Drought in the Southwest United States leads to water supply cuts

The region is facing dire water shortages

The Earth’s surface is made up of about 71% of water, with the majority of it (approximately 97%) being found in our oceans. Since our oceans consist of saltwater, we’re left with—at best—3% freshwater on our planet. When we consider that not all of that water is consumable yet every living being needs it, it’s easy to understand why water is one of our most precious resources. And why the lack of good quality water for consumption is considered a very serious situation.

The Southwest United States is currently in a dire situation where a lack of rain has resulted in extremely low water levels within the region-critical Colorado River. The low river levels are a direct result in the dangerously low Lake Powell and Lake Meade levels which have now dipped to just over 25% of their total capacity due to an increasing drought spanning over the last 20 years. Seven states plus Mexico rely on these dwindling water sources, resulting in a situation that is both life-threatening and politically charged. 

Earlier this summer, California, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizon, and Nevada were informed that they had less than 60 days to reach an agreement that would drastically reduce their citizens’ consumption of water from the Colorado River. If an agreement could not be reached, then the federal government would be forced to step in to maintain public safety. An agreement reached in 1922 divided the Colorado River states into an upper and lower basin, with each receiving roughly half of the river’s water. 

While some steps have been taken to reduce water consumption in some states, not all are participating at the same level. The states from the upper basin (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico) have been working together to help reduce their consumptive uses. The upper basin states put together response to the Bureau of Reclamation a five-point plan that addresses the conservation of water across these states.

Arizona and Nevada, on the other hand, had not banned watering lawns or cars, despite the shortages. Earlier this year, the federal government began cutting some states’ supplies to maintain the River’s water levels and its key reservoirs. These cuts will hit Arizona and Nevada the most with the first receiving 79% of its standard water share and the latter 92%. 

If the federal government’s recent cuts aren’t effective then additional cuts will be triggered. Cuts for both city and industrial water users will ramp up if the region’s reservoirs continue to drop. 

2022 continues to bring excitement with the return to in-person conferences! Waterborne was well-represented at the American Chemical Society Fall Meeting in Chicago, IL with Marty Williams, Zack Stone, and Jennifer Collins attending in-person. Amy Ritter and Amelie Schmolke also attended the meeting virtually, so we were truly able to get a feel for the hybrid nature of the technical conference.

The in-person experience was great - the beautiful city of Chicago made for an impressive backdrop for the ACS meeting. We were even able to see (and hear) the Chicago Air and Water Show over Lake Michigan from the massive McCormick Place Convention Center prior to the meeting. The conference was very well attended and we were able to meet with so many existing and new colleagues and valued clients. COVID safety protocols were in place for all attendees, which helped to ease any health concerns.

The technical program was top-notch, with many hot-topic sessions featuring our recent work in the AGRO division. We asked a few of our meeting attendees to give some highlights from their experience. Jenn Collins found several AGRO sessions to be well executed in person, including the Climate Change, Endangered Species Assessment, and Non-Target Arthropod sessions. As a session co-chair for the hybrid pollinator session, Jenn also found that the virtual attendance option added to the valuable discussion and Q&A sections of the meeting. Amelie Schmolke indicated that her favorite session was David Wagner's "Insect Decline in the Anthropocene," which set the stage for the non-target arthropod session. Dr. Wagner (Entomologist from UCONN) provided some great insect biodiversity resources during his presentation, including the EntoGEM and iNaturalist websites, which we will feature in our next newsletter.

Less than a week after ACS, Waterborne's Gerco Hoogeweg and Mark Cheplick were busy presenting and participating at the 2022 York Pesticide Behaviour in Air, Soil, and Water Conference at the University of York, UK. We featured a joint poster with FMC and Aeiforia on site-selection strategy and context setting of monitoring in Italy which generated lots of interest from industry and regulators. Mark Cheplick also reported that it was fantastic to be able to connect with many folks involved in his on-going work updating the PRZM model for surface water repairs after multiple years of COVID delays and cancellations.

We're currently working on sharing the Waterborne technical presentations on our website, so stay tuned for more updates on our featured work from ACS and York Conferences! In the meantime, we'll ride the wave of in-person conference excitement into SETAC NA in November.