Water is primarily irrigated; irrigated water is needed for growing the crops this planet survives and flourishes off of. There are various methods of irrigation, such as surface irrigation, drip/macro irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, and subsurface irrigation. Surface irrigation involves techniques where water is simply distributed over the soil surface by gravity. It is also the most common form of irrigation throughout the world. Drip irrigation delivers water directly to the root of a plant. This is a very effective method of irrigation because almost no water is lost through runoff or evaporation (Burt,…& Hardy, 2000). However, drip irrigation is rarely used by small-scale farmers, who face some of the worst water shortages, because of the high costs of this particular irrigation system (Burt,…& Eisenhauer, 1997). The selection of an irrigation method for agriculture is dependent on the type of crop, climate of the area, economics, water quality, energy availability, and multiple other factors (Burt,…& Hardy, 2000). The United States exports about one-third of all water it withdrawals in the form of crops and various other goods. Water’s necessity for survival has led to its mismanagement and thus overuse. Societies around the world are finally beginning to realize that water is very limited and must be reserved. The Colorado River used to flow 20 mil ac-ft to the Gulf of California; currently, it only flows around 7 mil ac-ft and no water reaches the gulf
On a bright and clear summer day, the birds were chirping, the sun was boring down onto your back. You skipped through the dry fields of grass, the plants withered at your feet. Then you saw it. Was that… water? You set your eyes upon the goal: the stunning oasis of freshwater and leafy green trees only a few steps before you. It was true! You drank the water hurriedly, taking huge gulps as the cold liquid ran down your throat. You paused for a moment, thinking about the border, and the people across it starving for water like you once had. Should you send some over to them? Oh, but the cost! Setting up pipes would be so expensive! The water levels were already lowering rapidly across your side of the border, so maybe you should just salvage
Abraham Lustgarten has written a very informative article that is published by Pro Publica and titled “How the West Overcounts Its Water Supplies.” In great detail, he analyzes the drought situation in Arizona and California to draw attention the underlying cause: the miscounting of available water. There is miscounting because officials are refusing to legally accept that the major water resource of the West—the Colorado River—is interconnected with underground water resources. All in all, Lustgarten writes a convincing article that effectively addresses the need for officials to recognize the interconnection of ground and surface water so that water shortage in the West can be better managed; he does this through his ability to gain the
“Climate change” and its impact on basic water supply is at their foreground. It is an unfortunate reality that the terms of the Colorado Compact, the document dividing the Colorado’s waters, is an unworkable document. Based on allotments formulated in an “especially wet year,” the average volume now flowing does not meet the amounts specified in the agreement. Under the terms of the document, California receives the largest share, but with Southern California’s exploding population, this will be increasingly inadequate. Absent changes in both urban and agricultural use patterns, the deficit will only grow and further stress the state’s political and economic systems. Man’s mastery will thus prove illusory and short-lived and the original problems of water supply will return in highly magnified
Water scarcity is increasing worldwide and dramatically affecting first world nations such as Spain, Australia, and the United States. All nations are now starting to recognize that the world's water is a finite resource, and that resource is being drastically altered in both availability and quality by development, climate change and population growth. In the United States, the Colorado River is experiencing rapid declines in volume. Recent studies and data suggest that the changes in frequency, intensity, and timing of the availability of water will have substantial impact on the way we live our lives in the 21st century and beyond. As Letmathe Brakeck said, “I am confident that, under present
Arizonans see California’s drought and water restrictions plastered all over the television and newspapers. Many Arizonans remain concerned about the well-being of Californians, while some may mistakenly think that it is not Arizona’s problem. I was one of those people, and while investigated the idea, discover how Arizona is in a bad situation because of it. What I, along with others, did not understand is the years of planning, legislation, and engineering that took place to get water to Arizona and the rest of the Southwest. The Southwest is an arid environment that relies on one river, the Colorado River, to deliver water to seven different
The State of Colorado has suffered from a water shortage in recent years; a difficult situation which is easily visible when viewing the quickly shortening length of the Colorado River. Lake Mead, for example, is roughly 130 feet lower than it once was, marked by the stained rock which towers above the current water level. “The river has become a perfect symbol of what happens when we ask too much of a limited resource: it disappears. In fact, the Colorado no longer regularly reaches the sea” (Zielinski, 2010). Legislation was implemented early on to address this issue, though the results were (perhaps not surprisingly) rather unanticipated, regarding
Yet, humans have limited control on natural events, so this only reinforces the importance of managing water wisely. Recently California’s government has begun to focus more on sustaining and restoring the water supply. Dale Kasler (2016) articulates in his article some of the steps they have decided to make to solve this serious issue. The government has made the following investments: “$415 million for watershed restoration and other environmental aid for Lake Tahoe; up to $335 million for two proposed reservoirs in California, including the Sites reservoir north of Sacramento; $880 million for flood-control projects on the American and Sacramento rivers in Sacramento; and $780 million for flood-control projects in West Sacramento” (para. 10). This could be the first step to restoring the water to California. But these
(Hasan and Özay 2002, 73-74). As Albiac (2008) reports, development of pipe network distribution and drip irrigation methods in other countries led the farmers to have remarkable irrigation efficiency in drought (143). Such technologies have already been used in China, but they are not widely spread in China’s agriculture. One investigation in China on rice paddy irrigation systems development was performed and it revealed that using the fry-foot paddy irrigation (when no water flooded the field) instead of flooding irrigation (when the rice field is completely flooded) significantly (40-60%) reduces water consumption (Xiaoping, Qiangsheng and Bin 2004, 351). Furthermore, drip irrigation method was applied in arid Northern China and it raised the water usage efficiency (Du et al 2007). However, introduction of new irrigation technologies faced some difficulties in China. As Hodstedt (2010) noticed in his article, the water saved by these technologies such as drip irrigation systems was simply spent on more food production and, therefore, did not reduce the water shortage. Also, as he reported, this caused two other environmental problems. Firstly, the water, which was the supply for underground water and aquifers as it was lost by deep percolation and leakage, became unavailable after the water-saving technologies were introduced and this strengthened the aquifers depleting along with its overpumping. Secondly, after
One of the largest geographic physical structures in the United States is the Colorado River. Human activity and its interaction with this great river have an interesting history. The resources provided by the river have been used by humans, and caused conflict for human populations as well. One of these conflicts is water distribution, and the effects drought conditions have played in this distribution throughout the southwestern region. Major cities such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other communities in the southwest depend on the river. It provides water for over 20 million people, irrigation for 2 million acres of land, four thousand megawatts of hydroelectric energy, and over twenty million annual visitors for
I grumble as I clean the attic , angry because I have to do it, so I figure I'll go through the stuff while doing it to keep myself interested. I find a box labeled FRAGILE DO NOT TOUCH so of course I have to touch. I open the box and am quite disappointed to find a crap ton of glass balls. I pick one up with a name on it. I start picking up more to see if the rest have names and I'm not disappointed this time. Each one has a different name on it. My arms become too full and I accidentally drop one and it busts, then out of nowhere there is this bright purple smoke that smells like old garbage. I cough and cover my nose. When the smoke clears away I see a man standing there. He's about 6 feet tall and has a expensive looking black suit
In today’s society, the idea of a limited resource is not a foreign concept. Most people understand that eventually humans will use up many of these resources, such as fossil fuels, and they will cease to exist. However, very rarely does a conversation about limited resources get started over the water. While water itself is not a limited resource, clean drinkable water is becoming scarcer as people continue to use excess water. The documentary “Last Call at the Oasis” highlights how precious water is to survival and just how much miss use of water occurs in the United States alone. Even though the United States has gone down the wrong path with its water consumption methods, it may not be too late to recover. With the proper systems and education in place, the chances of delaying a water crisis increase exponentially.
When referring to Arizona’s water Kris Mayes, chairwoman of the state’s utility regulatory panel once said, “How do you say just how valuable water is in an arid state like Arizona?” she said. “It’s like the credit-card commercial-it’s priceless” (McKinnon). She was right, because in a dry state like Arizona, water is pretty important. To say water is ‘pretty important’ for the world is an understatement. We use water to function. And when we think of water we think of saving it. Keep the faucets from dripping or turn off the water while brushing your teeth. There are numerous tips for water conservation, but people don’t often think of the damage that is already done. Damages like ‘dead zones’. Dead zones in the ocean have been around for
How are the effects of Divergent and Allegiant’s speculation on individuals / groups discussed by the author?
After intense search we were able to find different types of irrigation systems that represent different forms of irrigation which are also the most commonly used in their category and generally here in the central valley. There are three categories that form the irrigation system: flood, sprinkler, and drip. Flood irrigation providing us with furrow irrigation, sprinkler irrigation having the center pivot irrigation, and drip irrigation having its own beneficial water conservation uses, each which waters our crops but not all in the most effective way possible. Furrow irrigation for example tends to flood the crops with water in order to water them, which is not good for the crops as they will be taking in too much water and drowning. When farmers use furrow irrigation they use as much water at once in
In only a two-year period, United States hospitals saved patients $4.1 billion by improving service delivery. [1] The savings - derived solely from safety enhancements - is one of many operational characteristics hospitals seek to improve. As Healthcare Reform falls into place, producing robust information stores, hospital administrators are taking a closer look at their internal processes using big data innovations that have arrived with perfect timing. With this information and organized teamwork, health care leaders are piloting the sweeping changes desired by many patients and public health advocates.