Pacific Institute: Reports. Published: November 3, 2011Authors: Heather Cooley, Julian Fulton, Peter GleickPages: 64 The production of electricity, from fuel extraction to generation, has growing impacts on both water availability and quality.
The new analysis from the Pacific Institute evaluates future water needs for different energy futures and identifies a growing risk of conflicts between electricity production and water availability in the U.S. Intermountain West. The new report also identifies strategies to ensure the long-term sustainable use of both resources. Devastating Drought Seems Inevitable in American West. Australia experienced the worst and most consistent dry period in its recorded history over much of the past decade.
The Murray River failed to reach the sea for the first time ever in 2002. Fires swept much of the country, and dust storms blanketed major cities for days. Australia’s sheep population dropped by 50 percent, and rice and cotton production collapsed in some years. Weather disasters evidence of global warming? Flooding along the Mississippi River near Tunica, Miss.
The Mississippi River valley is so inundated that the Army Corps of Engineers has had to open floodgates that will flood whole regions in order to save New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Vicious twisters slashed through the South, killing people in Alabama, Arkansas and North Carolina. Colombia is experiencing record floods, and there have been weather-related disasters across the globe. Locally, we’re having one of the worst droughts on record. Once-Rare Mississippi River Flooding Now 'More Frequent and More Severe'