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We have to. Arizona is at the bottom of the water rights agreement among the states drawing from the Colorado River. I see a lot of water harvesting structures

by hosh 3y ago

We have to. Arizona is at the bottom of the water rights agreement among the states drawing from the Colorado River. I see a lot of water harvesting structures here, often in the form of parks and greenways.

genmud 3y ago
That’s actually not true, IIRC per capita we are actually better off than California and Nevada. Edit: Just looked it up and california gets about 5 million acre feet (maf), AZ gets about 2.8maf and Nevada only gets 0.3maf. So per capita, AZ is doing pretty well allocation-wise.
- hosh 3y ago
  When I said, “bottom of the water rights”, I mean that the other states has senior water rights, not allocation per capita. When there is not enough water, priority goes to those holding senior water rights. (Complicating this is that various tribal nations have water rights senior to the states, and it is only now affecting allocations)
- SECProto 3y ago
  "The Water Knife" by Paolo Bacigalupi, though near-future speculative fiction, gives a pretty solid explanation of the issues. Junior rights don't matter much when there isn't enough water
mech422 3y ago
Yeah - but PHX doesn't really rely on the Colorado as much as the rest of AZ. We also have the Salt and Verde rivers which is a luxury a lot of other parts of the state don't have... And we're back down to 1950s level of water usage due to less agriculture. Other parts of AZ don't have that reduction in usage, and have to try to do more with less
- hosh 3y ago
  Fair enough. Even with the additional sources of water, it’s better to design civilization in a way that incorporates natural cycles. The Intel fab facility does a lot to reclaim water, ultimately pumping used water back into the aquifer. New construction, such as the light rail expansion has purposely-designed swales to also help with that. If anything, it’s because the ground water has been banked for years that it is mitigating the water restriction in effect in AZ last year. On the other hand, we have so much precipitation this past winter, that the dams along the Salt River are having daily releases now. If you’re living in Phoenix right now, you might notice the elevated humidity for this time of the year; we might have a monsoon season starting weeks early here.
  - mech422 3y ago
    Man - I miss the 'old style' monsoons with the huge lighting displays...When I first moved to PHX, I used to sit out on the patio everyday just to watch them..

by hosh 3y ago

genmud 3y ago

That’s actually not true, IIRC per capita we are actually better off than California and Nevada. Edit: Just looked it up and california gets about 5 million acre feet (maf), AZ gets about 2.8maf and Nevada only gets 0.3maf. So per capita, AZ is doing pretty well allocation-wise.

hosh 3y ago
When I said, “bottom of the water rights”, I mean that the other states has senior water rights, not allocation per capita. When there is not enough water, priority goes to those holding senior water rights. (Complicating this is that various tribal nations have water rights senior to the states, and it is only now affecting allocations)
SECProto 3y ago
"The Water Knife" by Paolo Bacigalupi, though near-future speculative fiction, gives a pretty solid explanation of the issues. Junior rights don't matter much when there isn't enough water

mech422 3y ago

Yeah - but PHX doesn't really rely on the Colorado as much as the rest of AZ. We also have the Salt and Verde rivers which is a luxury a lot of other parts of the state don't have... And we're back down to 1950s level of water usage due to less agriculture. Other parts of AZ don't have that reduction in usage, and have to try to do more with less

hosh 3y ago
Fair enough. Even with the additional sources of water, it’s better to design civilization in a way that incorporates natural cycles. The Intel fab facility does a lot to reclaim water, ultimately pumping used water back into the aquifer. New construction, such as the light rail expansion has purposely-designed swales to also help with that. If anything, it’s because the ground water has been banked for years that it is mitigating the water restriction in effect in AZ last year. On the other hand, we have so much precipitation this past winter, that the dams along the Salt River are having daily releases now. If you’re living in Phoenix right now, you might notice the elevated humidity for this time of the year; we might have a monsoon season starting weeks early here.
- mech422 3y ago
  Man - I miss the 'old style' monsoons with the huge lighting displays...When I first moved to PHX, I used to sit out on the patio everyday just to watch them..