Drought Conditions in Southwest May Be Here to Stay

newsmax.com ^ | 2/7/2016 | Greg Richter

[VTenigma]

Drought Conditions in Southwest May Be Here to Stay

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Or not

[Thud]

This is a return to the historic normal, not a drought or mega-drought. The 20th Century was the wettest in the past 2000 years. The historic normal for the Southwest, and California, is 2/3 of the 20th Century average. A real drought by historic standards, and those can last for 100-200 years, is 1/3 of the 20th Century average. See:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/02/drying-west/kunzig-text
Drying of the West, (February 2008), National Geographic, Kunzig, Robert.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D4EWHPU/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o02_?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The West without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us about Tomorrow, Ingram, B. Lynn, and Malamud-Roam, Frances, 2013, University of California Press

California will be okay after we get desperate enough to overrule the greenies about desalinization plants. Israel is producing all the fresh water it wants from those for $1,0000 per acre foot. California is presently using about 9 million acre feet of water for industrial use and personal consumption, so that would cost us only about $9 billion a year.

Agriculture is another matter. Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and western Colorado will have to make do with the @ 3-4 million acre feet they'll be able to draw from a much reduced Colorado River. Pumping costs to get water from California, or over the Rocky Mountain Divide, will be ferocious.

[Thud]

erg, $1,000 per acre foot. Preview is my friend.

[blam]

"This is a return to the historic normal, not a drought or mega-drought. The 20th Century was the wettest in the past 2000 years"

AYE.
(bump)

[Thud]

That applies only to the US Southwest - Arizona, California, western Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

[Ozark Tom]

$.52 Cubic Meter or ~260 gallon wholesale at the plant outlet San Diego.

[ckilmer]

$1,000 per acre foot
...........
I have read that their average is $750@acre foot and their latest desal plants desalinate for $500@acre foot.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3288377/posts

[ckilmer]

Most people live out of their memories. A few live out of their imaginations.

Here’s a utube of the relationship between declining cost water and energy and the advance of technology for the last 250 years. Plus an imaginative look into the next 150 years.

https://youtu.be/_AkNOitYmNA

[originalbuckeye]

Those are over the washes. When it rains here, it pours and those become torrential flood plains. There is a ‘Stupid Motorist Law’ here that says, ‘if you drive into a wash or low lying area where there are signs warning you not to cross, you will have to pay for a rescue’. Trust me, you don’t want to drive into a low lying area that looks flooded, because it usually is flooded and it will cost you a boatload to get rescued.

[Rebelbase]

Aren’t agricultural drought conditions worsened by human diversion of water to large cities?

[blam]

I live in The Rainest City In The US

We get five feet of rain a year.