colorado river drought and us food supply

[everything]

TL;DR points.

- the groundwater is on track to be depleted.
- those crops won't be able to be grown.
- farmers can choose what to do at the moment. looking to conserve while waiting for "magic".
- there are also foreign companies growing high water crops such as alfalfa for export.
- nationally, there is a crisis elsewhere but there is still food and water security overall.
- it would be way too cost-prohibitive to move water over a long distance as a solution.
- overall it's very fucked.

[everything]

China using drones to "seed clouds" (ice forming chemicals to try to get them to release rain) in Sichuan to combat drought

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... in-sichuan

China is using two massive drones to seed rainclouds in Sichuan province to try to end a devastating drought that has choked power output and disrupted supply chains of global giants like Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc.

The China Meteorological Administration launched drones in northern and southeastern Sichuan on Thursday morning, and the aircraft will eventually cover an area of 6,000 square kilometers in operations lasting through Monday, state-owned CCTV reported.

Seeding works by dropping an ice-forming agent like silver iodide into a cloud that already contains ample moisture.

[Steve James]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRD-1_RffsI

[everything]

it's terrible that there is drought in one location and then "all the water" in others, causing disasters from both ends.

back on the power side of things and related to hydroelectic power ... ocean waves (always shifting) could possibly be a good method to produce electricity.

Globally, maintenance costs for hydro-electric dams are relatively low, so hydro-electric power currently accounts for around 6.5% of the world’s total energy production (4). That said, there are new technologies emerging called Hydrokinetics that harvest power from ocean currents and the changing tides that may increase the hydro-electric industry’s impact worldwide.

https://greenbuildingelements.com/most- ... y-sources/

[everything]

did the chinese rain seeding work? it seems like ... maybe? but it also looks like things naturally cooled down anyway.

https://news.sky.com/story/drones-and-r ... t-12682578

https://weather.com/en-BB/weather/tenda ... 70a746b252

[Steve James]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhBwMh4cTeM

Mississippi, today.

[everything]

If I followed, ironically flooding was somehow the cause of the treatment plant damage. So there is plenty of water, but no running or clean water.

[everything]

it makes me want to buy a home distiller. in a quick scan of reviews, these things are apparently very heavy and only distill one gallon every four hours.

also rain water collection for other uses (watering plants, most likely)

[Steve James]

Yes, the MS governor had already predicted that the treatment plant was in need of repair; the floods just hastened its failure. People had already been told to boil their water or buy it before the flood hit.

Afa home distillation, for survival, get a Life Straw or another one of those purifying devices. If your home gets flooded, it'll be necessary to purify water while you're on the move.

Afa taking baths, showers, washing clothes, etc., that has to be solved through infrastructure improvement and development.

[everything]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... -by-the-us

TL;DR: Various US dams have essentially stopped the Colorado River from flowing into Mexico and to the sea.

[Steve James]

An interesting portable desalinator.If link doesn't work, search MIT portable desalinator.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yo1j65SchiI[/youtube]

[everything]

really cool. technology is going to have to improve. what else is there

[yeniseri]

The funny things is that countries using desalination technologies are "adversaries" of the US! How ironic
I am a lover of public TV and I saw a piece recently about water technologies and how Spain and Israel use modern version of ancient aqueduct technologies to bring water to agriculture and still have a safe base for the future using said technologies. Even for some type of plants, drip water technologies can be life supporting. Just one technology depending on what you are growing.

[Steve James]

Water, water everywhere from Alaska to Puerto Rico. One thing about the weather; it's a great equalizer.
It reminds me of those politicians who smirk when another state has a disaster.

[everything]

yin and yang found some kind of "balance", just a bit too extreme for us