drought

The Downside Of Dry

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Baitings reservoir in Ripponden, West Yorkshire, in summer 2022, when the total stock of water in England’s reservoirs was at its lowest level since 1995. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

We do not favor panic button words in headlines; but when the cap fits, wear it:

‘Drought is on the verge of becoming the next pandemic’

While the world becomes drier, profit and pollution are draining our resources. We have to change our approach

The River Derwent in Cumbria has run dry in parts of the Borrowdale valley for the third consecutive year. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

During the summer months in the Oxfordshire town where I live, I go swimming in the nearby 50-metre lido. With my inelegantly slow breaststroke, from time to time I accidentally gulp some of the pool’s opulent, chlorine-clean 5.9m litres of water. Sometimes, I swim while it’s raining, when fewer people brave it, alone in my lane with the strangely comforting feeling of having water above and below me. I stand a bottle of water at the end of the lane, to drink from halfway through my swim. I normally have a shower afterwards, even if I’ve showered that morning. I live a wet, drenched, quenched existence. But, as I discovered, this won’t last. I am living on borrowed time and borrowed water. Continue reading →

More CO2 Means Less Water for Plants

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Credit: © yommy / Fotolia

A new study on plant water retention from the University of California, Irvine and the University of Washington might rescind some of our assumptions of climate change impacts on agriculture, water resources, wildfire risk, and plant growth. Their findings reveal that water conserved by plants under high CO2 conditions compensates for much of the effect of warmer temperatures, which means more water is retained on land than predicted in commonly used drought assessments. ScienceDaily reports:

The study compares current drought indices with ones that take into account changes in plant water use. Reduced precipitation will increase droughts across southern North America, southern Europe and northeastern South America. But the results show that in Central Africa and temperate Asia — including China, the Middle East, East Asia and most of Russia — water conservation by plants will largely counteract the parching due to climate change.

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Where’s The Snow?

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In 500 years, the Sierra's stores of snow have never ben this low. PHOTO: François B. Lanoë/Nature Climate Change

In 500 years, the Sierra’s stores of snow have never ben this low. PHOTO: François B. Lanoë/Nature Climate Change

Yet another ironical evidence of climate change. One in the mountains of Sierra Nevada, which coincidentally mean ‘snowy’ range. A new study has found that the snowpack in the Sierra Nevadas is the lowest it’s been in the past 500 years. Definitely not good news for California which depends on this snowpack for water. A debilitating drought, fierce wildfires, and now a declining snowpack, things sure are not looking good for the city.

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When It Takes Plastic Balls to Fight Drought

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A small portion of the 90 million black plastic balls added to the Los Angeles Reservoir on August 12, 2015. Image credit: AP/Damian Dovarganes

A small portion of the 90 million black plastic balls added to the Los Angeles Reservoir on August 12, 2015.  Image credit: AP/Damian Dovarganes

In a drought, every drop of water is precious, including those lost to evaporation in the hot summer. But in a massive open reservoir, how do you prevent that from happening? Facing a long-term water crisis, officials concerned with preserving a reservoir in Los Angeles hatched a plan: They would combat four years of drought with 96 million plastic balls. On Monday, the 175-acre Los Angeles Reservoir saw the final installment of the project: 20,000 small black orbs that would float atop the water.

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