WATER SHORTAGE COULD BE SEVEREST IN 500 YEARS

[Guest guest]

The Surfing The Apocalypse Network

http://www.surfingtheapocalypse.com

WATER SHORTAGE COULD BE SEVEREST IN 500 YEARS

http://www.surfingtheapocalypse.net/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=4617

 

 

Posted By: GlobalExodus <Send E-Mail>

Friday, 18 June 2004, 5:55 a.m.

 

Western drought worse than Dust Bowl

USGS: Water shortage could be severest in 500 years

Friday, June 18, 2004 Posted: 3:45 AM EDT (0745 GMT)

 

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- The drought gripping the West could be the biggest

in 500 years, with effects in the Colorado River basin considerably worse

than during the Dust Bowl years, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey

said Thursday.

 

" That we can now say with confidence, " said Robert Webb, lead author of the

new fact sheet. " Now I'm completely convinced. "

 

The Colorado River has been in a drought for the entire decade, cutting an

important source of water for millions of people across the West, including

Southern California.

 

Environmental groups said the report reinforces the need to figure out a

better way to manage the Colorado River before reservoirs run dry.

 

" The water managers, they just continue to pray for rain, " said Owen

Lammers, director of Living Rivers and Colorado Riverkeeper. " They just say,

'Well, we hope that things change and we see rain.' "

 

The report said the drought has produced the lowest flow in the Colorado

River on record, with an adjusted annual average flow of only 5.4 million

acre-feet at Lees Ferry, Arizona, during the period 2001-2003. By

comparison, during the Dust Bowl years, between 1930 and 1937, the annual

flow averaged about 10.2 million acre-feet, the report said.

 

Scientists use tree-ring reconstructions of Colorado River flows to estimate

what conditions were like before record-keeping began in 1895. Using that

method, the lowest five-year average of water flow was 8.84 million

acre-feet in the years 1590-1594. From 1999 through last year, water flow

has been 7.11 million acre-feet.

 

" These comparisons suggest that the current drought may be comparable to or

more severe than the largest-known drought in 500 years, " the report said.

 

The report said the river had its highest flow of the 20th century from 1905

to 1922, the years used to estimate how much water Western states would

receive under the Colorado River Compact.

 

The 1922 compact should now be reconsidered because of the uncertain water

flow, said Steve Smith, a regional director for the Wilderness Society.

 

The report did not surprise water managers.

 

Adan Ortega, spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern

California, said the water district has been increasing water storage,

buying water from farmers and investing in alternatives to the Colorado

River.

 

SNIP...

 

Droughts seldom persist for longer than a decade, the report noted. But that

could mean the current drought is only half over.

 

" If you're a betting person, you will bet that we will come out of this

drought next year, " Webb said. " It's a very severe event and these things

tend to end fast. There are other indications, though, that suggest that

this drought could persist for as long as 30 years.

 

" We don't really know. "

 

 

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WEATHER/06/18/record.drought.ap/