Conservation isn’t enough. Booming Fort Worth area needs new lake as a water source
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board
No one builds a lake on a lark.
It takes decades of discussion and planning to designate a reservoir site, conduct extensive environmental reviews and acquire permits and property. Along the way, stakeholders at every level have ample opportunity to weigh in.
That process has been playing out for nearly 25 years when it comes to the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir. It’s a key part of the future for much of the Dallas-Fort Worth region, including Tarrant County. So, its inclusion in the latest version of the state’s master water-supply and regulation plan is good news.
Landowners in northeast Texas, the proposed site of the lake, and some environmentalists are reinforcing their opposition to the new reservoir, which still wouldn’t be built yet for decades. There’s no question its creation will be a hardship for many, and property rights deserve the utmost respect and defense.
But it’s in the best interest of the region and state to build Marvin Nichols, and it’s not a close call. The process must move forward.
Dan Buhman, general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District, which ensures a safe and reliable water supply for the area, said that the agency always seeks first to maximize conservation, reuse water and seek other efficiencies. But the need for a new source in the coming decades is inevitable.
“We have to meet the demands of a growing region,” Buhman said. “Marvin Nichols has got to be part of our portfolio of our possible water supplies. But it’s not our only option. The first priority is always efficiency.”
Dallas-Fort Worth remains primed for huge population growth for decades. That’s a good thing: It means vitality and more opportunity for all. But growth brings challenges, including the need to secure resources and infrastructure for households and businesses alike.
There was a time when conservation efforts were insufficient. But the entire area has made tremendous strides. Per-capita water usage rates in area cities has dropped over the years. Fort Worth and Arlington receive some of the highest scores on conservation from Texas Living Waters, a coalition of advocacy groups seeking to protect freshwater sources.
Buhman said the water district’s service area conserves 20 billion gallons annually, a testament to better technology, more efficient use of resources and a constant reinforcing of the message that saving water is important.
And such efforts should continue. Buhman noted that many new arrivals to Tarrant County come from places where water is abundant, so ongoing education about the challenges of ensuring our water supply is important.
“We have to do everything we can do to use the resources we have responsibly,” said Buhman, who recently ascended to the district’s top job. But “based on all our studies, conservation is insufficient to deal with our growth.”
Even with robust conservation and reuse, the North Texas region (as defined for state water planning purposes) will see its demand increase 67 percent over the coming decades, the Texas plan notes. Where will it come from? The Tarrant district once tried to get more from across the Red River, but it lost a dispute with Oklahoma at the Supreme Court. We simply must have other options to supply and store water. Buhman noted that one of the predicted effects of climate change for the region is fewer rainfall events that are more intense. Capturing that water when it comes is important.
That’s where Marvin Nichols comes in. The state doesn’t build reservoirs on a whim. A new one hasn’t opened in decades, and the last lake built in the DFW area, Joe Pool, is more than three decades old.
Opponents to Marvin Nichols seem reinvigorated by the North Texas region’s push to include the reservoir in the long-term plan. It’s uniting property owners, environmentalists and timber interests. Federal review will take many more years, and they’ll have ample opportunity to weigh in.
No one should pretend that building Marvin Nichols comes without cost. But tradeoffs are necessary. For a glimpse of what can happen when the right decisions aren’t made decades in advance, look no further than California, where a failure of planning and worsening drought have much of the state on the precipice of a water crisis.
Elected and appointed officials alike must stay well ahead of the curve. That kind of prudence, temperament and vision necessary are a reason to pay close attention when offices such as the water district’s board of directors are on the ballot.
After all, as Buhman says, no one wants the day to come when we turn the tap and wonder what, if anything, will come out.
‘We are so unprepared’: Extreme heat fueled by climate change putting farmworkers’ lives on the line
Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY
Ricardo Sotelo called his wife, Lupita, three times on June 30, 2015. He repeated the same message at 10 a.m., noon and 3 p.m.: “I don’t feel good. I really don’t feel good.”
They were both working Olsen Brothers Farms in eastern Washington – Lupita in the warehouse, and Ricardo picking blueberries in the scorching sun. Temperatures topped 107 degrees that day, and Lupita recalls there was no shade or water in sight.
At home by 5 p.m., Ricardo clutched his chest and complained of a severe headache. Worried, his 15-year-old daughter rushed him to the hospital. By 6 p.m. he was dead. The cause: heatstroke.
“I never thought, coming from Mexico, that this would happen in the United States, that my husband would die at work,” Lupita said through a translator, explaining that she and Ricardo had come to America from Sonora, in 2011 in search of a better life.
But for thousands of farmworkers, extreme temperatures – as evidenced in intense heat waves gripping the U.S. this summer – pose an increasing threat, particularly as climate change warms the planet at a rapid rate.
A deadly and record-breaking heat wave in parts of the Western U.S. and Canada earlier this summer would have been “virtually impossible” without the influence of climate change, according to a study by leading scientists, who said global warming made the intense temperatures at least 150 times more likely to occur.
Pedro Lucas, center, nephew of farmworker Sebastian Francisco Perez, talks about his uncle’s death on July 1, 2021, near St. Paul, Ore.
Just 3 states have protective rules in place
Farmworkers, most of them immigrants, some documented and some not, are responsible for the lush spreads that adorn most Americans tables: They pick blueberries and cherries in Washington, figs and olives in California, citrus in Florida, peaches, plums and apples in Texas.
That fragrant fir decorating your living room every December likely arrived because of a farmworker in Oregon, the nation’s main producer of Christmas trees.
But farmworkers feed Americans often without any sort of protections from the American government. Just three states – California, Washington and Minnesota – have permanent rules and regulations that protect farmworkers from extreme heat.
As extreme temperatures and weather events become more common – often forcing workers to complete tasks in the hottest part of the day – advocates and sympathetic lawmakers worry about the future of farmworking in America. Will regulation and enforcement keep pace with climate change? Or will debates about the validity of science continue to put lives at risk?
Lorena González, a candidate for Seattle mayor, grew up working in fields with her family and says “thousands of people who work outside every day are bearing the brunt of our inaction” on climate change.
Lorena González, 44, the president of Seattle’s city council and a candidate for Seattle mayor, spent her childhood in central Washington picking cherries with her migrant family, earning her first paycheck at 8.
She still remembers the crippling heat, the layers of clothing worn to protect her skin from sunburns, the gallons of water they carried to every tree. She knows first-hand the risks farmworkers face every day, and what could happen if local and federal regulations aren’t passed in a timely fashion.
“It is a danger that our legislatures are stuck in their status quo of ‘legislate as usual,’” González said. “When you’re in the midst of a crisis, which is what climate change is, you have to figure out how to adapt your governance model in order to respond to the emerging need that’s before you.
“It’s just outrageous … there are thousands and thousands of people who work outside every day who are bearing the brunt of our inaction.”
Farmworker life expectancy: 49 years
On June 28, as temperatures skyrocketed to 117 degrees in the Willamette Valley, threatening Oregon’s all-time high of 119, Reyna Lopez told USA TODAY that something catastrophic could happen.
Lopez, the executive director of Pineros Y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Oregon’s largest farmworkers union, had already started to hear whispers that the heat had turned deadly. By Tuesday she had confirmation, when news broke about Perez.
At the time of his passing, Oregon had no heat-related rules to protect farmworkers. Initially expected in 2020, heat-related rules were delayed when COVID hit. Lopez called the COVID reasoning “a cop-out,” pointing out that farmworkers continued to labor through COVID, enduring historic heat waves, wildfire smoke that destroyed air quality and an ice storm in January.
On July 8, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, in conjunction with Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), announced emergency heat rules, which mandate access to shade and cold water and, when temperatures hit 90 degrees, 10-minute breaks every two hours. Her office told USA TODAY that permeant rules are expected “by the fall” but didn’t give a specific date.
Washington followed suit the next day, announcing expanded heat exposure protections – including paid breaks – that enhance the laws already in place. Gov. Jay Inslee, one of the nation’s leading voices on climate change, acknowledged the need for updated regulations in a statement, saying, “Our state has rules in place to ensure these risks are mitigated, however, the real impacts of climate change have changed conditions since those rules were first written and we are responding.”
Neither state has rules that workers be sent home if temperatures reach a certain high.
That could be problematic, according to Kristie Ebi, a professor at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the University of Washington. Ebi has worked on issues of climate change and health for 25 years, and says temperatures don’t have to reach 115 degrees to do long-term damage to the human body.
Multiple studies have shown that prolonged exposure to high temperatures can ravage a person’s kidneys. Some of the world’s hottest regions, including Sri Lanka and Central America, where farmworking is common, have experienced a spike in kidney disease, which can lead to death.
A worker looks at a photo of Sebastian Francisco Perez who died while working in an extreme heat wave near St. Paul, Ore.
“I’m more concerned about the next decade or two than I am about the middle of the century,” Ebi said. “We are so unprepared. Temperatures will be higher mid-century, yes, and we’ll have even longer, more intense heat waves than we’re having now, and how intense will depend on our greenhouse gas emissions.
“But it’s the short-term we need to think about. How can we start investing in critical infrastructure that people need right now to be prepared for the climate change that’s already happening?”
U.S. senators propose protections
In March, a group of U.S. senators introduced the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act. In 2004, Valdivia died of heat stroke in California after picking grapes in 105 degrees for 10 consecutive hours. When Valdivia fell ill, his employer declined to call an ambulance and told Valdivia’s son to drive him to the ER instead. During the drive Valdivia, then 53, started foaming at the mouth. He died before he reached the hospital.
Organizations such as United Farm Workers, headquartered in California and the nation’s largest farmworking union, have lobbied strongly for the bill, and previously testified in front of Congress about the risks farmworkers face working in the heat. The bill has not been brought to the floor for a vote.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., a co-sponsor of that bill, told USA TODAY in an email that he was “deeply saddened” by the death of Perez and that it was “a stark reminder that as climate chaos progresses, those who will pay the steepest costs will often be the most vulnerable in society … we can and must do more to ensure farmworkers receive every necessary protection from extreme heat.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, gestures before a chart showing warming temperatures.
Merkley is also bullish about the need to protect farmworkers from wildfire smoke. Previously, he’s pushed for legislation that would do exactly that, introducing the Farmworker Smoke Protection Act with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in 2019. Merkley said he plans to introduce an updated version of that legislation in the coming weeks.
At PCUN, Lopez was frustrated and surprised to see that Oregon’s emergency heat rules didn’t include anything for smoke, despite a historic drought in 2021 that’s likely to lead to another brutal fire season in the West. Lopez wants those rules now, not after wildfire smoke chokes anyone who steps outside to work.
California has smoke-related rules, but Ira Cuello-Martinez, PCUN’s climate policy associate – a position the organization recently added because climate change has become such a crucial piece of protecting farmworkers – said the California rules should not be the standard.
According to the California OSHA website, smoke-related rules are based on the Air Quality Index. When AQI hits 151, which is officially considered “unhealthy,” employers must provide workers with respirators, like N-95 masks, and encourage use of them. When the AQI hits 500, employers must require use of respirators even though at 301 AQI and higher, air is considered hazardous.
And there’s nothing that says when AQI hits a certain number – the scale only goes to 500 – work should be suspended for the day.
“That was a mistake on Cal OSHA’s end – that’s unbearably unhealthy,” Cuello-Martinez said, expressing worry that Oregon might adopt similar guidelines. “No one should be outside in those conditions.”
Last summer when COVID shuttered numerous restaurants, the only work available to many immigrants was in the fields. Workers told Cuello-Martinez about wildfire smoke so bad it stung their eyes and made them unable to see, how they got so nauseous they couldn’t stop vomiting. They were worried about working in hazardous conditions, but they didn’t have any other income opportunities.
A farmworker wipes sweat from his neck while working in St. Paul, Ore., as a heat wave bakes the Pacific Northwest in record-high temperatures on July 1, 2021.
Cuello-Martinez is concerned about the government’s ability to keep pace with climate change and adjust rules as more data becomes available about the long-term impact of working in extreme heat or smoky conditions.
“We don’t want life expectancy to continue decreasing,” he said.
‘A life of sacrifice so Americans can eat’
Along with rules based in science, Lopez and Cuello-Martinez also want disaster pay for farmworkers, so that if conditions are hazardous for any reason, farmworkers could stay home and not suffer financially. They think rules about air conditioning in employer-provided housing – PCUN estimates that about 9,000 of Oregon’s 87,000 field workers and hand harvesters live in employer-provided housing – need to be adopted immediately.
Lopez, Cuello-Martinez and other farmworking advocates, worry that climate-related deaths among farmworkers are severely underreported.
“I think about it every day,” Lopez said. “There are people in the deepest, darkest corners of rural Oregon that I have no idea about – and I guarantee you that there were multiple people who died (because of the heat) that we don’t know about.”
For Lopez, the fight feels personal. When she heard about Perez’s death she thought about how it could have been her mother, her father, her uncle or aunt or brother or sister.
“From the moment farmworkers leave their country due to economic hardship and come work in the fields, they’re living a life of sacrifice so Americans can eat,” Lopez said.
Lupita Sotelo, second from left, lost her husband, Ricardo, in 2015, when he died of heatstroke after spending hours working in the fields of eastern Washington picking blueberries.It’s a truth Sotelo knows too well.
Now 50, Sotelo doesn’t think her body can handle working outside much longer. The farm she works at now is better though, she said: Her supervisor checks in on workers regularly, making sure they have water and take breaks in shade. When temperatures hit 91 last week, the farm called it a day and sent everyone home around 1 p.m.
This has been the hottest year she’s experienced in the decade she’s been in the U.S., Sotelo said. And though she said she will “never get over the pain of losing my husband,” she could not mourn forever. So she’ll continue to pick blueberries and cherries, doing her part to feed America.
Working in the fields is “the only option we have,” she said in Spanish. “We have to pay bills, too.”
Follow national correspondent Lindsay Schnell on Twitter at @Lindsay_Schnell
I grew up in England, where gun violence was unheard of. I never once worried that someone might have a gun or that my life might be affected by gun violence.
Here in the United States, it’s impossible to find someone whose life hasn’t been impacted by gun violence. If Americans could see just how violent our society is, and how guns contribute to that violence, we might start to consider that our “rights” are meaningless if the cost is human life.
Gun violence is going to continue to get worse until people wake up from their stupor and realize that having more than 300 million firearms in circulation doesn’t make us safer. Rather, it makes us an outlier, the most violent and deadly society among the world’s modern and affluent countries.
David Tempest, Mar Vista
..
To the editor: We shouldn’t let gun worship define American patriotism and, for the most part we don’t.
But we have just had a president who was the very definition of toxic masculinity, and gun worship is a part of toxic masculinity. So we’re stuck with these gun nuts who consider themselves patriots, even though most of us think they do not deserve to be called thus.
The scariest part of Granderson’s column is that his examples of what seem like thwarted mass shootings show our police and judges don’t take the dangers posed by people holed up in hotel rooms with small arsenals seriously.
Joan DaVanzo, Long Beach
..
To the editor: With the sad increase in homicides, I was reminded of my dad’s words when my sister and I would argue. His plaintive plea: “Can’t we all just get along?”
Such a simplistic answer to a complicated problem, right?
Now, I want to shout in the same exasperated tone my father had, “People, we gotta be nicer to each other!”
Red Tide, stench of dead fish hangs over Fort De Soto beaches
Matt Cohen, Tampa Bay Times
TIERRA VERDE — A handful of anglers cast their lines off Fort De Soto’s fishing pier on Friday into Red Tide-infested waters.
In the sand below them lay dead snook and tarpon, grouper and horseshoe crabs, eels and pufferfish. The stench of dead marine life filled the air at Fort De Soto Park on Friday, one of the crown jewels of Pinellas County beach tourism.
One family waded out and tried putting their baby in the water. The baby cried.
They all drove past an 8 foot by 11 foot sign at the toll both with this warning in bold, italicized capital letters: RED TIDE.
None of those anglers or beach-goers wished to speak to a Tampa Bay Times reporter about why they had braved fish kills and Red Tide to visit the beach. Not many chose to join them on a summer morning in July.
While huge fish kills are being cleaned from St. Petersburg’s shoreline, Red Tide remains a problem for the Pinellas beaches as well.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Red Tide map shows high concentrations of the Karenia brevis cells that cause Red Tide were found along the county’s Gulf shores at Fort De Soto Bay Pier, Bunces Pass near the Pinellas Bayway, the 7th Avenue Pier near Pass-A-Grille Channel and as far north as Indian Shores Beach.
There were also areas of medium concentrations in water samples taken near Madeira Beach and Clearwater Beach.
The fish kills within Fort De Soto Park appeared to be mostly limited to the southern edge of the beaches, but the smell was everywhere.
While there are high concentrations of Red Tide found near Pass-a-Grille Beach, hardly any fish had washed ashore there.
Inside Fort De Soto, signs for Saturday’s Top Gun Triathlon — the biking is set to take place along the park’s roads, while the water will be used for swimming — remained in place on Friday. The organizers did not return calls for comment, but its Facebook page indicated the event will still be held.
Just outside the park, Peter Clark, president of Tampa Bay Watch in Tierra Verde, said the area is seeing far more dead fish over the last few days.
“There is a pretty strong Red Tide blooming right now,” Clark said.
Clark said the Red Tide is now killing fish in the Tierra Verde waters itself, whereas before dead fish from Tampa Bay washed ashore. He said he’s seen poisoned fish struggling on the surface of the water.
This week, his walks outside have been met with the pungent odor of dead sea life. He urges residents to check the Red Tide levels of whatever beaches or waterfront spot they visit before they go out there.
Red Tide resources
There are several online resources that can help residents stay informed and share information about Red Tide:
Florida Poison Control Centers have a toll-free 24/7 hotline to report illnesses, including from exposure to Red Tide: 1-800-222-1222
To report fish kills and get them cleaned up in Tampa Bay, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 1-800-636-0511 or file a fish kill report online.
To report them in St. Petersburg, call the Mayor’s Action Center at 727-893-7111 or use St. Petersburg’s seeclickfix website.
Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, the county’s tourism wing, runs an online beach dashboard at www.beachesupdate.com.
Beachgoers should avoid swimming around dead fish.
Those with chronic respiratory problems should be particularly careful and “consider staying away” from places with a Red Tide bloom.
People should not harvest or eat mollusks or distressed and dead fish from the area. Fillets of healthy fish should be rinsed with clean water, and the guts thrown out.
Pet owners should keep their animals away from the water and from dead fish.
Residents living near the beach should close their windows and run air conditioners with proper filters.
Visitors to the beach can wear paper masks, especially if the wind is blowing in.
Source: Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County
Devastating Photos Of The Floods In Germany That Have Killed Over 100 People
Kate Bubacz
More than 100 people have been killed by floods in Germany after extreme rainfall caused rivers to overflow in the western part of the country on Thursday, and the toll is expected to increase as the floodwaters recede.
Dozens have also been killed in neighboring Belgium and the Netherlands.
Rescue operations are ongoing as hundreds of people are still listed as missing, although officials hope the number will decrease as communications are restored. According to the Associated Press, dozens of residents were rescued from their roofs, where they had taken refuge from the rising waters. The full extent of the damage is still unknown; many have suddenly lost everything, as homes collapsed and cars were swept away in the storm.
Weather disasters are inextricably linked to human-induced climate change. The planet has already warmed 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, according to NASA, and that’s making disasters more dangerous and more costly. Stopping this vicious cycle will require drastically reducing our reliance on climate-polluting fossil fuels.
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Photos reveal devastating impact as more than 125 killed by floods in Europe – ‘Warnings not taken seriously’
Ellen Manning
Arial photo of the devastation caused by the flooding in Erftstadt, Germany. (AP
Over 120 people have died after floods swept through northwest Europe following heavy rainfall, devastating communities in Germany and Belgium.
The number of people who have died in the floods in the western part of Germany had risen to more than 100 by Friday afternoon.
More than 1,000 people were missing in the Neuenahr-Ahrweiler region, Koblenz police have reportedly said and entire communities have been completely ruined.
Cars were washed away in the floods and left perched on debris in the town of Ahrweiler-Bad Neuenahr. (Getty)
The damaged Steinbach hydrolic dam in Euskirchen, western Germany, after heavy rain hit parts of the country, causing widespread flooding (SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP via Getty Images)
Debris including tree trunks have damaged roads and bridges after being swept away in the flooding. (Getty)
Record rainfall across western Europe saw the floods sweep through towns and villages, leaving people stranded, destroying homes, and washing cars down streets.
The floods have caused Germany’s worst loss of life in years and have also hit other countries, including Belgium, where 11 deaths have been reported.
Hundreds of people have been left missing and the death toll continues to rise in Germany. (Getty)
The flooding comes after heavy rainfall lashed western Europe. (Getty)
Some 15,000 police, soldiers and emergency service workers have been deployed in Germany to help with the search and rescue.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was “stunned” by the devastation caused by the flooding and pledged support to the families of those killed and to cities and towns facing significant damage.
“In the hour of need, our country stands together,” Steinmeier said in a statement. “It’s important that we show solidarity for those from whom the flood has taken everything.”
Hundreds of soldiers used tanks to clear roads of landslides and fallen trees, while helicopters helped winch people to safety.
The Rhine river in Cologne, Germany, flooded, engulfing bikes and cars. (Getty)
A harrowing rescue effort unfolded In the German town of Erftstadt, southwest of Cologne, where people were trapped when the ground gave way and their homes collapsed.
“We managed to get 50 people out of their houses last night,” county administrator Frank Rock told German broadcaster N-TV.
Aerial photos showed what appeared to be a massive landslide at a gravel pit on the town’s edge..
“One has to assume that under the circumstances some people didn’t manage to escape,” Rock said.
Authorities were trying to account for hundreds of people listed as missing, but they cautioned that the high number could be due to duplicated reports and difficulties reaching people because of disrupted roads and phone service.
Western German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia were hard hit by the flooding. (Getty)
The governor of North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet, who is hoping to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as the nation’s leader after Germany’s election in September said the disaster had caused immense economic damage to the country’s most densely populated state.
“The floods have literally pulled the ground from beneath many people’s feet,” Gov. Armin Laschet said at a news conference. “They lost their houses, farms or businesses.”
Federal and state officials have pledged financial aid to the affect areas, which also includes the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where at least 60 people died and entire villages were destroyed.
Watch: Fears death toll will rise as officials warn dam will burst
Germany and Belgium floods: At least 120 dead and 1,300 missing – ‘many’ more deaths expected
The unprecedented rainfall has been blamed on global climate change by both weather experts and local politicians.
After Germany, where more than 100 people have died, Belgium was the hardest hit by the floods that caused homes to be ripped away. Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden told the VRT network Friday that the country’s official confirmed death toll had grown to 20, with 20 other people still missing.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has declared 20 July a national day of mourning.
“We are still waiting for the final toll, but this could be the most catastrophic flooding our country has ever seen,” he said.
Lives were also lost in Belgium, where floods ravaged towns including Oesival. (Getty)
Streets were left under water in the Belgian city of Verviers, near Liege after water levels rose. (Getty)
Dr. Liz Stephens, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Reading, said: “The flooding in Europe is a sobering demonstration of how even the most developed countries are not prepared for the impacts of climate change.
“Intense summer rainfall events are expected to occur more frequently under climate change, and national and local governments need to wake up to the danger and make sure that appropriate measures are taken to avoid the unacceptable number of fatalities that have been reported from this event.
“The floods in London earlier this week provide a warning that we are not immune to these kinds of flood impacts in the UK and should learn our own lessons from this disaster.”
People were forced to flee their homes with their belongings in Belgium so they could get to safety as floodwaters rose. (Getty)
A provincial disaster plan was declared in Liege, Luxembourg and Namur provinces after large amounts of rainfall in the area. (Getty)
Houses were left submerged near the Dender river during floods near Geraardsbergen in Belgium. (Reuters)
As the water started to recede, stunned residents in the worst affected towns inspected what was left of their homes and neighborhoods.
In the German town of Schuld, houses were reduced to piles of debris and broken beams. Roads were blocked by wreckage and fallen trees and fish flapped and gasped on puddles of water in the middle of the street.
A rescue effort was underway at the end of the week, with the military joining residents in the clean-up operation.
Rubble was left in the street in Euskirchen, western Germany, as emergency responders continued to search for hundreds of missing people. (Getty)
Soldiers have been helping in the search and rescue effort. (Getty)
Businesses have been left ruined by the flooding. (Getty)
Professor Hannah Cloke OBE, Professor of Hydrology at the University of Reading, added: “The deaths and destruction across Europe as a result of flooding is a tragedy that should have been avoided.
“For so many people to die in floods in Europe in 2021 represents a monumental failure of the system. The sight of people driving or wading through deep floodwater fills me with horror, as this is about the most dangerous thing you can do in a flood.
“Forecasters could see this heavy rain coming and issued alerts early in the week, and yet the warnings were not taken seriously enough and preparations were inadequate.
“These kind of high-energy, sudden summer torrents of rain are exactly what we expect in our rapidly heating climate.
“The fact that other parts of the northern hemisphere are currently suffering record-breaking heat-waves and fires should serve as a reminder of just much more dangerous our weather could become in an ever-warmer world.”
Watch: Floodwaters surge through German town as death toll rises
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Death toll rises to at least 157 in Europe floods
The search for survivors in stranded vehicles as the floodwaters finally start to recede in western Germany. Burst rivers and flash floods this week collapsed houses and claimed at least 157 lives across across Europe.The German President visited the scene of some of the worst flooding in the town of Erftstadt, near Cologne, where the disaster killed at least 43 people. ‘We mourn with those that have lost loved ones….their fate is ripping our hearts apart’, he said. These floods are the country’s worst natural disaster in more than half a century. Hundreds of people are still missing. Over the past several days the floods have cut off entire communities from power and communications. In Belgium, the death toll rose to 24, according to the national crisis center, which is coordinating the rescue effort. Emergency services in the Netherlands also remained on high alert as overflowing rivers threatened towns and villages throughout the southern province of Limburg. Tens of thousands of residents in the region have been evacuated in the past two days, while soldiers, fire brigades and volunteers worked frantically throughout Friday night to enforce dykes and prevent flooding.
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Death toll rises to 170 in Germany and Belgium floods
Petra Wischgoll and David Sahl
ERFTSTADT, Germany/WASSENBERG, Germany (Reuters) -The death toll in devastating flooding in western Germany and Belgium rose to at least 170 on Saturday after burst rivers and flash floods this week collapsed houses and ripped up roads and power lines.
Some 143 people died in the flooding in Germany’s worst natural disaster in more than half a century. That included about 98 in the Ahrweiler district south of Cologne, according to police.
Hundreds of people were still missing or unreachable as several areas were inaccessible due to high water levels while communication in some places was still down.
Residents and business owners struggled to pick up the pieces in battered towns.
“Everything is completely destroyed. You don’t recognize the scenery,” said Michael Lang, owner of a wine shop in the town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler in Ahrweiler, fighting back tears.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Erftstadt in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the disaster killed at least 45 people.
“We mourn with those that have lost friends, acquaintances, family members,” he said. “Their fate is ripping our hearts apart.”
Around 700 residents were evacuated late on Friday after a dam broke in the town of Wassenberg near Cologne, authorities said.
But Wassenberg mayor Marcel Maurer said water levels had been stabilising since the night. “It’s too early to give the all-clear but we are cautiously optimistic,” he said.
The Steinbachtal dam in western Germany, however, remained at risk of breaching, authorities said after some 4,500 people were evacuated from homes downstream.
Steinmeier said it would take weeks before the full damage, expected to require several billions of euros in reconstruction funds, could be assessed.
Armin Laschet, state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia and the ruling CDU party’s candidate in September’s general election, said he would speak to Finance Minister Olaf Scholz in the coming days about financial support.
Chancellor Angela Merkel was expected to travel on Sunday to Rhineland Palatinate, the state that is home to the devastated village of Schuld.
In Belgium, the death toll rose to 27, according to the national crisis centre, which is coordinating the relief operation there.
It added that 103 people were “missing or unreachable”. Some were likely unreachable because they could not recharge mobile phones or were in hospital without identity papers, the center said.
COMMUNITIES CUT OFF
Over the past several days the floods, which have mostly hit the German states of Rhineland Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia and eastern Belgium, have cut off entire communities from power and communications.
RWE, Germany’s largest power producer, said on Saturday its opencast mine in Inden and the Weisweiler coal-fired power plant were massively affected, adding that the plant was running at lower capacity after the situation stabilized.
In the southern Belgian provinces of Luxembourg and Namur, authorities rushed to supply drinking water to households.
Flood water levels slowly fell in the worst hit parts of Belgium, allowing residents to sort through damaged possessions. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited some areas on Saturday afternoon.
Belgian rail network operator Infrabel published plans of repairs to lines, some of which would be back in service only at the very end of August.
HIGH ALERT IN THE NETHERLANDS
Emergency services in the Netherlands also remained on high alert as overflowing rivers threatened towns and villages throughout the southern province of Limburg.
Tens of thousands of residents in the region have been evacuated in the past two days, while soldiers, fire brigades and volunteers worked frantically throughout Friday night to enforce dykes and prevent flooding.
The Dutch have so far escaped disaster on the scale of its neighbours, and as of Saturday morning no casualties had been reported.
Scientists have long said that climate change will lead to heavier downpours. But determining its role in these relentless rainfalls will take at least several weeks to research, scientists said on Friday.
(Reporting by Petra Wischgoll and Leon Kuegeler in Erftstadt, David Sahl in Wassenberg, Matthias Inverardi in Duesseldorf, Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels, Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt and Bart Meijer in Amsterdam Editing by Frances Kerry)
We’ve plummeted from dumb to dumber — to proud and unapologetically ignorant | Opinion
Leonard Pitts Jr.
We live in ignorant times.
By now, surely this is obvious beyond argument to anyone who’s been paying attention. From the Capitol insurrectionist who thought he was storming the White House to Sen. Tim Scott’s claim that “woke supremacy is as bad as white supremacy” to whatever thing Tucker Carlson last said, ignorance is ascendant.
Yet, even by that dubious standard, what happened recently in Tennessee bears note. According to a story by Brett Kelman of the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, the state, under pressure from Republican lawmakers, fired its top immunization official, Dr. Michelle Fiscus, and shut down all vaccine outreach to young people. Fiscus’ sin? Doing her job, working to increase access to the COVID-19 shot among kids.
Specifically, she sent a letter to healthcare providers reminding them that under the state’s “Mature Minor Doctrine,” they are legally allowed to vaccinate children 14 years or older without parental consent. According to Fiscus, the letter, written in response to requests for guidance made by those administering the shots, utilized language drafted by an attorney for the department of health and was vetted by the governor’s office.
All that notwithstanding, it infuriated some state lawmakers. They used words like “extreme disappointment” and “reprehensible” and talked of closing the health department. Some anonymous person even sent Fiscus a dog muzzle. Then she was fired, and the state shut down all vaccine publicity efforts targeting young people.
This means no postcards sent out to remind kids to get their shots, no nudges on social media, no flyers or advertisements, no events at schools, no outreach whatsoever. And not just for COVID, mind you, but for everything — measles, mumps, tetanus, diphtheria, hepatitis, polio.
In a pandemic.
In a state with a less-than-stellar COVID vaccination rate.
At a time when experts are tracking the rise of a deadlier new COVID variant.
It is hard to imagine behavior dumber, more dangerous, more short-sighted and more downright bass-ackward than that exhibited by Tennessee and its lawmakers.
Which is, unfortunately, right on brand for this country in this era. It was in the 2000s that Stephen Colbert coined the term “truthiness” to describe the right wing’s secession from objective fact, and some of us began to speak of them as living in an “alternate reality.” How, we wondered in newspaper columns and speeches, can we have meaningful discourse if we cannot agree on basic facts?
Years later, that concern feels too abstract. The threat turns out to be more visceral and urgent than any of us could have imagined. Yes, some people live in alternate realities. What’s worse, though, is when they have power to impose those realities on the rest of us. That’s what we’re seeing in Tennessee and elsewhere, and the results will be as tragic as they are predictable and preventable.
Ignorance is bliss, they say. But it isn’t.
Ignorance is fever.
Ignorance is chills.
Ignorance is trouble breathing.
Ignorance is an empty seat at the table, a bedroom come suddenly available.
Because ignorance is death.
And while the aphorism isn’t true, can you imagine if it were, if ignorance really were bliss? Disney theme parks would have to find a new slogan.
Right now, Tennessee would be the happiest place on Earth.
It doesn’t take much room to grow your own food: a patio, porch, sidewalk, or even a sunny windowsill will do the trick. Container gardening, a practice adopted by many urban growers, provides you the pleasure of gardening with a fraction of the space.
Growing a few vegetables that you buy regularly – whether that be lettuce, tomatoes, peas, or even potatoes – may seem insignificant, but can save you money, cut down on single-use plastic, and lower the environmental impact of what’s on your plate.
Before getting started, address a few of the main considerations for container gardening: which type of container you’ll use, where the containers will be placed, whether you’ll grow from seeds or starters, and the type of soil you’ll use.
The optimal size and shape of a container will vary based on what’s growing inside, although the pot’s material is less variable. Terra-cotta pots are more attractive, and while they might be perfect for your houseplants, they don’t retain water as well as plastic planters, which are also much lighter and less expensive. Regardless, make sure whatever container you use has drainage holes in the bottom for excess water.
Before situating one of your potted plants, determine whether the appointed spot gets enough sunlight based on the plant’s specific needs. Check the spot every hour over the course of a day to see how many total hours of sunlight the plant will get.
Many garden supply stores sell starters – small plants that are ready to be transplanted directly into your container – or, you can grow your own from seed, learning the specifications for individual vegetables, including when they should be planted during the spring or fall growing seasons.
Lastly, fight the urge to use normal gardening soil in containers. Potting soil – some of which is designed specifically for container gardening – provides better aeration and prevents the plant’s roots from becoming waterlogged. Potting soil also helps retain moisture; unlike plants in the ground, container-bound vegetables can’t send out roots to find more water and nutrients. Along with watering the plants frequently – about once a day, in most cases – keep the pots well fertilized by adding compost.
While most vegetables can be grown in containers, a few are particularly well-suited for the task.
1. Leafy Greens
Westend61 / Getty Images
Greens thrive when grown in containers, which also prevent rabbits from helping themselves to your crops and common pests like nematodes from intruding.
Lettuce, kale, arugula, spinach, and Swiss chard all grow best in cooler weather. If temperatures will exceed 80ºF, consider using a moveable container so the leaves can be taken out of direct sunlight on hotter days. Remember that potted greens also require more water than those grown in the soil; for a lower-maintenance option that demands fewer resources (such as large pots and frequent watering), consider growing dwarf varieties.
Spinach will reach full harvest potential in only 40-45 days, while hardier leaves like kale will take a bit longer. Lettuce is quick to bolt, so harvest leaves when they are relatively young and new growth will take their place. Cut lettuce about half an inch from the soil to allow for regrowth, and harvest individual kale leaves from the stalk, pulling down to detach it without damaging the rest of the plant.
Greens will start slowing down in late June/early July when temperatures rise, but plant again in late September to harvest throughout the fall months. Kale and spinach – which grow especially well together – will continue producing throughout the winter in milder climates.
2. Peas
Snap peas, shelling peas, snow peas, and almost anything else from the Leguminosae family will grow well in containers. Most peas take somewhat long to mature – between 60 and 70 days – but require very little attention while growing.
Peas come in either bush or climbing varieties; use anything from fallen sticks to leftover PVC piping as a stake, leftover chicken wire, or a trellis (if space allows) for climbing peas to attach their vines to. Learn how tall your variety will grow before deciding on a staking method, although most varieties are climbing plants and will need support.
The roots of pea plants are relatively shallow, so a windowbox or trough will suffice and allow you to grow more plants. For taller and bushier varieties, use pots 8-12 inches in depth; shorter varieties need only 6 inches. Seeds or starters can be planted as close as 3 inches together.
Check for adequate pea development – and widening of the shell on more tubular varieties like snap peas – before harvesting. Snap peas mature faster (you don’t have to wait for the pod to fill), and are a quicker option for impatient growers.
3. Tomatoes
Westend61 / Getty Images
Tomato plants growing in front-yard planters are a common sight; these flowering nightshade plants are a rewarding vegetable to grow in whatever space you have available.
Choose the tomato variety you’d like to plant, and find a spot that will receive at least 6 hours of sunlight. To keep the plants from competing for resources, grow each in a separate 5-gallon container with good drainage holes. Tomatoes do require frequent watering – as often as once or twice a day during the hot summer months when they’re more mature – and will draw on moisture for much of the day if given water in the morning.
Upside-down tomato buckets are another popular growing method for smaller tomato varieties, and can provide some decoration to a patio or back porch. After cutting a two-inch hole in the bottom of a five-gallon bucket and covering with fiberglass (slicing it like a pie above the hole so there are six triangular pieces that keep the plant in place), poke a tomato starter through the hole and fill up the bucket with potting soil. Water will drain through the hole when the bucket is hung, and the plant can be protected from getting waterlogged in the rain by putting the bucket lid on top.
4. Summer Squash
Similarly to peas, summer squashes come in either bush varieties or long vines. Either will grow in containers, but bush varieties remain more compact. Plant zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, or any of your other favorite varieties in individual pots at least 12 inches deep. Each plant can easily fill out a two-foot-wide pot; be sure not to crowd them.
In order to produce squash, the plants do need both male and female flowers, so the more flower-producing plants you can grow, the merrier, and the better your chances of a high squash yield (even several a week during peak growing months).
If you choose a vining squash, provide a stake to support the plant. Make sure the containers get plenty of sunlight (7 hours a day is optimal), and water when the top inch or so of soil is dry.
5. Green Onions
With their very shallow roots, green onions are a prime candidate for container growing. Plant seeds about half an inch deep, or, if using transplants, plant so the soil covers the white bulb of the onion. For greater assurance of a successful harvest, you can also plant onion sets: small onion bulbs for gardening, which become full onions in about three and a half months.
Leave 1-2 inches of space between the plants. Keep the onions well-watered (whenever the top inch of soil is dry), in a sunny location either indoors or outdoors, and harvest within 40 to 50 days.
When placed in a shallow jar of water, the bulbs will even grow back the green tops that have been cut off.
6. Peppers
Both in and out of containers, peppers – such as bell peppers, chili peppers, and jalapeños – are relatively easy to grow. Hailing from warmer climates, peppers all love sun and grow best in the summer months when the temperature is between 70 and 80ºF. Peppers also thrive in moist soil, and require daily watering (twice a day on very hot summer days). To give space for their roots to grow, plant peppers in pots at least 12 inches in diameter. The branches are prone to breakage once they’re heavy with fruit, so use some sort of support to hold the plants upright.
Bell peppers are ready to harvest in 2-3 months; harvest when green, or allow them to ripen further until they’re red, orange, or yellow. Chili peppers take slightly longer, and should be harvested once they reach their mature color. Jalapeños, chili peppers, and other small varieties benefit from pruning when they’re about 6-8 weeks old, which will allow for new growth and result in a bushier plant.
While pepper plants are self-pollinating, pollinators do help the plants set more fruit. If your plant is situated where bees can’t reach – such as a screen porch or high balcony – try self-pollinating your peppers.
7. Eggplant
Cavan Images / Getty Images
For this large plant and member of the tomato family, choose a pot of at least 5 gallons and 12-14 inches in diameter. Eggplants prefer sandy loam soil; create your own by mixing two parts potting soil with one part sand. Keep the soil moist (but not soaked) by watering once a day or more, and perhaps topping with some type of mulch to retain the moisture. Since the vegetables are rather large, the plants will require trellising, unless you purchase varieties (either seeds or starters) labeled as “compact” or “for containers.”
Eggplants are very sensitive to cold – more so than tomatoes and peppers – and need temperatures around 68ºF or higher to germinate. Keep the containers in a sunny area and use darker-colored pots in cooler climates to retain heat. If temperatures dip at night, take the pots inside the house or another protected area.
Harvesting differs based on variety; research which type of eggplant works best for your space and preferences. Generally, however, the plant will reach maturity in about 2-3 months and the fruit will become glossy when mature.
8. Cucumbers
Like eggplants, cucumbers require large pots – ideally 5-gallon or more – which will hold more potting soil and thus retain moisture for longer, supporting their extensive root systems. When shopping for seeds or starters, look for compact varieties, or “parthenocarpic” cucumbers if you live in an urban area without many bees, as they will set fruit without pollination.
Cucumbers love to climb and will need trellising – such as tomato cages or a homemade trellis with string, wire, or wood – which also helps maximize your vertical space. They’ll also need 6-8 hours of full sunlight, and consistently moist soil.
Squash bugs and cucumber beetles are common pests on cucumber plants, but can be suppressed with neem oil.
Check the plant frequently for new fruit, which can go from tiny to enormous in a matter of days. Be sure to pick cucumbers before they grow too large and become seedy and bitter. Follow the harvesting instructions for each variety, and learn how large the fruit should get before being picked. Rather than pulling the cucumbers from the vine directly, snip them with scissors or clippers to encourage new growth and avoid damaging the stem.
Some potatoes can take up to 120 days to mature – including many grocery-store favorites – so look for seed potato varieties (small potatoes for growing new plants) that are disease-resistant and mature within three months. Generally, smaller, “new” potatoes will fare better than large russet varieties in containers.
Ideally, choose a 10-15 gallon container that’s 2-3 feet high; any opaque container will do, although some gardeners opt for special potato bags.
Space seed potatoes about one foot apart. Since the new potatoes will grow above the seed potato, plant them about 6 inches down to allow for growth. As the seed potato develops new rhizomes and tubers and the above-ground plant continues to grow, you’ll need to use additional soil to create mounds around the plant, giving it more room to grow underground. Begin this mounding process when the plant is about 6-8 inches high, covering all but the top leaves, then repeating once it’s again reached this height.
The potatoes are ready to harvest when the plant begins to flower (although new potatoes can be ready slightly before this). Dig through the soil for the potatoes, or dump the whole lot onto a tarp and remove them easily.
Linnea graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Environmental Studies, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Most recently, Linnea worked at Hunger Free America, and has interned with WHYY in Philadelphia, Saratoga Living Magazine, and the Sierra Club in Washington, DC. Linnea enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors, reading, practicing her German, and volunteering on farms and gardens and for environmental justice efforts in her community. Along with journalism, she is also an essayist and writer of creative nonfiction.
Wildfire smoke congests skies across U.S. West, prompting air quality warnings
Ivana Saric
Smoke from wildfires burning across the West has clogged skies in the U.S. and Canada and prompted air quality warnings in several states, the National Weather Service (NWS) said Wednesday.
Since June 1, at least 67 weather stations have recorded temperatures that either tied or broke all-time heat records, per the NWS.
The big picture: On Wednesday the NWS issued air quality warnings due to wildfire smoke to parts of Washington, Idaho, Minnesota, Colorado, Oregon.
“Thick density smoke” also covers California, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, and parts of New Mexico and Texas, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In states such as Minnesota and North Dakota, the poor air quality is being driven by crossover smoke from the Canadian fires, AP reports.
“We expect more acres to burn. We expect more smoke,” Andrew Wineke, communications manager at the Washington State Department of Ecology, told local news.
Satellite imagery on Wednesday evening showed smoke from the North American fires moving over southern Greenland and the North Atlantic.
24-year-old who needed double lung transplant wishes he’d been vaccinated for COVID-19
David Knowles, Senior Editor July 14, 2021
A 24-year-old Georgia man who contracted COVID-19 and required a double lung transplant, and who remains hospitalized, has expressed his regret he did not get vaccinated for the virus, which has so far killed more than 607,000 Americans.
Blake Bargatze had told his parents he was putting off receiving a COVID-19 vaccine because he felt uncertain about its possible side effects, WSB-TV in Atlanta reported.
“He wanted to wait a few years to see, you know, if there’s any side effects or anything from it,” said Paul Nuclo, his stepfather. “As soon as he got in the hospital, though, he said he wished he had gotten the vaccine.”
Bargatze was the only member of his family who passed on getting vaccinated, Cheryl Nuclo, his mother, told Fox 5 Atlanta. Once hospitalized, however, he asked to be inoculated.
“The night before he was intubated, he wanted it,” Nuclo said. “So it was a little bit too late then.”
Bargatze, who had no preexisting medical conditions and has endured prolonged intensive care stays at hospitals in three different states over the last three months, believes he contracted COVID-19 during an April visit to Florida.
“He had called me that Friday when he got the results,” Bargatze’s mother told WSB-TV, “and he’s like, ‘Mom, you’re going to be mad. I got COVID.’”
A GoFundMe page set up by Bargatze’s friends is raising money to help cover his medical bills.
Blake Bargatze. (GoFundMe)
“He was initially admitted to ICU at St. Mary’s in West Palm Beach, FL on April 10th, and then he was air transported to Piedmont Atlanta Hospital on April 24th to be placed on ECMO,” the GoFundMe page states, referring to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine. “Many complications occurred during his hospital stay that caused extensive damage to his lungs, requiring the need for a double lung transplant to survive. Blake was transferred to the University of Maryland Medical Center on June 12th. He remains on the ventilator and ECMO as he waits for the lung transplant.”
Thanks to the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, the number of new cases has increased nationwide by a staggering 109 percent over the last two weeks. Deaths from the disease, which had fallen precipitously as more Americans were vaccinated for it, have also begun ticking back up as vaccination rates have stalled.
Bargatze’s mother said her son wants vaccine skeptics to learn from what happened to him and to get vaccinated for COVID-19.
“Maybe if some people were kind of on the fence and swaying, he wants them to see what might be the extreme of what can happen,” she told WSB. “Not using a fear tactic — but it can happen.”
Severe drought threatens Hoover dam reservoir – and water for US west
Oliver Milman at Hoover dam
Photograph: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Had the formidable white arc of the Hoover dam never held back the Colorado River, the US west would probably have no Los Angeles or Las Vegas as we know them today. No sprawling food bowl of wheat, alfalfa and corn. No dreams of relocating to live in a tamed desert. The river, and dam, made the west; now the climate crisis threatens to break it.
The situation here is emblematic of a planet slowly, inexorably overheating. And the catastrophic consequences of the extreme weather this brings.
Hoover dam is the height of a 60-story building and is 45ft thick at the top and 660ft at the bottom. Its construction, in the teeth of the Great Depression, was a source of such national pride that thousands of people journeyed through the hostile desert to witness the arrival of what has become an enduring monument to collective effort for the public good.
The engineering might of Hoover dam undoubtably reshaped America’s story, harnessing a raucous river to help carve huge cities and vast fields of crops into unforgiving terrain. But the wellspring of Lake Mead, created by the dam’s blocking of the Colorado River and with the capacity to hold enough water to cover the entire state of Connecticut 10ft deep, has now plummeted to an historic low. The states of the west, primarily Arizona and Nevada, now face hefty cuts in their water supplies amid a two-decade drought fiercer than anything seen in a millennium.
“We bent nature to suit our own needs,” said Brad Udall, a climate and water expert at Colorado State University. “And now nature is going to bend us.”
Surveying the dam’s sloping face from its curved parapet, Michael Bernardo, river operations manager at the US Bureau of Reclamation, admits the scarcity of water is out of bounds with historical norms. While there is no “average” year on the Colorado River, Bernardo and his colleagues were always able to estimate its flow within a certain range.
But since 2000, scientists say the river’s flow has dwindled by 20% compared to the previous century’s average. This year is the second driest on record, with the flow into Lake Mead just a quarter of what would be considered normal.
“These are scenarios that aren’t necessarily where we expect to be in our models,” said Bernardo, whose work helps deliver a reliable level of water to thirsty western states. Nearly 40 million people, including dozens of tribes, depend on the river’s water. “We’re getting those years that are at the extreme ends of the bell curve. We’ve seen extremes we haven’t seen before, we now have scenarios that are very, very dry.”
In June, the level of Lake Mead plunged below 1,075ft, a point that will trigger, for the first time, federally mandated cuts in water allocations next year. The Bureau of Reclamation (the government agency originally tasked with “reclaiming” this arid place for a new utopia of farmland and a booming western population), expects this historic low to spiral further, dropping to about 1,048ft by the end of 2022, a shallowness unprecedented since Lake Mead started filling up in the 1930s following Hoover dam’s completion. This will provoke a second, harsher, round of cuts.
“We’ve known this point will arrive because we’ve continued to use more water than the river provides for years,” said Kathryn Sorensen, a water policy expert at Arizona State University. “Things look pretty grim. Humans have always been good at moving water around but right now everyone will need to do what it takes to prevent the system from crashing.”
Seven states – California, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Nevada – and Mexico are bound by agreements that parcel out the river’s water but those considered “junior” partners in this arrangement will be hit first.
Should second tier cuts occur, Arizona will lose nearly a fifth of the water it gets from the Colorado River. Nevada’s first-round cut of 21,000 acre-ft (an acre-ft is an acre of water, one foot deep) is smaller, but its share is already diminutive due to an archaic allotment drawn up a century ago when the state was sparsely populated.
The latest era of cooperation between states that rely upon the Colorado River has now entered the “realm of lose-lose”, according to Colby Pellegrino, deputy general manager of resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. “Everyone’s going to have to do more with less, and that’s really going to be challenging for people,” she said. “‘Drought’ suggests to a lot of people something temporary we have to respond to, but this could permanently be the type of flows we see.”
The decline of Lake Mead is apparent even at a cursory glance. The US’s largest reservoir is now barely a third full, the dark basalt rock of its canyon walls blanched by a distinctive white calcium ring where the water level once was. This level has plunged by about 130ft in the past 20 years and is currently receding by about a foot a week as farms hit their peak irrigation period.
The pace of change has been jarring to the millions of people who regularly boat, fish and swim on the lake, with the National Park Service recently laying down new steel platforms to extend launch ramps that no longer reach the water. Some marinas have been wrenched from their moorings and moved because they have been left marooned in baking sediment.
Seen from above in time lapse over the years, Lake Mead looks like a spindly puddle withering away in the Mojave Desert, as nearby Las Vegas, which gets almost all of its water from the lake and went a record 240 days last year without rain, balloons in size. The west’s ambitions have crunched into the searing reality of the Anthropocene.
The Colorado River rises in the lofty Rocky Mountains, before tumbling through 1,450 miles of mountains, canyons and deserts until it reaches the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. Seasonally melting snow has traditionally replenished the river but snowpack on mountaintops in the west has declined by an average of 19% since the 1950s, while soaring temperatures have dried out soils and caused more water to evaporate.
This morphing climate, plus the rampant extraction of water for everything from golf courses in Phoenix to vegetables growing in California to gardens in Denver, means the Colorado fizzles out in dry riverbed before it even reaches its Mexican delta.
Only 1.8% of the west is not in some level of drought, with California, Arizona and New Mexico all experiencing their lowest rainfalls on record over the previous 12 months. Lakes in Arizona are now so low they can’t be used to fight the fires themselves spurred by drought, while the retreat of Lake Folsom in California uncovered the wreckage of a plane that crashed 56 years ago. The governor of Utah has resorted to asking people to pray for rain.
The white ‘bathtub ring’ around Lake Mead shows the record low water levels as drought continues to worsen in Nevada.Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images
The heat has been otherworldly, with Phoenix recently enduring a record six straight days above 115F (46.1C). A “heat dome” that settled over the usually mild Pacific north-west pushed temperatures to reach a record 108F (42.2C) in Seattle and caused power lines to melt and roads to buckle in Portland. A few hundred miles north, a fast-moving wildfire incinerated the town of Lytton in British Columbia the day after it set a Canadian temperature record of 121F (49.4C). Barely into summer, hundreds of people have already died from the heat along the west coast.
The west has gone through periods like this “megadrought” , with only occasional respite, for the past two decades. But scientists have made clear the current conditions would be virtually impossible without human-caused climate change, pointing to a longer-term “aridification” of the region. All of the water conservation efforts that have kept shortages at bay until now risk being surpassed by the rising heat.
“The amount of water now available across the US west is well below that of any time in modern civilization,” said Park Williams, a hydroclimatologist at Columbia University. Research by Williams and colleagues last year analyzed tree rings to discover the current dry period is rivaled only by a spell in the late 1500s in a history of drought that reaches back to around 800, with the climate crisis doubling the severity of the modern-day drought.
“As the globe warms up, the west will dry out,” said Williams. “The past two years have been shocking to me, I never thought I would see downtown LA reach 111F as it’s so close to the ocean, but we have some of the driest conditions in 1,200 years so the dice are loaded for more heatwaves and fires. This could be the tip of the iceberg, we may well see much longer, tougher droughts.”
In the guts of the Hoover dam, down bronze-clad elevators and through terrazzo corridors, a line of enormous turbines help funnel water out downstream, creating hydro-power electricity for more than 1m households in the process. Five of the 17 turbines, each weighing the same as seven blue whales, have been replaced in recent years with new fittings more suited to operating in lower lake levels.
Even with these adaptions, however, the decline of Lake Mead has caused the amount of hydro power generated by the dam to drop by around 25%. The drought is expected to cause the hydro facility at Lake Oroville, California, to completely shut down, prompting a warning from the United States Energy Association that a “megadrought-induced electricity shortage could be catastrophic, affecting everything from food production to industrial manufacturing”. The association added that such a scenario could even force people to move east, in what it called a “reverse Dust Bowl exodus”.
Bernardo said a similar shutdown of the Hoover dam would require more than 100ft in further water level retreat, which is not anticipated, although he finds himself constantly hoping for the rains that would ease the tightening shortages.
“We all want the nice weather but we need those good storms to build everything back up,” he said.
“We’d need three or four above average years, back to back, to restore the lake. Your guess is as good as mine whether we’ll get that. I’ll continue to watch the weather, every day.”
