I wish I could have one extra hour each Saturday to better spend it than pushing a mower.

But the underlying problem isn't the lawns of Colorado Springs, but the overpopulation of the entire interior west. The landscape and resources simply cannot support the number of people who have moved there. All those millions of toilet flushes and running showers and swimming pools, all those thousands of acres of farms which used to be dry land, the sprinkler systems and golf courses. It's a completely unnatural landscape no different than Disney World in Orlando. It is not sustainable.

Let's talk about lawns.

This peculiar form of "landscaping" traces its lineage back to the British Isles, where it rains constantly. The original golf course, no, not St. Andrew's, the one in downtown Edinburgh, doesn't even have a sprinkler system. There's no way to water the grass, because there's no need to water the grass, because it rains constantly. All you need to do is mow it, job done.

It is insane to grow lawns anywhere these climate conditions do not obtain. What are we thinking??!? Do we fancy ourselves to be English gentlemen and gentlewomen in the LA Basin, a desert? Have we taken leave of our senses? (Yes.) Can we come down to earth now and take account of the climate of the places in which we live?

I hate Scotland, by the way. It's all about the WEATHER. I hate it when it's dark and rains all the time. I've spent a lot of time in Scotland. It never fails to amaze me that there are actually people who could very well live somewhere else who voluntarily live in Scotland. But you do have to choose. You can live in Scotland or someplace like it and have a lawn, or you can live somewhere else and figure out something else to do with your yard.

I won't say much about water, except that miserable exurban developments in the desert usually use less water than the citrus and cotton fields they replaced.

I will say though, that neighborhood associations are absolutely stupid. Southern Arizona is THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD FOR DRYING CLOTHES on a clothesline, and yet most associations forbid it.

That is, green lawns are foolish and unsustainable, but the rules won't let homeowners do the sensible thing.

Is everyone in the homeowners' association a fool? Why don't they just change the rule? There must be a method for changing the covenants. If there are none and there is an overwhelming willingness to change it, the courts are willing, particularly when the state has shown that it is in the interest of the owners to change it. Even better, the state could just make all of those silly covenants unenforceable.

My relatives, who live in Denver, were appalled by all the brown lawns they saw on a visit to Minnesota during a drought. The wouldn't be able to get away with it, they said. I'm pleasantly surprised to see no comments from climate change deniers here. I can tell you that even 20 years ago, summers in Minneapolis were entirely different. We got frequent thunderstorms throughout the summer. Now we usually don't get much if any rain from late-june to late August. I haven't mowed my lawn in July for three years.

Since it appears change is not going to occur rapidly enough. At least in time to avoid the water shortage. What does everyone believe will be the results? I am curious. One I have often heard is that cattle ranching will begin to move eastward. How will this affect Los Angeles and greater southern California? Almost completely dependent on water from the Colorado River Aqueduct.

Kit Stolz, it's actually illegal to capture and store rain water for your private, residential use in Colorado. (The state legislature recently relaxed the law very slightly for people generally lacking access to municipal water sources). If you don't let the rainwater and snow melt run off your property, you can be fined up to $500 per day.

The theory is that if everyone starts withholding rainwater, then less with flow into the streams and rivers which could upset the carefully negotiated water rights for downstream consumers (like all of those farmers who need it to irrigate the Eastern Plains).

Spambalaya - I can attest to the accuracy of your remarks - we never had any flooding on my road until - uphill - a forested area was converted into a subdivision - with huge lawns, roads and lots of driveways - now we have major flooding. Water is no longer absorbed into the forest floor - but runs off down the hill into our basements, eroding the hill, and flooding the road. Great stuff.

One of the reasons aquifers fail to recharge is exactly this - runoff due to lawns and hard surfaces.

Hard surfaces - driveways roads etc - also raise the air temperature and contribute to inversions and stagnant air pollution.

Simple common sense would prevent most of this - like gravel driveways instead of macadam, leaving greenbelts of forest in developments.

Most of the most idiotic things I have seen is the prohibition against hanging ones laundry. Seems especially in town home communities, people think laundry is unsightly. Huh? Half naked people everywhere - but underwear on the clothes line disturbs people?

Re: lawns - someone took this issue to the supreme court - which ruled that at least in that case - one could have wildflowers or a meadow instead of a lawn.

Somewhat OT:

"Living the dream, with goats"

So Rod, when are you and Julie going to get some?