Water Scarcity for 5 Cities?
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Started by joj - June 6, 2019, 6:04 a.m.
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By metmike - June 6, 2019, 5:01 p.m.
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joj,


Thanks for bringing up a wonderful topic!

 This article is about 5 cities in the US and speculated water scarcity issues  and I will cover that in a minute but the real story is on our planet, there are  1 billion people without enough fresh water most of the time and more than double that who face water scarcity part of the time. Water scarcity is a major, major problem in our world today.


There has been great progress though. Here is a good resource that summarizes the situation in a comprehensive way as well as providing future objectives. There has been a great deal of progress in recent decades. 


Global water crisis: Facts, FAQs, and how to help

https://www.worldvision.org/clean-water-news-stories/global-water-crisis-facts


"Amazing progress has been made in making clean drinking water accessible to 2.6 billion people in developing countries from 1990 to 2015. Yet there are still many opportunities to multiply the benefits of clean water through improved sanitation and hygiene education.

The United Nations recognizes the importance of addressing the global water crisis each year on World Water Day, March 22.

Globally, 844 million people lack access to clean water. Without clean, easily accessible water, families and communities are locked in poverty for generations. Children drop out of school and parents struggle to make a living.

Women and children are worst affected — children because they are more vulnerable to diseases of dirty water and women and girls because they often bear the burden of carrying water for their families for an estimated 200 million hours each day.

Access to clean water changes everything; it’s a stepping-stone to development. When people gain access to clean water, they are better able to practice good hygiene and sanitation. Children enjoy good health and are more likely to attend school. Parents put aside their worries about water-related diseases and lack of access to clean water. Instead, they can water crops and livestock and diversify their incomes. Communities no longer vie for rights to a waterhole."

By metmike - June 6, 2019, 5:36 p.m.
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We should note on the previous page:

"Amazing progress has been made in making clean drinking water accessible to 2.6 billion people in developing countries from 1990 to 2015. Yet there are still many opportunities to multiply the benefits of clean water through improved sanitation and hygiene education."


So it's clear that the fake climate crisis is clearly not causing peoples access to clean water to go away or increasing their risks..........the complete opposite is happening.

The climate optimum that we are experiencing is greening up the planet and global drought has decreased slightly with precipitation increasing in many more places than where its decreasing.

If we went back to the climate from a century ago, droughts and water shortages would INCREASE, along with crop yields and food production plunging. So we should get that out of the way from the get go.


On the 6 US cities mentioned in this article, let's see if I can make specific comments. I don't have time to research each cities individual sources and usage dynamics. 


Miami: They are concerned about sea levels increasing and encroaching on fresh water supplies. The oceans are increasing at just over 1 inch/decade or around a foot in the next century. For sure that will have some affects............whatever the affects of an increase of a foot is to the coastlines. Oceans have been rising at a similar rate since before CO2 started accelerating higher but lets say that half the warming has been from humans.........my guess, then 6 inches of the increase in the level of the oceans has come from humans. 

Will this cause water shortages?  Maybe .............or, they could use their brains and build some man made reservoirs to capture some of the 100 inches of rain that falls down there every year that would not be as vulnerable to a 1 foot increase in the sea level and have an abundance of water. 

Atlanta: They mentioned the drought 10 years ago. OK, there always have been periodic severe droughts and always will be and when they happen, if you have many millions of people relying on water sources that dry up, its always going to be trouble. Build man made aquifers/lakes to increase water. They get plenty of yearly rain on average. 

Los Angeles: Despite the recent severe drought, this area has seen its wettest period, the last 50 years that its experienced over the last 2,000 years. They designed everything with the population expanding in CA by tens of millions,  assuming this unusually heavy precip pattern was a never ending gift. Fact is that climate change and the models are pretty convincing that precipitation will go HIGHER from climate change and a warmer Pacific Ocean which makes complete meteorological sense(just as El Nino's increase the precip). So pray for climate change to accelerate for California to do best with its water challenges.

California projected to get wetter through this century

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170706071927.htm


 Salt Lake City

They state: "the capital of Utah is fast becoming a victim of climate change. As NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences put it, “For every degree Fahrenheit of warming in the SLC region, a 1.8 to 6.5 percent drop in annual water flow of local streams could occur.”

HORSE MANURE!  We live in a world where every drought is the result of humans causing climate change and all the NATURAL droughts in the past would never be expected to ever happen again. 

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-037-03/


Note below, that the worst drought in Utah's history lasted 11 years, from 1897-1907. Note the graph below and the article at the link above. 

Drought Conditions in Utah During 1999-2002: A Historical Perspective

Graph

This is just another case of unsubstantiated speculation, often based on busted climate models that show no skill at all in forecasting weather and have all been too warm projecting global temperatures. 


5. Phoenix: They said it best: "We're sitting in the middle of the desert, trying to grow a city. Which defies logic, for many people," Cynthia Campbell, the city's water resource management adviser, told the Phoenix New Times."

Climate change or no climate change, Phoenix is always going to be a desert.


6. El Paso: This also is a desert and has too many people for the limited amount of water in the area, however, they are actually taking actions to manage this: "To reduce El Paso's reliance on groundwater, the city has built a huge desalination plant that converts brackish water into drinking water. In a more controversial move, the city is building a system to treat sewage water and turn it directly into drinking water, according to CNN."

By metmike - June 6, 2019, 6:22 p.m.
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Here's some additional supporting data that I haven't posted in awhile:


Carbon Dioxide Fertilization Greening Earth, Study Finds

                   https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth

      

From a quarter to half of Earth’s vegetated lands has shown significant greening over the last 35 years largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change on April 25.

An international team of 32 authors from 24 institutions in eight countries led the effort, which involved using satellite data from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer instruments to help determine the leaf area index, or amount of leaf cover, over the planet’s vegetated regions. The greening represents an increase in leaves on plants and trees equivalent in area to two times the continental United States.

globe of Earth from North Pole perspectiveThis image shows the change in leaf area across the globe from 1982-2015.



Deserts 'greening' from rising CO2

https://phys.org/news/2013-07-greening-co2.html

Deserts 'greening' from rising CO2

                            

             

                Satellite data shows the per cent amount that foliage cover has changed around the world from 1982 to 2010.            
By metmike - June 6, 2019, 6:24 p.m.
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California’s ‘permanent drought’ is now washed away by reality

 

/ March 11, 2019


https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/03/11/californias-permanent-drought-is-now-washed-away-by-reality/


From 2014, spot the portion caused by “man-made climate change”:

 

California_drought_timeline

"Here’s how much recent rains have washed away California’s drought"

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/03/07/heres-how-much-recent-rains-have-washed-away-californias-drought/


"Less than 1 percent of the state is in any kind of drought status, down from 48 percent a year ago"


By metmike - June 6, 2019, 6:27 p.m.
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California projected to get wetter through this century


https://phys.org/news/2017-07-california-wetter-century.html


By metmike - June 6, 2019, 6:30 p.m.
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By metmike - June 6, 2019, 6:32 p.m.
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https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/new/regplots/real/real_us_2.gif


US Average Streamflow Index – 1999 to Present

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) – WaterWatch – Click the pic to view at source

By metmike - June 6, 2019, 6:41 p.m.
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Little change in global drought over the past 60 years


https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11575


"Here we show that the previously reported increase in global drought is overestimated because the PDSI uses a simplified model of potential evaporation7 that responds only to changes in temperature and thus responds incorrectly to global warming in recent decades. More realistic calculations, based on the underlying physical principles8 that take into account changes in available energy, humidity and wind speed, suggest that there has been little change in drought over the past 60 years. The results have implications for how we interpret the impact of global warming on the hydrological cycle and its extremes, and may help to explain why palaeoclimate drought reconstructions based on tree-ring data diverge from the PDSI-based drought record in recent years"

By metmike - June 8, 2019, 11:30 a.m.
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Exactly related to this topic and deserving a place in this discussion, in fact, more critical because it's going to affect far more people(not if but when) then those affected in these cities and the affects(like with the Ogallala auquifer) are forever using the time scale of human lives. 

Pumped dry-the Global CRISIS of vanishing ground water!

https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/groundwater/


"In places around the world, supplies of groundwater are rapidly vanishing. As aquifers decline and wells begin to go dry, people are being forced to confront a growing crisis."



 

Crisis on the High Plains: The Loss of America’s Largest Aquifer – the Ogallala

 
Jeremy Frankel  ·  
 http://duwaterlawreview.com/crisis-on-the-high-plains-the-loss-of-americas-largest-aquifer-the-ogallala/

http://duwaterlawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/hp_wlcpd15go.png



Top Reasons to Support Groundwater Preservation

January 19, 2019


https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/01/19/global-crisis-of-vanishing-groundwater.aspx


Story at-a-glance 

  • Water scarcity is getting worse around the world as aquifers are drained faster than they can be refilled. The most significant contributor to the problem is industrial farming, due to its heavy use of potable water for irrigation
  • About 80 percent of the U.S. freshwater supply (and more than 90 percent in many Western states) is used for agricultural purposes
  • One-third of the largest groundwater aquifers are nearing depletion. In the Ogallala aquifer in the American Midwest, the water level has been dropping by an average of 6 feet per year, while the natural recharge rate is less than 1 inch
  • Water sources are also threatened by pollution from large-scale monocrop farms and concentrated animal feeding operations; corporate agribusiness is one of the biggest threats to America’s waterways
  • “Pumped Dry: The Global Crisis of Vanishing Groundwater,” reveals the seriousness of the situation, visiting hard-hit areas such as Kansas and California in the U.S., and in India, Peru and Morocco

Water scarcity is getting worse around the world as aquifers are drained faster than they can be refilled. The most significant contributor to the problem is industrial farming, due to its heavy use of potable water for irrigation.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about 80 percent of U.S. consumptive water (and more than 90 percent in many Western states) is used for agricultural purposes1 and, worldwide, groundwater is being used up at a faster rate than it can be replenished.

Many Aquifers Are Nearing Depletion

One-third of the largest groundwater aquifers are already nearing depletion,2 with three of the most stressed aquifers being located in areas where political tensions run high as it is.3 To give you an idea of how quickly groundwater is being depleted, consider what's happening in the High Plains Aquifer (also known as the Ogallala) in the American Midwest.

Here, the water level has been dropping by an average of 6 feet per year, while the natural recharge rate is 1 inch or less.4 Once this aquifer is depleted — and many wells have already run dry in the area — 20 percent of the U.S. corn, wheat and cattle output will be lost due to lack of irrigation and water for the animals.

According to Jay Famiglietti, a senior water scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the majority of our global groundwaters "are past sustainability tipping points,"5 which means it's only a matter of time until we run out of fresh water.

Pollution Threatens Remaining Freshwater Supplies

Precious water sources are also threatened by pollution from large-scale monocrop farms and concentrated animal feeding operations.6 According to a report7 by Environment America, corporate agribusiness is "one of the biggest threats to America's waterways." Tyson Foods Inc. was deemed among the worst, releasing 104.4 million pounds of toxic pollutants into waterways between 2010 and 2014.

Researchers have warned that many lakes around the world are now at grave risk from fertilizer runoff that feeds harmful blue-green algae (cyanobacteria),8,9 and once established, it's far more difficult to get rid of than previously thought. The answer, according to the authors of this study, is better land-use management that addresses fertilizer runoff. Dramatic reductions in fertilizer use are also recommended.

Indeed, the long-term solution to many of our water quality and water scarcity issues is to phase out the use of toxic pesticides, chemical fertilizers and soil additives, and to grow crops and raise food animals in such a way that the farm contributes to the overall health and balance of the environment rather than polluting it and creating a dysfunctional ecosystem.

                                    


By metmike - June 8, 2019, 11:34 a.m.
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Sort of related because it affects the quality of water and water pollution but in most cases not causing water shortages because the locations are blessed with an overabundance of water:

Massive dead zones around the world from agricultural activity(water pollution).

Dead zone (ecology)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_zone_(ecology)


Dead zones are hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas in the world's oceans and large lakes, caused by "excessive nutrient pollution from human activities coupled with other factors that deplete the oxygen required to support most marine life in bottom and near-bottom water. (NOAA)".[2] Historically, many of these sites were naturally occurring.  However, in the 1970s, oceanographers began noting increased instances and expanses of dead zones. These occur near inhabited coastlines, where aquatic life is most concentrated. (The vast middle portions of the oceans, which naturally have little life, are not considered "dead zones".)



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Aquatic_Dead_Zones.jpg

Red circles show the location and size of many dead zones.
Black dots show dead zones of unknown size.
The size and number of marine dead zones—areas where the deep water is so low in dissolved oxygen that sea creatures can't survive—have grown explosively in the past half-century.NASA Earth Observatory (2008)[1]



This area below is the DEAD ZONE where runoff from the Mississippi goes. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Dead_Zone_NASA_NOAA.jpg


In March 2004, when the recently established UN Environment Programme published its first Global Environment Outlook Year Book (GEO Year Book 2003), it reported 146 dead zones in the world's oceans where marine life could not be supported due to depleted oxygen levels. Some of these were as small as a square kilometre (0.4 mi²), but the largest dead zone covered 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 mi²). A 2008 study counted 405 dead zones worldwide.[3][4]

How phosphorous can lead to global dead zones

https://www.futurity.org/phosphorous-algae-freshwater-1702482-2/


Though essential to plant growth and a key trace element of many organisms, an overabundance of phosphorus in river basins can cultivate algae blooms in freshwater gulfs and lakes that those rivers feed. The eventual decomposition of the algae consumes vast amounts of oxygen, creating so-called dead zones that choke out marine life.

A dead zone the size of New Jersey occupies the Gulf of Mexico.

phosphorus map
By metmike - June 8, 2019, 11:37 a.m.
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This one does not affect water shortages but it's becoming an increasing problem that presents  more and more challenges to some wildlife in the oceans. 

Fact Sheet: Plastics in the Ocean

https://www.earthday.org/2018/04/05/fact-sheet-plastics-in-the-ocean/


"The billions upon billions of items of plastic waste choking our oceans, lakes, and rivers and piling up on land is more than unsightly and harmful to plants and wildlife.

The following 10 facts shed light on how plastic is proving dangerous to our planet, health, and wildlife. To learn more about the threat and impact of plastic pollution and to get tips to reduce your plastic consumption, download our Plastic Pollution Primer and Toolkit today!"


OCEAN PLASTICS POLLUTION

A  Global Tragedy for Our Oceans and Sea Life

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/

"In the first decade of  this century, we made more plastic than all the plastic in history up to the  year 2000. And every year, billions of pounds of more plastic end up in the world's  oceans. Studies estimate there are now 15–51 trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans — from the equator to the poles, from Arctic ice sheets to the sea floor. Not one square mile of surface ocean anywhere on earth is free of plastic pollution.

The problem is growing into a crisis."


Online database maps ocean pollution and its effect on animals

https://www.treehugger.com/ocean-conservation/online-database-maps-ocean-pollution-and-its-effect-animals.html

litter distribution map© LITTERBASE -- Map shows where most ocean trash ends up.


litter effect on animals© LITTERBASE -- This map shows ways in which species are affected by litter. Purple is colonization, orange is entanglement, green is ingestion, yellow is other (partial screenshot of full map)

                                    

By metmike - Aug. 4, 2019, 12:12 p.m.
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I'm adding to the end of a couple of my discussions because it makes the most important distinction between being a sincere environmentalist and the scientific position about CO2's role as a beneficial gas during the current climate optimum.  

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Fresh Water crisis???            

    By metmike - July 18, 2019, 3:58 p.m.              

       https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/34796/                                

The EPA-s endangerment finding which allows it to regulate CO2 as a pollutant is one of the biggest piles of dung in political history, masquerading as science.

I’m a passenger in a car right now ori would show it to you.

Keep in mind that I’m an environmentalist.

I conserve water and energy, I turn the ac completely off in the Summer when my wife is not home and the heat down to as low as50 in the winter when she’s gone.....seriously-I damaged her tropical plants a couple of times-I wear a sweat shirt, my winter jacket, a hat and gloves with finger holes to type on the computer. I often wear a pair of down pants over my jeans. 

I  minimize use of plastics and paper/ cardboard. We used to recycle but got out of that routine. My kids would collect aluminum cans, crush them then we would sell them. They made $100 doing this.

I also exercise vigorously and exhale massive amounts of beneficial CO2 to do my part in helping to green up the planet (-:

Unless you are very active or get dirty, there is no need to shower every day. I shower after exercise or working outside and getting dirty. Showering every day Is a waste of water if you just do it out of habit. Green lawns are aesthetically appealing but they waste billions of gallons of water.

The point of telling you this is that the hypocritical gatekeepers of the information that brainwash us about the fake climate crisis are maximizing their use of those fossil fuels to enjoy all the comforts they provide in their lives.......and calling people like me deniers for providing authentic science that contradicts their scary, speculative computer model simulations going out for the next 100 years.

And they have the gumption to tell us exactly what we have to do or we will lose the planet in 12 years, with solutions that will have zero effect on climate and don’t address any real environmental problems with our water, air or soils.


All the climate reality discussions can be found here:

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/27864/