7 States Running Out Of Water

[stromboli]

http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/05/23/seven-states-running-out-of-water/2/

7. Texas
> Pct. severe drought: 56.1%
> Pct. extreme drought: 39.9% (4th highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 20.7% (3rd highest)

Much of north and central Texas, including all of the Texas Panhandle, was covered in exceptional drought as of last week. In all, almost 40% of land area in the state experienced extreme drought conditions. Recently, some have said the heavy use of water in natural gas fracking processes in North Texas is problematic during the area’s drought. Additionally, the drought could have a large impact on the state’s agriculture industry. Texas had nearly a quarter of a million farms, the most out of any state in the nation, as of 2012.

6. Oklahoma
> Pct. severe drought: 64.5%
> Pct. extreme drought: 50.1% (2nd highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 30.4% (the highest)

Severe drought covered over 50% of Oklahoma as of last week, up from roughly 33% one year ago. The state’s drought worsened from the middle of April, when just 27% of the state experienced severe drought. The state’s 80,000-plus farms and nearly 310,000 hired farm workers have been struggling with the drought conditions. The situation is all the more difficult because the state is supposed to be in the midst of its rainy season. An open burn ban is in effect for the western part of the state due to fire hazards resulting from the drought. In March, the Oklahoma Emergency Drought Relief Commission awarded more than $1 million to several drought-ridden communities in the state.

5. Arizona
> Pct. severe drought: 76.3%
> Pct. extreme drought: 7.7% (9th highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 0.0%

Unlike other states suffering the most from drought, none of Arizona experienced exceptional drought. Severe drought conditions, however, engulfed more than three-quarters of the state as of last week. While dry conditions are not particularly unusual in Arizona at this time of year, the U.S. Drought Monitor accounts for local seasonal patterns in assessing drought conditions. Moreover, the extreme heat and lighter-than-average snowfall from the winter have reduced the soil moisture to such a degree that fire hazards are significantly higher.

4. Kansas
> Pct. severe drought: 80.8%
> Pct. extreme drought: 48.1% (3rd highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 2.8% (6th highest)

Like several states running out of water, 80% of Kansas was engulfed in at least severe drought, an increase from one year ago when roughly 70% was covered by severe drought. Compared to last May, however, when exceptional drought covered nearly one fifth of the state, just 2.8% of Kansas was considered exceptionally dry as of last week. In announcing the severity of the state’s drought problem, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback lifted restrictions on taking water from state-owned fishing lakes.

3. New Mexico
> Pct. severe drought: 86.2%
> Pct. extreme drought: 33.3% (6th highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 4.5% (5th highest)

More than 86% of New Mexico was covered in severe drought as of last week, more than any state except for Nevada and California. Additionally, one-third of the state was in extreme drought, worse than just a month earlier, when only one-quarter of the state was covered in extreme drought. However, conditions were better than they were one year ago, when virtually the entire state was in at least severe drought, with more than 80% in extreme drought conditions. NOAA forecasts conditions may improve in much of the state this summer.

2. Nevada
> Pct. severe drought: 87.0%
> Pct. extreme drought: 38.7% (5th highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 8.2% (4th highest)

Nearly 40% of Nevada was covered in extreme drought last week, among the highest rates in the country. The drought in the state has worsened since the week of April 15, when 33.5% of the state was covered in extreme drought. According to the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD), the main cause of the drought this year has been below average snowfall in the Rocky Mountains. Melting snow from the Rocky Mountains eventually flows into Lake Mead, which provides most of the Las Vegas Valley with water. John Entsminger, head of both the LVVWD and the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said that the effects of the drought on the state has been “every bit as serious as a Hurricane Katrina or a Superstorm Sandy.”

1. California
> Pct. severe drought: 100.0%
> Pct. extreme drought: 76.7% (the highest)
> Pct. exceptional drought: 24.8% (2nd highest)

California had the nation’s worst drought problem with more than 76% of the state experiencing extreme drought as of last week. Drought in California has worsened considerably in recent years. Severe drought conditions covered the entire state, as of last week. Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency earlier this year as the drought worsened. California had 465,422 hired farm workers in 2012, more than any other state. Farm workers would likely suffer further if conditions persist. The shortage of potable water has been so severe that California is now investing in long-term solutions, such as desalination plants. A facility that is expected to be the largest in the Western hemisphere is currently under construction in Southern California, and another desalination facility is under consideration in Orange County.

And this:
http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_25447586/california-drought-san-joaquin-valley-sinking-farmers-race

PIXLEY â€" So wet was the San Joaquin Valley of Steve Arthur's childhood that a single 240-foot-deep well could quench the thirst of an arid farm.

Now his massive rig, bucking and belching, must drill 1,200 feet deep in search of ever-more-elusive water to sustain this wheat farm north of Bakersfield. As he drills, his phone rings with three new appeals for help.

"Everybody is starting to panic," said Arthur, whose Fresno-based well-drilling company just bought its ninth rig, off the Wyoming oil fields. "Without water, this valley can't survive."

When water doesn't fall from the sky or flow from reservoirs, there's only one place to find it: underground. So, three years into a devastating drought, thirsty Californians are draining the precious aquifer beneath the nation's most productive farmland like never before, pitting neighbor against neighbor in a perverse race to the bottom.

The rush to drill is driven not just by historically dry conditions, but by a host of other factors that promote short-term consumption over long-term survival -- new, more moisture-demanding crops; improved drilling technologies; and a surge of corporate investors seeking profits for agricultural ventures.

Now those forces are renewing an age-old problem of environmental degradation: Decades ago, overpumping sunk half of the entire San Joaquin Valley, in one area as much as 28 feet. Today new areas are subsiding, some almost a foot each year, damaging bridges and vital canals.

And this
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/huge-aquifer-runs-through-8-states-quickly-being-tapped-out-f8C11009320

Nearly 70 percent of the groundwater stored in parts of the United States' High Plains Aquifer â€" a vast underground reservoir that stretches through eight states, from South Dakota to Texas, and supplies 30 percent of the nation's irrigated groundwater â€" could be used up within 50 years unless current water use is reduced, a new study finds.
Researchers from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., conducted a four-year study of a portion of the High Plains Aquifer, called the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides the most agriculturally important irrigation in the state of Kansas, and is a key source of drinking water for the region.

If current irrigation trends continue unabated, 69 percent of the available groundwater will be drained in the next five decades, the researchers said in a study published online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The level of denial and stupidity of industry and congress is mind boggling. San Joaquin Valley is a major supplier of produce for the entire nation. If we lose their ability to raise crops, it will affect millions of people. We have been using up the water in the aquifers for generations in ever increasing amounts. And water that is used is often polluted by pesticides as runoff.

Every human being is directly connected to a watershed or an aquifer. Without them, we cannot survive, much less grow crops or water livestock. The demand for water constantly increases with rising population, new construction and the need for more of everything.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Welcome to Ohio crisscrossed with rivers and sitting on one of the worlds great aquafers. Don't be to shocked if someday you're buying bottled water stamped Made in Ohio though technically we don't make water.

[stromboli]

And Ohio is seeing a big rise in fracking. Hope they don't contaminate the ground water.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Meanwhile in Georgia we're out of our drought. I have the shower running right now, and no one's even in it. Sometimes I run the hose for no reason.

/fuck you got mine

In all seriousness one would hope this is like a brick to the head of those who deny climate change, but sadly it isn't. In their greed and selfishness they'll continue to act like they're blameless and keep chugging along to human extinction.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

And Ohio is seeing a big rise in fracking. Hope they don't contaminate the ground water.

So far they've kept the majority of the fracking over near the eastern side of the state where most of the shale is at instead of right over the aquafers, but I have full faith our republican lead legislature and governor will fuck that up.

[stromboli]

In all seriousness one would hope this is like a brick to the head of those who deny climate change, but sadly it isn't. In their greed and selfishness they'll continue to act like they're blameless and keep chugging along to human extinction.

The response is to pray harder. 

[josephpalazzo]

Climate change isn't true. The Lawrd wouldn't let it happen. It's in the bible... somewhere...

[Shiranu]

Hey, my two states are in the top 7 (one the top 3!)... just tell me a country you want to see a drought in and I'll move there for ya, free of charge.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

North Korea

[Munch]

And theres Texas wanting to abdicate from the US into its own nation.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

And theres Texas wanting to abdicate from the US into its own nation.

The nation of Texas will have to buy water from the Republic of Wisconsin then! Good luck getting it transported across Illinois.

[stromboli]

The problem is that we are past the tipping point and everything now is a delaying action and ultimately doomed to failure. Aquifers dried up- in California's case- can actually cause the land to sink. And drilling deeper only delays the inevitable. Without water to replace water, it is only a matter of time before these states are literal deserts.

[josephpalazzo]

And theres Texas wanting to abdicate from the US into its own nation.

I  was going to say, give it back to Mexico, but then the Mexicans are slowly taking it back... it's what is called, sweet revenge.

[stromboli]

I  was going to say, give it back to Mexico, but then the Mexicans are slowly taking it back... it's what is called, sweet revenge.

Lol. Estamos reproduciendo más rápido de lo, ese.   

[Solitary]

Si!  Solitary