tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18452900079744380452024-02-19T09:27:45.352-07:00Watering the DesertSome thoughts, musings, and discussion on the intersection between water supply and land use policies, mostly focused on Southern Arizona.Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.comBlogger176125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-1366280679603891812014-03-06T10:15:00.000-07:002014-03-06T10:15:16.517-07:00Trailer Park Water FightIn a drought year like this, competition for water is getting fierce. This was in the Police Dispatch section of the local Tucson Weekly:
A dispute involving a man and a neighbor who said he was only trying
to help the man with his rainwater-harvesting efforts ended with the
neighbor getting bashed on the head with an empty garbage can, according
to a Pima County Sheriff's Department report.Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-54810859109659065492014-01-30T10:26:00.001-07:002014-01-30T10:26:59.169-07:00A New(ish) Twist on Conservation JustificationIn the West you often hear of cities seeking new water supplies by prodding farms to conserve, thereby freeing up water that can be transferred from ag uses to urban uses. But this article from Durango, CO discusses efforts in that state to encourage additional urban conservation in order to maintain ag uses. Colorado has seen fairly aggressive efforts to re-allocate water from ag to Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-7375303651783861502013-12-16T11:13:00.000-07:002013-12-16T11:14:11.325-07:00Irrigated farming with desalWater cliche alert.
The former mayor of Phoenix wants to see desalination plants lining the Sea of Cortez to supply future water needs in Northern Mexico and Southern Arizona because he says "water is going to become, if it’s not already, more valuable than gold or oil.” Apparently the economy is humming along so nicely in Phoenix they believe they are going to be the next Saudi Arabia.&Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-39544922426764932362013-10-03T21:14:00.000-07:002013-10-03T21:14:15.551-07:00The Power of LocalMy fellow blogger (now retired) Wayne Bossert appears to have created quite a sensation with the Local Enhanced Management Area (LEMA) concept he implemented in the Northwest Kansas Groundwater Management District # 4. The revolution underway in western Kansas that is attempting to preserve irrigated agriculture in the face of drought, aquifer depletion, and rising crop prices is a bold Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-14423536457206059552013-09-16T21:18:00.001-07:002013-09-16T21:18:30.309-07:00Might be time to try a little forebearanceI've been too busy to post anything on the recent announcement by Reclamation that a shortage declaration on the lower Colorado River is likely by 2016. But when I spotted this (pdf) on the agenda for the most recent board meeting of the Central Arizona Project, it seemed like a good time to chime in.
The fallowing and forebearance agreement between CAP and the Yuma Mesa Irrigation and Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-18938651057289427272013-07-30T20:52:00.000-07:002013-07-30T20:52:07.486-07:00Here's to you, Mrs. RobinsonGot word in the daily paper today that Priscilla Robinson, a very influential voice in water and environmental policy over the past 40 years in Arizona passed away on Monday. I didn't know her very well because most of her really momentous work was completed while I was still learning the difference between groundwater and subflow. And she was someone who worked behind the scenes, Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-39770746105857376262013-07-09T20:29:00.000-07:002013-07-09T20:30:07.164-07:00Group Dedicated to Restoring Glen Canyon Wants More Water in Lake Mead and Less in Lake PowellThis article was sent to me in an email earlier this week. As you might have guessed from the headline, I think their plan is a little self-serving. That's not to say it is clearly without merit. I don't have access to the study their conclusion is based on, but I would be very interested to read it.
I agree that seepage into the Navajo sandstone that borders the lake could Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-26109693134062556232013-06-06T19:48:00.001-07:002013-06-12T08:33:50.485-07:00All the Groundwater Law you Always Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to AskCourtesy of a link from Property Prof Blog I was led to this fantastic primer on Groundwater Law from Prof. Joseph Dellapenna at Villanova law. One of the points he emphasizes, which I strongly agree with, is the idea that the shifting terminology used by courts has resulted in tremendous confusion about the nature of property rights in groundwater in most, if not all, jurisdictions.
When Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-2811032056130651002013-06-01T20:23:00.001-07:002013-06-01T20:23:54.042-07:00New "Green Streets" Policy on the way for Tucson
Image borrowed from HydroGeoWorks.com
Last week the Tucson City Council considered and approved a new policy that will direct the Transportation Dept. to implement passive water harvesting features on most future road projects within the city. This policy was largely developed by Watershed Management Group (I'm biased as a former board member of WMG) who put in a lot of effort to build Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-12863064929688286772013-05-27T18:16:00.000-07:002013-05-27T18:16:42.553-07:00More info on the CAP Pipeline to Green Valley KerfuffleAs I briefly mentioned in my previous post, the City of Tucson is looking at setting up some policy guidance (pdf) to help them evaluate proposals to hook into a pipeline, jointly owned by the city and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (the CAP), at the end of the CAP canal/pipeline south of Tucson. Nothing is set in stone yet - the Mayor and Council instructed staff to make Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-41996804592443375062013-05-16T21:20:00.000-07:002013-05-16T21:20:12.625-07:00Some quick updatesAs expected, an environmental organization has filed suit against the state over the approval of a large development in the Sierra Vista area (I discussed this in a previous post in March). Earthjustice issued a press release yesterday (it also includes a link to their complaint) announcing their suit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court. I've only skimmed the complaint and it Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-32865924786891927802013-04-13T17:34:00.001-07:002013-04-13T17:34:47.694-07:00A Pretty Impressive Graph showing what Tucson Water has been doing with Renewable Water
At a recent meeting I attended at Tucson Water, their hydrology staff
gave a presentation on where our water is coming from these days. One
graph in particular really drew a reaction from those in attendance:
This does require a bit of context though. What is being shown is the total amount of water produced by the utility and provided to its customers. This is Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-18777114121705777172013-04-13T09:24:00.000-07:002013-04-13T09:25:37.772-07:00Yumans shoot down Water Augmentation plansWay back in 2010 the Arizona state legislature, responding to widespread concerns that the state would run out of water in the future, created a study commission called the Water Resources Development Commission (WRDC). They set to work studying current and projected water demands, available water supplies, and the institutions in place that try to match up the two sides of the equation.
Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-12849949767468844962013-03-15T09:58:00.000-07:002013-03-15T09:58:38.068-07:00Follow-up on Tribute development in Sierra VistaThe Daily Star has an article this morning about the big proposed development in Sierra Vista that has been the subject of some controversy lately over their water use. I commented on this situation last summer when Arizona Department of Water Resources first ruled that the development does have an adequate water supply and could move forward in the permitting process. This latest Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-39240273741741410912013-03-08T22:29:00.001-07:002013-03-08T22:38:02.812-07:00Quality Scholarship on the Issue of Property Rights in GroundwaterThis article was posted on the Environmental Law Prof blog recently. I'll bite on anything that discusses the nature of property rights in groundwater and this article is a very good one. The author is a former scientist (geologist) turned lawyer (now law professor), so we have something in common. It's a very thorough discussion of how groundwater rights are treated in the Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-10164906103956373852013-03-08T22:21:00.000-07:002013-03-08T22:21:07.980-07:00Some overdue follow-upI've neglected to follow through on my promise to provide an update to the Arizona Dept. of Water Resources (ADWR) Non-Indian Agricultural (NIA) water re-allocation process, that I have previously discussed here and here. Sure I waited until almost the last minute but I am keeping my promise. ADWR did release their final process (pdf) for carrying out the water allocation last month, Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-72383843873137064642013-01-23T21:39:00.003-07:002013-01-23T21:40:29.313-07:00Well ... maybeI found a link to this story on Aquafornia this morning and was intrigued enough to read the article - even though I was skeptical. Obviously the first thing that jumps out at you is the title - "Watering fields in California boosts rainfall in Southwest". Makes you think that someone has possibly confirmed a link between the two. But then you read the first line in the story Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-11261661869816190002013-01-06T14:13:00.000-07:002013-01-09T19:49:30.473-07:00Can Reclamation Change its Ways?There has been lots of chatter in the blogosphere and elsewhere about the recently released Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study from the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). This really is a ground-breaking study in many ways: it enshrines the likelihood that climate change is likely to have an impact on water supplies in the basin in the future; it acknowledges that the lower basin Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-68181877466621098412013-01-02T20:51:00.000-07:002013-01-02T20:51:32.479-07:00Enhancing the Management of Arizona's Aquifers - an Alternate Proposal to ADWRArizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) recently floated a proposal to change the formula is uses to grant groundwater credits to entities that artificially recharge renewable water into aquifers as a way to permit additional groundwater pumping. The state recharge program is a somewhat complicated scheme that I can't explain in detail right here, but you can get lots of other Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-35466705352080835552012-12-15T10:53:00.001-07:002012-12-15T10:53:20.050-07:00Update on ADWR NIA Reallocation ProcessArizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) has posted the comments received on their proposed process for reallocation of the 96,000 acre-feet of Non-Indian Ag (NIA) water in the CAP system. Several of the comments echo my points (with additional elaboration) on some of the failings of the proposed process. Unfortunately, no one else suggested that a market mechanism for allocation Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-43019521658437704612012-11-30T19:58:00.000-07:002012-11-30T19:58:24.517-07:00A few updatesIf you check out the list of other blogs to the right you'll notice I did a bit of updating. Gone are Waterblogged and On the Public Record (very sad to see this one go). They just don't update that often anymore - and OtPR may be gone for good, I fear. But I added something new - Agua-zona - a new blog by Juliet McKenna, who works for a consulting firm here in Tucson. Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-45278411386004171552012-11-22T10:25:00.001-07:002012-11-22T10:25:38.310-07:00Giving ThanksI have so much to be thankful for this year. I hope you do too.
Happy thanksgiving.Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-51829637621810525372012-11-02T22:35:00.000-07:002012-11-02T23:45:13.822-07:00ADWR Water Allocation Process One month ago, the Arizona Dept. of Water Resources (ADWR) held a public meeting to announce that they were beginning the process to allocate (or reallocate) approximately 96,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water delivered via the Central Arizona Project (CAP). This is water that was made available by the big Arizona Water Settlement that was crafted almost 10 years ago, but under the Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-86507283521845546412012-10-23T21:21:00.000-07:002012-10-23T21:21:48.184-07:00Cato Article - Downsizing the Federal Govt. - BuRecThere's definitely some Cato Institute stuff that's just too far out there for me, but when they take on federal control of water resources in the West and advocate for more use of markets to allocate a scarce resource, they can probably reel me in. I enjoyed this article, mostly for its advocacy of water markets. I think it's easy to find examples of where the federal government has Chris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845290007974438045.post-77588552948576265532012-09-28T17:57:00.000-07:002012-09-28T17:57:07.240-07:00USA Today - Water Rate StudyThis week USA Today posted a story about rising water rates throughout the US. The increases (on a percentage basis) are very large in some cities. It would also be interesting to see what those changes were on an absolute basis - if your water bill is $20 to start with then raising it to $40 is a 100% increase, but still a pretty small price to pay for having water come out of a pipeChris Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05270090118429647845noreply@blogger.com0