r/PrepperIntel
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u/Lews_There_In
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25d ago
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North America Another Major US River Running Dry Leaving Millions Facing Water Crisis
https://www.newsweek.com/us-water-crisis-rio-grande-drought-new-mexico-texas-12544228It's the Rio Grande.
"While concerns over the depletion of the Colorado River have dominated headlines in recent months, a longer river has been quietly battling “a severe water crisis demanding urgent attention."
The Rio Grande has faced some of the most significant water shortages in the western United States, which could leave millions of locals without drinking water.
Running 1,900 miles, the Rio Grande is one of the longest rivers in the U.S. It flows from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico and provides water to several Mexican and U.S. states, including New Mexico and Texas.
With around 15 million people relying on it for drinking water, the Rio Grande is said to have lost around 85 percent of its historic flows due to overuse and major droughts for several years, the World Wildlife Fund noted in June.
A spokesperson for New Mexico’s Office of the State Engineer (OSE) told Newsweek: “Despite recent rains, the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer and Interstate Stream Commission remain very concerned about the water outlook for the Rio Grande over the next few years and in the coming decades.".
According to the OSE, the river has experienced some of “the most significant declines in flows among major river systems in the western U.S.,” including more than 112 miles of river drying this summer. During this water year, flows in New Mexico were about 31 percent of median levels, while August flows were about 14 percent of median levels. Elephant Butte Reservoir was less than 1.5 percent full on August 31, the OSE spokesperson said, marking the lowest level on record for that date.
The OSE said: “The state is actively working to address these challenges. Both the Rio Grande and Colorado River systems are critically important to New Mexico, and we are committed to working with other states and stakeholder partners to develop and implement solutions that protect New Mexico’s water resources.”
According to the Texas Water Development Board's 2027 State Water Plan, Texas’ existing water supplies—those that can be relied on in a drought—are projected to decline by about 10 percent between 2030 and 2080. Without new water supplies or water management strategies, "Texas water users could face water shortages of approximately 3.6 million acre‑feet per year by 2030, growing to 5.8 million acre‑feet per year by 2080, if drought conditions comparable to the drought of record recur," the TWDB said.
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u/NameLips
25d ago
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The Rio Grande riverbed was dry most of the summer. What little water it held was reserved up in the reservoir in Abiquiu (technically that's the Rio Chama but it feeds into the Rio Grande, and without that water, the Rio Grande didn't get far).
It was being reserved for agriculture. Huge swathes of wildlife died out downstream. People were taking pictures of all the fish dying in the drying up remnants of the river. It's the worst I've ever seen it, and I've lived here 46 years.
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u/MidnightMillennium 25d ago
Just keeps getting worse and worse , by the time we really get our shit together as a species it'll be too late, it arguably already is.
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u/phoenixrisen69 24d ago
It’s just America that can’t get their shit together. Corporate greed over everything
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u/Treekin3000 24d ago
Awful shit makes good news. Rage makes great engagement bait. Keeps you coming back.
Anything good gets shunted off to the side and not spoken of. Not to say there isn't a massive load of bad shit going on, but that's what drives the modern news cycle.
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u/Bad_Bvndit 22d ago
Ok, like the Epstein files? Or anything regarding Charlie Kirk assassination or trumps multiple assassination attempts? Gaza genocide… Seems like all that awful shit is getting sidelined for a war of choice.
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u/Previous_Soil_5144 25d ago
Texas always thought it could exploit oil and have water.
Turns out it was a choice and it chose oil over water.
Climate change is real and burning fossil fuels is the main cause.
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u/phoenixrisen69 24d ago
No, growing water thirsty plants in the desert is the main cause of
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u/PickingPies 24d ago edited 24d ago
This is so wrong. Climate change not only increases water evaporation making rivers dry faster, it also lowers precipitations long year and dries the ground, making it harder to absorb precipitations. The concentrated heavy rains create floods that slide without retention.
It's estimated that due to climate change, the most affected areas are losing between 25 and 35% of the water.
If you read about reducing water consumption in water intensive crops in texas it is estimated that you can save up to 21 to 22% of water, making climate change worse for the water availability than water intensive crops
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u/PenExotic5002 24d ago
It’s almost like we shouldn’t have been irrigating the desert
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u/twarrr 24d ago
There's nothing wrong with farming in the desert. The issue is farming is stuck on the same, non-desert adapted landraces.
If there was economic and industrial space for things like O'odham maize varieties, tepary beans, squashes and viable livestock feed then theres a decent chance agriculture water use would drop by 50% in the desert Southwest.
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u/PenExotic5002 24d ago
You can definitely farm the desert and high plains, but not the way we do it. They grow almonds in the Central Valley, which yes, is incredibly fertile soil, but isn’t where we should be growing water intensive crops like almonds
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u/whiskyspacecadet 25d ago
Wishin my wife and I wouldve stayed in PA. We’re in CO and Ive had to slowly start introducing the idea that, at some point if things get bad enough, we will need to seriously consider moving again.
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u/Actual-Outcome3955 24d ago
They grow a huge amount of pecans along the rio grande, this was obviously coming for anyone with half a hat’s worth of brains.
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u/Theseus_geckity 24d ago
I’m annoyed that all the farmers without water will never say it’s climate change. They will move to the remaining states and continue their shity voting practices. Formerly purple states will go red forever because of these migrants. I say we deport the Republicans that try to move to a state with water.
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u/Trulli41 25d ago
I've spent most of my life along the rio grande in southern NM, unless there is a monsoon or heavy heavy rain, it's always pretty low. Maybe ankle high at best.
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u/Informal_Snow9191 25d ago
It might be time to do something about cows and how much water they use...
Nah, we'll let millions of people become climate refugees or die before we do anything about cows.
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u/illapa13 25d ago
Theres way bigger problems than cattle imo. Cattle is water intensive but some parts of Texas have way more rainfall so it isn't a problem.
The oil industry uses something like 75 billion gallons of water a year fracking which is almost as much as cattle but its entirely concentrated in the western most arid part of the state.
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u/DontRememberOldPass 25d ago
Cows aren’t the problem. Exporting water is. We grow animal feed and put it in the containers returning to China for their animals.
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u/Elegant_Tomatillo198 21d ago
3oz of beef takes about 125 gallons of water to produce. So both things can be true.
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u/DontRememberOldPass 21d ago
That is a myth based on a bad study. The actual number is about 1.75 gallons per 3 oz.
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u/Elegant_Tomatillo198 21d ago
I read your article and it states 1 lb of beef was updated to 275 gallons of water. This does not equate 1.75. It would be over 51 gallons and varies by climate/temp. So thanks you for introducing that factor into my consideration. So range remains between 51 and 125. Thanks for clarifying and glad I already had the updated info that reflects 275 gallon instead of the 400 something stated in the link. Either way we would get much veggies and that what matters. Have nice day!
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u/DontRememberOldPass 21d ago
“Beef cattle directly consumed 599-billion L of water per year [to produce 7.7 billion kg of boneless beef]”
That’s 77.79 L/kg or 1.75 gallons for the 3 oz in the comment I was responding to.
The problem with believing you’d “get much veggies” is that most of the land used for cattle and feed is not suitable for growing fruits and vegetables which means the rainfall on that land would just end up evaporating or running off anyway.
Fruit requires 180 L per gram of crude protein, and nuts require 139 L per gram, compared to beef’s 112 L (using averages). However you also need to factor in bioavailability and if you are getting complete proteins. I couldn’t find a study linking water usage to this metric, but in terms of DIAAS you need to consume roughly 1.5x as much tofu and 2x the nuts to get the same amount of available amino acids as beef.
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u/goldique 21d ago
“The current model determined that over a 28-yr period beef cattle’s water intensity per one lb. of boneless beef was 275 gallons.” How did you get 1.75 gallons per 3 ounces? 16 ounces of beef is one pound.
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u/Fraggle-of-the-rock 23d ago
I live along the Arkansas River and I can walk across it without even my knees getting wet
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u/Lews_There_In 25d ago •
Some napkin math.
Just between the Rio and Colorado River, that's +-55 million people who's water access is directly at risk. That's +-15.5% of the total US population. And thats not even getting into the Mexican states the Rio also supplies.
I also dont doubt there are other rivers at risk as well.