First water cuts in US West supply to hammer Arizona farmers

[Old Crank]

Source: Associated Press

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (AP) — A harvester rumbles through the fields in the early morning light, mowing down rows of corn and chopping up ears, husks and stalks into mulch for feed at a local dairy.

The cows won’t get their salad next year, at least not from this farm. There won’t be enough water to plant the corn crop.

Climate change, drought and high demand are expected to force the first-ever mandatory cuts to a water supply that 40 million people across the American West depend on — the Colorado River. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s projection next week will spare cities and tribes but hit Arizona farmers hard.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-science-environment-and-nature-arizona-climate-change-7cf4c472fa64fe57be4b8823c5423fc0

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Things will get worse. Expect higher food prices.

[Old Crank]

1. Note that

Ground water usage is a problem because the Phoenix area has had subsidence already from taking too much with little replenishment....

[riversedge]

2. We knew the 'water wars' were coming for a long time now. It was a matter of time-and

now the big hit has begun. Seems so many have to learn the climate change is REAL the hard way. And like mask wearing--or not mask wearing, it affects sOOOOOOOOOOOO many others.

[OldBaldy1701E]

5. That is what it will boil down to

I expect urban areas to start screaming about how they cannot water their lawns while farmers lose more and more ability to produce. But, watch as the urban areas win out and get more of the disappearing liquid while they complain about not having the things they used to eat available. Just watch...

[Mosby]

17. Farmers use 80+% of water in AZ

Research done at U of A shows that suburbanization of farmland reduces water use.

Many of the crops grown around Yuma and Pinal County require heavy watering, and should never been planted. Farmers like AZ because they can get 3 growing seasons because of the sun and lack of colder Temps.

[Igel]

27. But at the same time many have been there for years.

Even as the state governments, with the federal government's blessing, overallocated water based on too-high an original baseline for annual rainfall.

They've been lucky, but they based "average" on wetter-than-average weather decades ago. Then when they realized the problem they stuck their fingers in their ears and sang "la-la-la-la" rather loudly, because they wanted re-election and larger populations.

[padfun]

3. My right wing brother is already blaming California for this.

nt

[Comfortably_Numb]

4. This isn't going to help.... From the Los Angeles Times

YUCCA FLAT, NEV. — A sea of ancient water tainted by the Cold War is creeping deep under the volcanic peaks, dry lake beds and pinyon pine forests covering a vast tract of Nevada.
Over 41 years, the federal government detonated 921 nuclear warheads underground at the Nevada Test Site, 75 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Each explosion deposited a toxic load of radioactivity into the ground and, in some cases, directly into aquifers.

[3Hotdogs]

7. Yeah, but at least we defeated the Commies.

[Comfortably_Numb]

9. "Other than that Mrs Lincoln.."

[3Hotdogs]

11. "My American Cousin" did get good reviews and Mrs. Lincoln did say she would like to go back

to see how it ends. The part where that actor jumps on stage and limps off, well that was pretty funny but you had to have been there..

[Comfortably_Numb]

13. Timing is everything is live production. I haven't seen JWBooth in anything since.

[3Hotdogs]

23. I think he switched agents. Going to Wm. Morris I hear.

[Comfortably_Numb]

24. Makes sense... he's gonna need a lot of pr rehab....

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Exponential growth meets finite supply

almost requires exponential shrinkage. The majority of people will comply or make some effort, but to the extent they are able many will not. Some will waste more.

Birtherism begats election conspiracies, covid hoaxes, anti-vaxxers. Surly drought-deniers have fired up the kettle.

[The Jungle 1]

8. Why do we farm the desert.

Satellite maps show green all over that desert area. This makes no sense to me.
We need to farm where the water is.
We need to do something about climate change.

[ripcord]

21. Why do we have cities with large population bases in areas that won't support them?

Most large cities in the desert have to import water, Los Angeles expects other areas of the state to provide them with water, how irresponsible is it to have millions of people living in an area with an inadequate water supply?

[AZ8theist]

10. NO WORRIES.

The Republicans are working OVERTIME to solve this crisis!!

They are instituting voting laws to ENSURE THE BROWN AND BLACK AND LIBTARD VOTERS CEACE VOTING FOR DROUGHTS.

Once they stop the libtards and colored voters from voting, ALL WILL BE WELL!!!

[3825-87867]

12. But golf courses are still nice and green!

Let them (us) eat golf balls!

Just don't boil them, use a microwave. Hint: pierce them first or they might explode!

How many calories in a Titleist?

[AZLD4Candidate]

15. Here in Arizona, Big Ag contributes 7% to the State's GDP, but uses 72% of the water

Here is my campaign website's blog post on our water crisis.

https://katzforhouse.org/2021/06/13/8-arizonas-water-problem/

[twodogsbarking]

14. Make every day Earth Day.

It is that serious.

[AZLD4Candidate]

16. If elected to the AZ House, I already stated that this would be a top priority for me.

https://katzforhouse.org/2021/06/13/8-arizonas-water-problem/

[hunter]

18. Pay the farmers to restore their lands to something approximating a natural state or buy them out.

I don't know why we romanticize "the farmer." Agriculture is a dirty environmentally destructive industry like any other. The dirtiest, most environmentally destructive producers *SHOULD* be shut down -- that's a good thing, just as we'd shut down a dirty old coal power plant.

Nobody needs dairy.

Personally I don't pay any attention to the price of a gallon of milk or a pound of ground beef made from "retired" dairy cows. These products are not a part of my diet. If these became expensive "gourmet" products, from cows raised on green hills and pastures irrigated by natural rainfall, nobody would starve.

I don't think there is going to be any great depopulation of areas dependent on Colorado River water downstream of Lake Mead. Urban users can afford recycled sewage and desalinated water. Farmers in arid areas can't compete with farmers in places with plentiful water without subsidies or artificial barriers to trade. Currently farmers in arid areas pay much less for water than its true value there, mostly because the factory farm dairy industry has some kind of cult status.

[bucolic_frolic]

20. We romanticize farmers because we like to eat

Frankenstein food is not a healthy diet. So if farms are shut down, where will people find food? And if food becomes gourmet food, how will they pay for it?

[hunter]

22. Who said anything about shutting all the farms down? I didn't.

I am saying the world would carry on just fine without environmentally destructive and ethically questionable factory farm meat and dairy products.

I am not a radical vegan. I am mostly vegetarian and pay some attention to where whatever eggs, cheese, and meat I buy come from, in hopes of reducing my own environmental footprint.

[Ingersollman]

19. Everyone

should read "The Water Knife" by Paolo Bacigalupi. It's happening now.

[ancianita]

25. My son, now running for his city's council in NM, says that a few years ago NM won against AZ

when it tried to lay claim to NM water from the Rio Grande and the Oglala aquifer.
He told me today that NM was ready for that water war and won in court because they proved that AZ had wasted its own water supply for decades.

[question everything]

26. I have been wondering about Arizona after seeing individuals being rescue from floods

Have the recent floods helped any?