Three Drop Thursday
Friends of Confluence West –
Welcome to Three Drop Thursday,
a snapshot of what we’ve been paying attention to this week.
For the West,
Kimery
Only in Marin? Don’t think so!
Last month’s headline in the Marin Independent Journal (California) reads Grand Jury report blasts water supply planning. Things got a bit dicey with the county projected to run entirely out of water by July this year. What saved our (bacon, posteriors, etc.) were uncharacteristic heavy rains last Fall. Therein lies a cautionary tale for many western water agencies - bad bets, poor planning, and millions in deferred maintenance costs - the climate emergency isn't cutting anyone any slack. You can read more here.
Time (past) to listen to the scientists
Two important pieces out this month on climate science and the Colorado Basin: Ian James’ piece in the LA Times on how scientists warned decision makers for 20 years about the trajectory of the Basin. Then a seminal study (Kuhn, Wheeler, Udall, et al) What will it take to stabilize the Colorado River.
Meanwhile, back at last month’s UC Boulder Colorado Conference
Later in the same week Interior announced “2-4MAF in cuts ASAP” we heard some pretty terrifying summaries on the Colorado River Basin trajectory from Jim Prairie (Reclamation UB Modeling Lead) and Jeff Lukas (Lukas Climate). Fortunately, keeping us from puddling into despair, there was also a strong conference theme of ‘crisis as opportunity’ - the federal fiat brings the opportunity to finally manage the Basin as one river.
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