...major issue on their hands, an issue that directly affects tens of millions of people and a vast area of land. Indirectly, this issue could affect the entire world. The amount of fresh water is limited, and there is conflict over the allocation of this necessary resource. People need an adequate supply of freshwater with good quality, affordable prices and consistent reliability. The survival of human life is contingent on the availability of water. There is no guarantee that water will always be there, and this is becoming more and more evident as population increases and the supply decreases. Two major means for freshwater in the western United States are the Colorado River and the Ogallala Aquifer. These bodies of freshwater have had a vast history of disputes over how they should be allocated, maintained and treated. Up until now, there have been no agreements that have satisfied everyone. The allocation of fresh water resources in western America needs to be secured because if the status quo is maintained, the consequences will be enormous to humans and the environment, as well as the economy, whom are all dependent upon freshwater for survival. The Colorado River has had a long history of water allocation controversies. It is a major river that runs through seven states including Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada. It then continues into Mexico and empties into the Gulf of California. This river is 1,450 miles long and supplies water to over...
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...Major Water Scarcity in California And it’s Effect on the American South West This essay explains the lack of precipitation in South West America and its effects on California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. It also explores the numerous alternatives that could be used in order to solve this water crisis. The cause of the drought in California is the lack of snowfall in the Rocky Mountains, which caused the river to evaporate. As temperatures are rising, it causes water to evaporate and dry out soil that we need to plant crops. Authorities are reducing the flow from Colorado’s two reservoirs, Lake Powell, which supplies the upper Colorado Basin, and Lake Mead, which supplies Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Evidence suggests “For the...
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...Colorado has an increasing water issue. The demand continues to increase, while the supply is decreasing at an alarming rate. This creates an issue because Denver has an increasing population and needs water for its citizens. Denver needs more water in order to have enough for everyone whether there is a drought or not and is considering the expansion of the Gross Reservoir in order to help with this problem. I disagree with the expansion of the Gross Reservoir because the Colorado River already has lots of stress, we should focus on leaks and educating the public to save water, and too many reservoirs or too large can ruin an ecosystem. The Colorado River supplies water to seven states, as well as Mexico. Due to growing demands for water,...
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...Describe and explain the global distribution of water scarcity Fresh water is a finite resource. 80% of global fresh water is trapped in ice, snow or permafrost. The remaining 20% is mainly groundwater, only 1% of this is easily accessible. Around 1.4 billion people lack clean drinking water, 2.4 million people have inadequate sanitation and 0.5 billion face water shortages every day. The distribution of fresh water is uneven, leading to a ‘water gap’. Water stress is when demand for water exceeds supply, and is quickly becoming a global issue. Water scarcity is a more extreme version of water stress. Physical water scarcity is when a country is utilising more than 75% of the water available to them. Some countries suffer from economic water scarcity. This is when a country is using less than 25% of the water available to them. Greater demand for water than supply of water can cause physical water scarcity because there simply isn’t enough water in specific locations such as North Africa, middle east, California and south east Australia. Places which don’t suffer from physical water scarcity are places such as western Europe, Scandinavia and Canada. Physical water scarcity is caused by a variety of factors. Demand is outstripping supply because there is a higher population now than 100 years ago. In the last 100 years population has almost quadrupled in size. Increased population growth also means a larger supply for food and agriculture. Californias population is at 37...
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...The Colorado River is the major water route in the Southwest, a region that is drier than the deserts of North Africa. In recent years, a once “inhospitable desert has become a playground, and the Colorado River has become a plumbing system” (Colorado River Report, 2001). This statement means that people have made so many changes to the natural environment around the Colorado River bed that the area no longer resembles the original habitat of the area. These changes have affected the animal life as well as the natural environment of the area. Another change in the environment is a change in the river itself as it now serves as a plumbing system. These changes are relating to the ways that people have changed the habitat around the river. The more people that use and change the land, the more the river changes. The Colorado Task Force identified a number of problems. In response to the changes in the Colorado River, the Sierra Club created the Colorado River Task Force to identify and solve problems associated with overdevelopment as well as over-usage of the river area. One problem is to restore the Colorado River delta (Colorado River Report, 2001). The delta is home to many endangered species. Part of the restoration process is to stop dumping hazardous chemicals into the Delta (Colorado River Report, 2001).Another problem is the water quality in the Colorado River basins. The total maximum daily loads wanted to provide the states to recognize the need for some portion of...
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...Published by the Ecological Society of America Number 10, Winter 2003 Issues in Ecology Sustaining Healthy Freshwater Ecosystems Issues in Ecology Number 10 Winter 2003 Sustaining Healthy Freshwater Ecosystems SUMMARY Fresh water is vital to human life and economic well-being, and societies extract vast quantities of water from rivers, lakes, wetlands, and underground aquifers to supply the requirements of cities, farms, and industries. Our need for fresh water has long caused us to overlook equally vital benefits of water that remains in stream to sustain healthy aquatic ecosystems. There is growing recognition, however, that functionally intact and biologically complex freshwater ecosystems provide many economically valuable commodities and services to society. These services include flood control, transportation, recreation, purification of human and industrial wastes, habitat for plants and animals, and production of fish and other foods and marketable goods. Over the long term, intact ecosystems are more likely to retain the adaptive capacity to sustain production of these goods and services in the face of future environmental disruptions such as climate change. These ecosystem benefits are costly and often impossible to replace when aquatic systems are degraded. For this reason, deliberations about water allocation should always include provisions for maintaining the integrity of freshwater ecosystems. Scientific evidence indicates that aquatic ecosystems can be protected...
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...or hand-write it. Either way, you will need to turn in a paper copy, by hand, during the final exam class time (Monday, May 9, between 1:00 – 2:50 pm). This exam is open-book and open-computer. 1. Identify current and future issues in sustainability for urban locations. There are a lot of major issues as a nation, that we are trying to combat. Firstly, a major problem, that is only getting is high urbanization rates. It is not just causing problems with carbon emissions, its affecting food and water security. As we expand into an ever growing population. We are now trying to encroach into new areas, for our population. An example is Rio De Janiero, they are ever expanding to...
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...California's Water Crisis The state of California has dealt with many problems, one of the most major ones being the drought. California has dealt with droughts for many years now. The current drought isn’t the first,it's one of many. Myself along with many hope it is the last. Do the people in California have what it takes to solve the problem? California gets most of their water supply from the aqueduct,colorado river, sacramento, and from water conservation. The Los Angeles Aqueduct receives water from the Eastern Sierra Nevada. The aqueduct now gets the supply from basins and snow covered mountains within the state. This water comes from far distances just to get to anyones place. The colorado river provides water for the upper part of calfornia. The state gets water from sacramento, the surface water found their is about 85 percent and groundwater is about 15 percent. Thirty to forty percent of ground water is used by the state(aceplumbing). The most significant droughts recorded are from 1929-1934, 1976-1977, 1987-1992, 2011-present (California Department of Water Resources). According to the article the year 2014,overlapping the driest calendar year, ended September 30 the states 3rd driest in 119 years of record. The weather has a lot to do with the drought. The state has been struggling for a very long time. There has been a few ideas to try and fix the issue but those ideas are not enough because obviously the drought keeps...
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...several years. By 2003 the water supply in the city was at an all-time low. The decline in the water supply and a constant drought forced the water authority to enforce water restrictions and other incentives to encourage residence to conserve water. There was only enough water for the community for 9 months when there was a need for a 3 - 5 year supply. The Aurora city government and the Aurora water authority desperately needed a solution to the issue of dwindling water supply, after analyzing several possible resolutions to the problem; the Aurora city council approved the Prairie Water Project in 2010. The city sought a project to increase the city’s water supply by adding 10,000 acres of renewable water within a 5 year timeframe with a budget of $854 million. The Meridian Colorado project management team of CH2MHill was chosen to complete the plan. CH2MHill is a worldwide organization that is a leader in providing their clients who needed engineering or consulting resolutions. They also provided their clients with solutions by being technologically sound, creative, and inventiveness. They are known for delivering a quality product and sharing the benefits. The Prairie Water Project was a plan to provide the Aurora, Colorado community with a sustainable water source. The project would draw water from the South Platte River by extracting from a well and treating it through a purification process, then pumping it 34 miles to a water treatment plant. Diebel, J...
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...Select an organization with which you are familiar, and identify an issue within that organization that would have both organizational and societal implications. In this essay I will identify what Crude oil Fracking is provide some issue/s within the fracing community on how certain societal implications where certain groups are protesting these organizations. That as any industry were the environment such as land, water, and mostly wild life is being disturb all for global oil domination. What is fracing? It is a relatively new type very new began in Ohio in 2011(OEC.org 2011). High capacity drilling were the main ingredients are sand, water and various potent chemicals. This concoction is infused at high pressures shale rock to break it open and release the highly volatile natural gas. So drilling companies can use a certain drilling process called “Horizontal drilling” to mine the oil pockets underneath. This this new type of drilling involves an enormous supply of fresh water and chemicals in which these fracing companies will not divulge what these chemicals are. All of this new technology is effecting nearby communities and small towns with at times toxic air discharges, water contamination and ecological concerns related to the disposal of the waste. With those concerns the Ohio Environmental Council (2011) temporarily stopping the fracing crews to do test on the public health risk. Soon after the U.S. EPA sent a study that the EPA conducted in December...
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...Case Study: Water Issues in the Southwest 1. Prior appropriation water rights are rights that are created on the appropriation doctrine, which is developed in Western states. These water rights are different from riparian water rights, which is rights for the eastern states. In the western states, water supplies are very limited and the right is also allotted to those who are “first in time if use.” Winters water rights is referred to as “reserved water rights.” The rights states that when an American Indian then states that when an American Indian reservation is established by either a treaty, statute, or executive order implied reservation of water rights is included in said treaty, statute, or executive order. These water rights apply to water sources that are either within he reservation or bordering it. The conflict is the controversy in some areas of water law including quantification and administration of tribal water rights. The Winters take a priority. 2. Southwest tribes have powerful rights to water, at least on paper. Most tribes have a priority water right that dates back to the creation of their reservations. Some tribes have entered into settlements regarding their water rights, but many have not. It is not possible to be ethical and address everyone’s water rights. Whether tribal water rights are settled, adjudicated, or as yet unquantified, global warming’s effects on water will only heighten the tension that exists with regard to access to the west’s...
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...support your plan to use FRACKING technology in a number of oil and gas wells on a private land in Adams County, Colorado. Your approval is required so that we can move to the next step of the project’s lifecycle. PRELIMINARY ACTIONS Seismic investigation is the first step that should be taken prior to a formal analysis of business opportunities. It is vital to ensure that expected revenue will justify cost of operation and result in reasonable profits expected by our customers. Communications Plan is in the pipeline to assure stakeholders that the fracking activity will not connect to the aquifer, since the oil and gas deposits are separated from any useable aquifers by nearly 5,000’ of impermeable shale, and that the cement wall to be used is solidly sealed. There are two resources that will be produced once project reaches its operational phase - OIL and NATURAL GAS. OIL PRODUCTION To minimize transportation costs it would be appropriate to use refining capacity in other US states where production presently exists. The refineries are configured to deal with specific types of crude. Therefore, it is important to examine compatibility of the oil to be produced from this project with target refineries. For example, Commerce City Refinery located in Commerce City, Colorado is going to be our primary target due to low transportation costs of oil to the refinery, as Colorado State is a promising market for transport fuel as well as other products extracted from oil. The selection of...
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...Governments, Agencies, the general public, and not to mention the Media have endless discussions about the good, the bad, and the ugly of this mostly misunderstood topic. Hydrofracking is used to release natural gas from underground shale formations. One of the biggest and most controversial shale formations is the Marcellus Shale. Onshore Natural gas and oil production is carried out by private companies; however government regulation is critical. State governments are the primary regulators of these activities. Therefore, minimum uniform regulation exists nationwide. Supporters of fracking believe that State regulations already in place are more than sufficient to protect the public and natural resources, especially the precious water supply. Supporters also believe that further EPA regulations “could hurt the industry and the economy” (Hydrofracking). Elizabeth Jones, the chair of the Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates mining and drilling in the state, said: “If some of the new EPA regulations considered today are implemented, more than half our oil and natural gas wells could be eliminated. America's production of domestic energy resources would diminish by 183,000 barrels of oil per day and 245 billion cubic feet of natural gas annually. The federal government would lose $4 billion in revenue, and the states would lose $785 million in taxes, not counting the additional jobs lost”...
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...of year to produce under pressure, have played an important roles as raw materials to create human supplies such as: transports, building houses, technology and up to Medicine. However, as the world population is expanding every year, people has depleting an excessive amount of it to satisfied their demands without concerning the impact of their behaviors on the environment. Mining minerals and gold is one of the act that depleting natural resources. Global warming and losing of habitats are the outcome that cause by two type of mining: Strip mining and Underground mining. For better understanding, Strip mining is surface mining by excavate soil and rock for extract underground minerals, which result in destruction and deforestation. Underground mining is a type of mining that allow to extract deeper coal underground. It’s often view to be less destructive than surface mining, but it still cause a major damage to environment. (Green Peace, 2010) One global aftermath that contaminate on environment are dam spill or acid mine drainage (AMD). For mining case, Dam is something that was built to stored toxic waste from mining forever. Acid mine drainage is when the dam spill and toxic waste from mining that were reserved, leak into the water, land surface and evaporate into the air. This issue resulted in damage soil, toxic air and polluted water. Another cause of mining is the process of mining involving around using mixtures of chemicals...
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...Abstract This paper will explore the causes issues and solutions for the Salton Sea from reports by scientists. There are many different issues that plague this Sea in southern California and many of theses issues do not seem to have an solution in sight. Because this Sea is man made there are many differing opinions on what to do with the Salton Sea, let it dry up or try and Save it. This paper examines the Salton Sea through a variety of different sources to try and figure out what went wrong and what kind of solutions are available to help save the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea, Problems and Solutions 3 The Salton Sea, Problems and...
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