bubbles and water
Today I learned that Tucson absorbs about 7000 retiree households every year. In 2008, local builders are only constructing about 4000 new places to live, so the retirees will likely take up the housing-bubble slack next year, and we'll be back on track in 2009. Then in 2012, when the first wave of baby-boomers show up, we can expect more like 15,000 retirees to start showing up each year. I'm very curious to know what they're going to use for water.
Speaking of water, Georgia wants the land the government said it was supposed to have in 1796, but in 1818 they sent a mathematician out with a sextant instead of the more accurate tools he wanted, so now Georgia's all bent out of shape because it can't suck water out of the Tennessee River.
Then I learned that if you need to tighten a hinge screw on my laptop, the whole operation takes much longer than you'd think. The result is that I'm typing on my husband's laptop, which doesn't know dvorak, so I'm not going to fix up the previous paragraph/run-on sentence. QWERTY keyboards give me tendonitis, plus if I don't look carefully at my fingers, everythglu kfol; sfk pgvd kjgl;e
Speaking of water, Georgia wants the land the government said it was supposed to have in 1796, but in 1818 they sent a mathematician out with a sextant instead of the more accurate tools he wanted, so now Georgia's all bent out of shape because it can't suck water out of the Tennessee River.
Then I learned that if you need to tighten a hinge screw on my laptop, the whole operation takes much longer than you'd think. The result is that I'm typing on my husband's laptop, which doesn't know dvorak, so I'm not going to fix up the previous paragraph/run-on sentence. QWERTY keyboards give me tendonitis, plus if I don't look carefully at my fingers, everythglu kfol; sfk pgvd kjgl;e
posted by missmolly at 10:53 PM
3 Comments:
Oh... you touched on GIS "AND" water... Love the post. LOVE IT!
Well... you kinda touched on GIS when you mentioned the map stuff. When I first started working with a bunch of GIS folks I was amazed at what an inexact science it used to be. Some of the old maps from back in the early days of exploration are quite comical viewed through our knowledge of today's geography. Even to this day, there are differing opinions on how to accurately display geographical data. If you want some light reading on the subject, "How to Lie with Maps" is a great read.
As for the water thing... (I work for a water purveyor here in the arid southwest)... you don't want to make any predictions? Given your unique powers of observation and reason I would be interested in what you might think the solution to the population growth/water "shortage" is.
Sorry for the long comment... I could write for days on these subjects.
--C
"Here be dragons" is always entertaining on maps.
As to the water, I predict that California could conserve so much more water than they do that they could probably keep growing almost indefinitely except for the freeway access. They can also work on desalinization, which would be expensive enough to really encourage conservation.
As to Las Vegas, I don't know if you have as much grass as Phoenix, but I know there are fountains to keep the tourists cool. I am very much anti-grass because people feel compelled to put chemicals on it. Maybe we can keep a couple of fountains, but don't get me started on the fake lakes (Phoenix has them, but I don't know about Vegas).
Tucson water is a different story. Around here we use a lot of well water, and the water table is falling. Developers are buying water rights far, far away, but they're allowed to use those rights for local development even though they don't actually bother trucking in the water they bought. That's a problem, and so is the local propensity to grow cotton in the desert.
I know somebody has to grow cotton, and the South would have more than enough water if they didn't water Atlanta like they did.
So here's my solution: no more fake lakes, and stop watering grass, the desert, and Atlanta.
Problem solved! ;)
I will have to check that book out. And you are sooooo right regarding California. They have no business having farms in the central valley. It is a very arid climate and they grow there because they always have. Way back in the day before the huge population explosion and subsequent drought there was more than enough water to go around. Now; not so much. California historically takes more than their fair share of Colorado River water, and unless something changes I see that going into the future.
If you have never seen the movie Chinatown (1974), I highly recommend it. Of course it is "Hollywood", but you really get the general gist of the how the water crisis got started.
As for making strides to accommodate the future, I have to say I am quite proud of the local water agencies. There is now a moratorium on turf for new homes, and they offer generous rebates for people to convert to desert landscapes. They have also adopted a tiered pricing structure so only the heavy users get hit with higher water rates. In spite of massive growth in southern Nevada, consumption has actually gone down in recent years. It is a model other agencies would do well to follow.
Your point on "fake lakes" unfortunately is still a bit of an issue here. People who aren't from the desert come to town and try to make it match what they are used to. Developers put in lakes and people pay twice as much money to live on them. And for the most part, they are filthy. I am sure though that this issue will be dealt with as the water shortage continues.
I know I have said this before, and most likely will say it again... I really enjoy reading your blog and more times than not it really makes me think. Thank you for writing.
--C
PS. I have touched on this topic before in my blog. http://hagoodc.blogspot.com/2007/04/water-water-everywhere-not-really.html
Post a Comment
<< Home