Drought news, farm land prices, water supply, aquifer over allocation and falling water table news.
Much more relative information updated daily at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-States-Water-Rights/116535525087733
Relevant information on Water and Water Rights at http://nevadawaterrights.com/
Land sale information for irrigated Nevada farm and ranch land, over allocated basin news, falling water tables, and areas you can own within stable designated basins. If you are unsure about these terms, you better find a qualified professional before you buy!
Chris W. Miller
Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management
435-862-5951
702-990-5951
Nevada Water Rights
Land in Nevada
Nevada Ranch Properties
Lincoln County Land Market
Mesquite NV Real Estate Market
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Farm Life? Self Sufficiency, Sustainability, Personal Security of Food Supply and Fresh Water?
Looking for a nice sustainable life style on some farm land or ranch operation? We have small land parcels ideal for Produce farming near Las Vegas, and Cattle Ranch Land operations, high quality Alfalfa farms across Nevada. All have water rights, many with irrigation pivots. Some are smaller gravity flow irrigation from surface water rights with priority dating back as far as 1873.
Lincoln Estates 1000 Acres, Many Potential Uses, includes 2540 Acre Feet of Ground Water Rights.
Rainbow Canyon Live Stream runs through property with surface water rights 1873 priority dates!
Flatnose Ranch 680 Acres Alfalfa
Mathews Farm 266 acres between Caliente and Panaca in Lincoln County
Adams Peak Alfalfa Farm 1600 Irrigated Alfalfa Acres
Eden Valley Alfalfa Farm 4.5 Sqaure Miles of deeded Alfalfa Farm with 18 Pivots, Approx 2300 Irrigated Acres
Small acreage land parcels also available in Lincoln County Nevada with three acres starting at $15,000.
Lincoln Estates 1000 Acres, Many Potential Uses, includes 2540 Acre Feet of Ground Water Rights.
Rainbow Canyon Live Stream runs through property with surface water rights 1873 priority dates!
Flatnose Ranch 680 Acres Alfalfa
Mathews Farm 266 acres between Caliente and Panaca in Lincoln County
Adams Peak Alfalfa Farm 1600 Irrigated Alfalfa Acres
Eden Valley Alfalfa Farm 4.5 Sqaure Miles of deeded Alfalfa Farm with 18 Pivots, Approx 2300 Irrigated Acres
Small acreage land parcels also available in Lincoln County Nevada with three acres starting at $15,000.
Nice home site, room for animals, garden, orchard, beautiful views of Meadow Valley Panaca Summit Mountains Lincoln County , NV Las Vegas
Domestic wells in Nevada
Farm Life? Self Sufficiency, Sustainability, Personal Security of Food Supply and Fresh Water? Raise animals, gardens, orchards. Great Farmers Market in Caliente.
Peace, Quite, and Clean Fresh Air! Water our Most Precious Limited Resource!
Chris W. Miller
Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management
435-862-5951
702-990-5951
Nevada Water Rights
Land in Nevada
Nevada Ranch Properties
Lincoln County Land Market
Mesquite NV Real Estate Market
Peace, Quite, and Clean Fresh Air! Water our Most Precious Limited Resource!
Chris W. Miller
Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management
435-862-5951
702-990-5951
Nevada Water Rights
Land in Nevada
Nevada Ranch Properties
Lincoln County Land Market
Mesquite NV Real Estate Market
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Ranch Land, Irrigated Farm Land, Drought, Food Prices, and Water Rights
Irrigated Farm Land, Cattle Ranches with Water Rights listed and sold here.
Much of Nevada land is public owned lands. Nevada has the most public lands in the continental United States, much of it is managed by the BLM or Bureau of Land Management. Water Rights on Ranch land in Nevada is our most precious resource.
Many Nevada Ranches have BLM range land leases for grazing livestock. For instance, you can own 1000 acres and have grazing access to 40,000 acres through these lease arrangements. There are a few important considerations when shopping the ranch land market and leases. Are the water rights owned, is the land contiguous to the leases?
Range land condition and shared occupancy matter also. Are there wild horses on the ranges? While wild horses are beautiful and an American heritage, they can be very hard on the range land and compete with livestock for the food and water resources on the range land.
Water and drought are coming to the forefront in terms of farm and ranch land purchase considerations. Cattle herds are being sold off today due to lack of water and feed in much of the United States. This will lead to a shrinking supply of beef at your grocery store and of course higher prices.
Alfalfa hay supply is in very tight demand with rising prices. Relative to world population arable farm land continues to shrink.
Today it is not just drought that worries farmers and ranchers, ground water aquifers have begun to come into question. Falling ground water tables and regulations coming out of Washington DC's EPA are making some farm land useless. Investing in farm and ranch land continues to be a focus of some of Wall Street's brightest investors.
Just as mineral rights are important to mining and oil companies, water rights are paramount to farmers and ranchers. However, if there are no minerals or water in the ground, rights matter not.
This area of real estate is specialized; it requires a special set of skills and market market knowledge. Issues like critical water shortages, range land quality, AUM regulation, basin allocation, water table stability, etc.
If you are interested in investing in farm or ranch land or you are considering a career in agriculture, you must be prepared. I will be happy to help you understand the important questions you need to be asking.
Chris W. Miller
Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management
435-862-5951
702-990-5951
Nevada Water Rights
Land in Nevada
Nevada Ranch Properties
Lincoln County Land Market
Mesquite NV Real Estate Market
Much of Nevada land is public owned lands. Nevada has the most public lands in the continental United States, much of it is managed by the BLM or Bureau of Land Management. Water Rights on Ranch land in Nevada is our most precious resource.
Many Nevada Ranches have BLM range land leases for grazing livestock. For instance, you can own 1000 acres and have grazing access to 40,000 acres through these lease arrangements. There are a few important considerations when shopping the ranch land market and leases. Are the water rights owned, is the land contiguous to the leases?
Range land condition and shared occupancy matter also. Are there wild horses on the ranges? While wild horses are beautiful and an American heritage, they can be very hard on the range land and compete with livestock for the food and water resources on the range land.
Water and drought are coming to the forefront in terms of farm and ranch land purchase considerations. Cattle herds are being sold off today due to lack of water and feed in much of the United States. This will lead to a shrinking supply of beef at your grocery store and of course higher prices.
Alfalfa hay supply is in very tight demand with rising prices. Relative to world population arable farm land continues to shrink.
Today it is not just drought that worries farmers and ranchers, ground water aquifers have begun to come into question. Falling ground water tables and regulations coming out of Washington DC's EPA are making some farm land useless. Investing in farm and ranch land continues to be a focus of some of Wall Street's brightest investors.
Just as mineral rights are important to mining and oil companies, water rights are paramount to farmers and ranchers. However, if there are no minerals or water in the ground, rights matter not.
This area of real estate is specialized; it requires a special set of skills and market market knowledge. Issues like critical water shortages, range land quality, AUM regulation, basin allocation, water table stability, etc.
If you are interested in investing in farm or ranch land or you are considering a career in agriculture, you must be prepared. I will be happy to help you understand the important questions you need to be asking.
Chris W. Miller
Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management
435-862-5951
702-990-5951
Nevada Water Rights
Land in Nevada
Nevada Ranch Properties
Lincoln County Land Market
Mesquite NV Real Estate Market
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
World Food Shortages, Food Inflation, Shrinking Arable Farm Land, Water Shortages, and Water Rights
Leading the way to higher food production utilizing less water and energy is a lofty goal to feed the increasingly hungry world. As the population expands demand will increase. Energy and fresh water use are both exponentially becoming critical to humanities ability to not only survive but save our planet.
Food production requires both energy and water. Quality food production without growth hormones, pesticides, and many other types of toxins has become high priority for many consumers. Look at Whole Foods success and the organic food craze. Who in the world would not choose a healthier diet given the opportunity?
So how do we get from old traditional farming techniques to a more efficient, productive, resource conserving food producing world? Can the free market with innovation and capitalism driven by consumer demand really make the numbers work? New innovative irrigation technology has made huge strides in recent years in both production and water consumption. We all know the government spending our money, picking winners and losers is not the answer, it up to you and me.
From the beginning of cultivation and farming, they have lived and died by the fickle and unpredictable weather, praying for rain, cursing floods and drought. Weather affects crops to the extreme. Our world weather patterns are becoming increasingly unpredictable. You can not argue with the statistics, the ice caps are melting and the last ten years have had record warm temperatures. Drought currently grips much of the world. The weather has the potential to put world food supplies at extremely vulnerable levels in the near future.
Drought and flooding today is having a dramatic affect on food production in Europe, China, Africa, America, and Russia.
As the wealth effect spreads throughout the emerging markets, protein is in increasingly higher demand. This is not a fad; China and India are demanding more beef, pork, dairy, and poultry. These countries consist of billions of consumers; all who would like to eat more like Americans, less rice! The middle class in these countries is exploding and they now have the discretionary income to demand higher quality foods. China has 20 percent of the world’s population and only 7 percent of the arable farm land. They have a serious problem with drought right now compounding their dilemma.
At the same time the aquifers of the world are dropping. Much of the world’s food production is not only subject to fickle weather patterns requiring the pumping ground water. This resource may be a far greater problem than peak oil. It is a combination of dwindling availability and contamination.
The average cow will drink 30 to 50 gallons of fresh water or a bath tub full per day, and eat up 90 pounds of feed. Hogs or pork production is not much different. Growing corn requires nearly 3000 gallons of water per bushel, Alfalfa requires about one acre foot per ton of hay, which is 325,851 gallons of fresh water per ton. These farm animals are the only source of the beef and pork the world demands. Cows are of course the primary source of dairy. All protein rich foods.
Speaking of the cattle, pork, and dairy industries, if you think you can keep antibiotics out of animals, dairy, and farming, you are dreaming. Prior to penicillin people regularly died from simple infections. You or some of the people you love would be dead today if you had been denied antibiotics.
So this brings us to the balance of the human food sources, fruits, vegetables, and grains. None of these grow without fresh water and good quality arable farm ground. Arable farm is a shrinking natural resource world wide. Aquifers world wide are dropping and irrigation pumping restrictions and reductions are becoming common in some of the most fertile and productive growing areas in the world.
The world will reward richly those who can produce quality food utilizing less water, less energy, and less land, or better yet turn today‘s unproductive lands into food producing regions.
Nevada has abundant affordable land, sunshine, and excellent solar intensity. Much of this land does not produce crops today. Can geothermal climate control coupled with solar, heat and cool green houses? Can hydroponics growing techniques reduce water consumption? Is it possible to eliminate the weather risk and seasonal limitations in farming by bringing farming indoors?
There are many ways you protect yourself and help solve the inevitable food and water shortages. Build your own greenhouse, get some egg laying chickens, get involved in your community gardening program or help develop one. Become educated about water consumption and use. Plant a garden. Move to a small farm.
If you are interested in the business opportunity utilizing affordable land to bring food production indoors in Nevada, call Chris W. Miller at 435-862-5951. We have the business plans, water rights, and the land.
Chris W. Miller
Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management
435-862-5951
702-990-5951
Nevada Water Rights
Land in Nevada
Nevada Ranch Properties
Lincoln County Land Market
Mesquite NV Real Estate Market
Food production requires both energy and water. Quality food production without growth hormones, pesticides, and many other types of toxins has become high priority for many consumers. Look at Whole Foods success and the organic food craze. Who in the world would not choose a healthier diet given the opportunity?
So how do we get from old traditional farming techniques to a more efficient, productive, resource conserving food producing world? Can the free market with innovation and capitalism driven by consumer demand really make the numbers work? New innovative irrigation technology has made huge strides in recent years in both production and water consumption. We all know the government spending our money, picking winners and losers is not the answer, it up to you and me.
From the beginning of cultivation and farming, they have lived and died by the fickle and unpredictable weather, praying for rain, cursing floods and drought. Weather affects crops to the extreme. Our world weather patterns are becoming increasingly unpredictable. You can not argue with the statistics, the ice caps are melting and the last ten years have had record warm temperatures. Drought currently grips much of the world. The weather has the potential to put world food supplies at extremely vulnerable levels in the near future.
Drought and flooding today is having a dramatic affect on food production in Europe, China, Africa, America, and Russia.
As the wealth effect spreads throughout the emerging markets, protein is in increasingly higher demand. This is not a fad; China and India are demanding more beef, pork, dairy, and poultry. These countries consist of billions of consumers; all who would like to eat more like Americans, less rice! The middle class in these countries is exploding and they now have the discretionary income to demand higher quality foods. China has 20 percent of the world’s population and only 7 percent of the arable farm land. They have a serious problem with drought right now compounding their dilemma.
At the same time the aquifers of the world are dropping. Much of the world’s food production is not only subject to fickle weather patterns requiring the pumping ground water. This resource may be a far greater problem than peak oil. It is a combination of dwindling availability and contamination.
The average cow will drink 30 to 50 gallons of fresh water or a bath tub full per day, and eat up 90 pounds of feed. Hogs or pork production is not much different. Growing corn requires nearly 3000 gallons of water per bushel, Alfalfa requires about one acre foot per ton of hay, which is 325,851 gallons of fresh water per ton. These farm animals are the only source of the beef and pork the world demands. Cows are of course the primary source of dairy. All protein rich foods.
Speaking of the cattle, pork, and dairy industries, if you think you can keep antibiotics out of animals, dairy, and farming, you are dreaming. Prior to penicillin people regularly died from simple infections. You or some of the people you love would be dead today if you had been denied antibiotics.
So this brings us to the balance of the human food sources, fruits, vegetables, and grains. None of these grow without fresh water and good quality arable farm ground. Arable farm is a shrinking natural resource world wide. Aquifers world wide are dropping and irrigation pumping restrictions and reductions are becoming common in some of the most fertile and productive growing areas in the world.
The world will reward richly those who can produce quality food utilizing less water, less energy, and less land, or better yet turn today‘s unproductive lands into food producing regions.
Nevada has abundant affordable land, sunshine, and excellent solar intensity. Much of this land does not produce crops today. Can geothermal climate control coupled with solar, heat and cool green houses? Can hydroponics growing techniques reduce water consumption? Is it possible to eliminate the weather risk and seasonal limitations in farming by bringing farming indoors?
There are many ways you protect yourself and help solve the inevitable food and water shortages. Build your own greenhouse, get some egg laying chickens, get involved in your community gardening program or help develop one. Become educated about water consumption and use. Plant a garden. Move to a small farm.
If you are interested in the business opportunity utilizing affordable land to bring food production indoors in Nevada, call Chris W. Miller at 435-862-5951. We have the business plans, water rights, and the land.
Chris W. Miller
Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management
435-862-5951
702-990-5951
Nevada Water Rights
Land in Nevada
Nevada Ranch Properties
Lincoln County Land Market
Mesquite NV Real Estate Market
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Will There Be Water?
Will There Be Water?
In the space of a lifetime, critical issues about water use, and the availability of fresh water will confront the world. Food production, municipalities, industry, and energy will all compete for a dwindling natural resource, Water.
Excerpts from Southwest Hydrology September/October 2008, with some Commentary!
Early in U.S. history, public policy was fashioned to encourage settlement of the West. Laws such as the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Desert Lands Act of 1877 were framed to transfer government land to settlers. In 1902 the Reclamation Act provided funding for construction and maintenance of western irrigation projects. In its first annual report (1903), Reclamation had this to say" so that the remaining public lands will furnish the greatest possible number of homes, is an object worthy of the sustained effort of enlightened and patriotic citizens". The public works that followed included such things as Hoover Dam, Shasta Dam, Newlands project, Yuma Project, Klamath project, Hetchy Aqueduct, and many more. With the 1902 Reclamation act the face of the West was changed forever. It must be pointed out and understood, these efforts and projects were directed at irrigation needs, based on a population that farmed for a living. Nothing like the urban shifts projected today!
Basin and Range Carbonate Aquifer System Study
What is a Water Table?
NASA Data Reveal Major Groundwater Loss in California
Groundwater Depletion Rate Accelerating Worldwide
Then came the drought-at a magnitude that had no probability of occurring, according to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation models based on a century of historical data. Sorry science guys, in the big picture, a century of data, barely counts as a data base.
In the blink of an eye, half a decades work to manage the Colorado River and meet the supply requirement and commitments has faded, as have the water levels in the Colorado River's two prime reservoirs. Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Today science is telling to expect less in the future.
Lake Powell Water Levels
Lake Mead Water Levels
The opportunity to own water rights in this arid region, especially at today's prices will soon go by the way side. This offering price is currently subject to change without notice.
Chris W. Miller
Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management
435-862-5951
702-990-5951
Nevada Water Rights
Land in Nevada
Nevada Ranch Properties
Lincoln County Land Market
Mesquite NV Real Estate Market
In the space of a lifetime, critical issues about water use, and the availability of fresh water will confront the world. Food production, municipalities, industry, and energy will all compete for a dwindling natural resource, Water.
Excerpts from Southwest Hydrology September/October 2008, with some Commentary!
Early in U.S. history, public policy was fashioned to encourage settlement of the West. Laws such as the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Desert Lands Act of 1877 were framed to transfer government land to settlers. In 1902 the Reclamation Act provided funding for construction and maintenance of western irrigation projects. In its first annual report (1903), Reclamation had this to say" so that the remaining public lands will furnish the greatest possible number of homes, is an object worthy of the sustained effort of enlightened and patriotic citizens". The public works that followed included such things as Hoover Dam, Shasta Dam, Newlands project, Yuma Project, Klamath project, Hetchy Aqueduct, and many more. With the 1902 Reclamation act the face of the West was changed forever. It must be pointed out and understood, these efforts and projects were directed at irrigation needs, based on a population that farmed for a living. Nothing like the urban shifts projected today!
Basin and Range Carbonate Aquifer System Study
What is a Water Table?
NASA Data Reveal Major Groundwater Loss in California
Groundwater Depletion Rate Accelerating Worldwide
Then came the drought-at a magnitude that had no probability of occurring, according to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation models based on a century of historical data. Sorry science guys, in the big picture, a century of data, barely counts as a data base.
In the blink of an eye, half a decades work to manage the Colorado River and meet the supply requirement and commitments has faded, as have the water levels in the Colorado River's two prime reservoirs. Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Today science is telling to expect less in the future.
Lake Powell Water Levels
Lake Mead Water Levels
The opportunity to own water rights in this arid region, especially at today's prices will soon go by the way side. This offering price is currently subject to change without notice.
Chris W. Miller
Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management
435-862-5951
702-990-5951
Nevada Water Rights
Land in Nevada
Nevada Ranch Properties
Lincoln County Land Market
Mesquite NV Real Estate Market
Monday, October 11, 2010
Foreclosure Freeze
How long can you live in a home once you stop making mortgage payments? Do you believe this free housing will increase or decrease if they stop all foreclosures?
Now QE3 directed at home price manipulation, will it work?
What will a foreclosure freeze do to home values?
How much market manipulation can the consumer really take before they just stop buying and wait?
Do you think you can trust market values when the banks and the government are controlling interest rates, down payments, underwriting standards, inventory, and the media's presentation of the news?
Chris W. Miller
Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management
435-862-5951
702-990-5951
Nevada Water Rights
Land in Nevada
Nevada Ranch Properties
Lincoln County Land Market
Mesquite NV Real Estate Market
Now QE3 directed at home price manipulation, will it work?
What will a foreclosure freeze do to home values?
How much market manipulation can the consumer really take before they just stop buying and wait?
Do you think you can trust market values when the banks and the government are controlling interest rates, down payments, underwriting standards, inventory, and the media's presentation of the news?
Chris W. Miller
Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management
435-862-5951
702-990-5951
Nevada Water Rights
Land in Nevada
Nevada Ranch Properties
Lincoln County Land Market
Mesquite NV Real Estate Market
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Water Shortages, Water Rights and Nevada’s Great Basin Water
The Great Basin is unique when it comes to water because the rivers have no outlet to the sea.
It is made up of many smaller drainage basins.
There is a complicated system of hydrology below the very interesting geology and topography of fractured, tilted plates of the Earth’s crust, that make up the Great Basin. Often referred to as Basin and Range because those tilted plates create mountain ranges that run from north to south. As the Earths crust stretched, cracked and tilted, it created large dry valleys or basins between the ranges. These basins can be compared to bowls that collect the snowmelt off the mountains. The alluvial fans are like great sponges, absorbing the meltwater into the ground. The snowpack is the primary recharge for the aquifers.
Nevada and the Great Basin is divided by the Nevada State Engineers Office into 256 ground water basins, some are “designated basins“. Designated basins, when it comes to water, may only be open to additional allocations for preferred uses, like municipalities for additional pumping.
Scientists are and have been measuring water table levels, spring flow rates, and precipitation for many years. We know pumping affects water table levels. We know the average precipitation, but then that is history. Today drought is in the news and many scientists believe more drought is likely in our future, due to climate pattern changes taking place. Future recharge rates are speculative.
They know the maximum consumption allowed by the existing recorded water rights. Not all basins are decreed and some additional rights could be out there and are not recorded but valid. Domestic wells are generally not considered, no permit is required to drill a domestic well, and they are limited to two acre feet per year in consumption.
The terminology of Hydrology seems very complicated, at least for this layperson. The science, like most science attempting to make future projections is speculative, especially the flows between the many basins and the aquifer recharge rates. New discoveries in all science fields rewrite what we thought we knew as fact, everyday.
Unfortunately, we may not have the answers to some of the most important questions until the water tables have dropped and the Seeps and Springs are gone. The scientists can not tell us when the flow rates of Seeps and the Springs may slow, or even dry up. The truth is they can only speculate. They do not know how drought will affect recharge rates of the aquifers, and they certainly do not know how long or severe the drought may be. There is far more that science is unsure of, than there is that can be actually guaranteed.
July 27, 2010 at the Aspen Institute's Environment Forum, Former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt at the “Hot and Dry: Water in the West and the World,” told the audience,
“Water scarcity is an issue, not everywhere, but in some regions. The American Southwest is not one of those regions where there is water scarcity. It's hard to believe given all the hyping in the national and local and regional press.”
This is right in line with Pat Mulroy’s statement when she said, “The hyperbole (hyper exaggerations) coming from rural Nevadan’s about their water table concerns was childish.”
You have to wonder what motivates Mr. Babbitt to say such a stupid thing, but then Pat Mulroy was also on the three person panel with him, and they were in Aspen Colorado. A poster child for conspicuous consumption and environmental lunatics. These are people who would like to tell you how many children you are allowed to have, and how large your carbon footprint can be, as they fly off in their private jet. They are asking for more of your dollars in the form of Obama’s Green stimulus money. Watch the forum videos!
They have already spent $ 80 Billion Dollars on Green stimulus bailout, and by the way, Harry Reid is claiming credit for the few short term jobs in Nevada this money created in his political race against Sharron Angle.
Southern Nevada Water Authority has proposed a pipeline from Las Vegas through Lincoln County and continuing into White Pine County on to the North. The Las Vegas Valley water district, now SNWA, filed 146 ground water applications in 1989 for undeveloped, unproven ground water in Eastern Nevada. This spark has lit the fuse for the battles to come. They do not at this time have approval for the water needed to supply this pipeline.
The Colorado River Compact allows Las Vegas 400,000 acre feet of water from Lake Mead. On average, one acre foot will supply two homes per year. A study by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego said there's a 50 percent chance that Lake Mead, could run dry by 2021. In the last ten years Lake Mead has dropped from around 1200 ft. to below 1100 ft. today. At 1050 ft. Hoover Dam will stop generating electricity, and at 1000 ft. Las Vegas will lose the lower intake for the city‘s water supply.
Currently Lake Mead (The Colorado River) supplies 90% of the water to the Las Vegas Metro area. The Colorado River serves Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, and Mexico, over 30 million people live in this region. We now know that based on the twenty year river flow study leading up to the Colorado River Compact in 1922, the river was over allocated by one million acre feet when the compact was signed and the shortage has only become worse.
The NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) study has found since 2003 the aquifers for California's primary agricultural region the Central Valley and its major mountain water source the Sierra Nevada have lost nearly enough water combined to fill Lake Mead, America's largest reservoir. This area represents nearly one sixth of all the United States irrigated land and the dropping water tables have the potential to have huge implications to the US economy.
None of this news is new , in fact the warnings have been ignored for over one hundred years. Panelists Bruce Babbit, Pat Mulroy, Sandra Postel and The Aspen Institute’s Environment Forum are apparently more interested in advancing their agenda than dealing with facts and truth.
John Wesley Powell told the International Irrigation Congress in Los Angeles in 1893,
“You are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over the water rights, there is no sufficient water to supply the land.”
Many, many scientific studies today are clearly confirming his thoughts.
I wonder what John Wesley Powell would think today?
How limited are your water resources?
It is made up of many smaller drainage basins.
There is a complicated system of hydrology below the very interesting geology and topography of fractured, tilted plates of the Earth’s crust, that make up the Great Basin. Often referred to as Basin and Range because those tilted plates create mountain ranges that run from north to south. As the Earths crust stretched, cracked and tilted, it created large dry valleys or basins between the ranges. These basins can be compared to bowls that collect the snowmelt off the mountains. The alluvial fans are like great sponges, absorbing the meltwater into the ground. The snowpack is the primary recharge for the aquifers.
Nevada and the Great Basin is divided by the Nevada State Engineers Office into 256 ground water basins, some are “designated basins“. Designated basins, when it comes to water, may only be open to additional allocations for preferred uses, like municipalities for additional pumping.
Scientists are and have been measuring water table levels, spring flow rates, and precipitation for many years. We know pumping affects water table levels. We know the average precipitation, but then that is history. Today drought is in the news and many scientists believe more drought is likely in our future, due to climate pattern changes taking place. Future recharge rates are speculative.
They know the maximum consumption allowed by the existing recorded water rights. Not all basins are decreed and some additional rights could be out there and are not recorded but valid. Domestic wells are generally not considered, no permit is required to drill a domestic well, and they are limited to two acre feet per year in consumption.
The terminology of Hydrology seems very complicated, at least for this layperson. The science, like most science attempting to make future projections is speculative, especially the flows between the many basins and the aquifer recharge rates. New discoveries in all science fields rewrite what we thought we knew as fact, everyday.
Unfortunately, we may not have the answers to some of the most important questions until the water tables have dropped and the Seeps and Springs are gone. The scientists can not tell us when the flow rates of Seeps and the Springs may slow, or even dry up. The truth is they can only speculate. They do not know how drought will affect recharge rates of the aquifers, and they certainly do not know how long or severe the drought may be. There is far more that science is unsure of, than there is that can be actually guaranteed.
July 27, 2010 at the Aspen Institute's Environment Forum, Former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt at the “Hot and Dry: Water in the West and the World,” told the audience,
“Water scarcity is an issue, not everywhere, but in some regions. The American Southwest is not one of those regions where there is water scarcity. It's hard to believe given all the hyping in the national and local and regional press.”
This is right in line with Pat Mulroy’s statement when she said, “The hyperbole (hyper exaggerations) coming from rural Nevadan’s about their water table concerns was childish.”
You have to wonder what motivates Mr. Babbitt to say such a stupid thing, but then Pat Mulroy was also on the three person panel with him, and they were in Aspen Colorado. A poster child for conspicuous consumption and environmental lunatics. These are people who would like to tell you how many children you are allowed to have, and how large your carbon footprint can be, as they fly off in their private jet. They are asking for more of your dollars in the form of Obama’s Green stimulus money. Watch the forum videos!
They have already spent $ 80 Billion Dollars on Green stimulus bailout, and by the way, Harry Reid is claiming credit for the few short term jobs in Nevada this money created in his political race against Sharron Angle.
Southern Nevada Water Authority has proposed a pipeline from Las Vegas through Lincoln County and continuing into White Pine County on to the North. The Las Vegas Valley water district, now SNWA, filed 146 ground water applications in 1989 for undeveloped, unproven ground water in Eastern Nevada. This spark has lit the fuse for the battles to come. They do not at this time have approval for the water needed to supply this pipeline.
The Colorado River Compact allows Las Vegas 400,000 acre feet of water from Lake Mead. On average, one acre foot will supply two homes per year. A study by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego said there's a 50 percent chance that Lake Mead, could run dry by 2021. In the last ten years Lake Mead has dropped from around 1200 ft. to below 1100 ft. today. At 1050 ft. Hoover Dam will stop generating electricity, and at 1000 ft. Las Vegas will lose the lower intake for the city‘s water supply.
Currently Lake Mead (The Colorado River) supplies 90% of the water to the Las Vegas Metro area. The Colorado River serves Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, and Mexico, over 30 million people live in this region. We now know that based on the twenty year river flow study leading up to the Colorado River Compact in 1922, the river was over allocated by one million acre feet when the compact was signed and the shortage has only become worse.
The NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) study has found since 2003 the aquifers for California's primary agricultural region the Central Valley and its major mountain water source the Sierra Nevada have lost nearly enough water combined to fill Lake Mead, America's largest reservoir. This area represents nearly one sixth of all the United States irrigated land and the dropping water tables have the potential to have huge implications to the US economy.
None of this news is new , in fact the warnings have been ignored for over one hundred years. Panelists Bruce Babbit, Pat Mulroy, Sandra Postel and The Aspen Institute’s Environment Forum are apparently more interested in advancing their agenda than dealing with facts and truth.
John Wesley Powell told the International Irrigation Congress in Los Angeles in 1893,
“You are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over the water rights, there is no sufficient water to supply the land.”
Many, many scientific studies today are clearly confirming his thoughts.
I wonder what John Wesley Powell would think today?
How limited are your water resources?
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