CBC News – A suburb in Arizona lost its source of water. Residents warn: We’re only the beginning
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This article in CBC News discusses the water shortage in Rio Verde Foothills and the impacts that will cross borders. The water supply in this region is becoming increasingly stressed. There are only two ways to get water into Maricopa County, by well or by a delivery truck. Cities close to this suburb have cut off delivery trucks making drivers travel farther and farther to reach a supply. Nearby Scottsdale, which until recently provided potable water to the residents of Maricopa County, has shut off the tap to supply their own residents. There is no local government in Maricopa County, and citizens must find their own source. This is making water increasingly expensive, and people are finding innovative ways to reduce their water use.
This lack of water can be attributed to the ongoing water supply crisis in the Colorado River basin. When the plans were made for this river, it was expected to provide more than it ever could and the rapidly increasing population in the desert region is not helping. The US Southwest has been in drought conditions since 2000. This is not an isolated problem. This region is home to many farms and crops need water as well. Much of Canada’s produce in the winter, specifically greens, comes from this area. Farmers are having to grow less as they cannot water their fields, and this will have an impact on Canada. There are a few different technologies that could be used to recycle and reduce water use but that will only help to a certain extent. People will need to relocate if this issue continues to worsen.
Although this article relates to the Rio Verde Foothills region, this could happen anywhere. With climate change affecting water resources, communities need strategies to ensure their water supply remains consistent. The Canada1Water project aims to give those tools to communities, policymakers, and water resource managers. With a continental scale modelling and data framework that captures both groundwater and surface water, C1W is an excellent tool for planning for a sustainable future.
Click here to read the article in CBC News
“We’re the first domino to fall.”
“The entire U.S. southwest is suffering a once-in-a-millennium drought since 2000 that has forced successive cuts in water usage. The goal of these cuts: to save the Colorado River, the lifeblood of the U.S. southwest, a key source of drinking water, power production, and crop irrigation.”
“There are two major problems with the Colorado River: It produces way less water than expected, about 30 per cent less; and people use too much. The problem starts with a long-ago math error. When a treaty now involving seven states and Mexico was designed in 1922, it had been an abnormally rainy few years. The river was never going to provide the expected volumes, the 16.5 million acre-feet (about 20 billion cubic metres) allocated per year.”
The basic problem across the region: water in that reservoir behind the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, keeps dropping. If it continues like this, the Colorado River system risks a catastrophic collapse. (Bridget Bennett/Reuters)