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Agricultural production in the semi-arid western United States is dependent on irrigation. Population in the seventeen western states has been and is expected to continue increasing. Groundwater levels are declining throughout the region with long-term pumping and increased demands leading to greater pumping lifts and costs, land subsidence, and salt water intrusion into groundwater basins. Construction and operation costs of future water development in these states will be great, both in dollars and in economic and social effects. Competition for the available water supply due to increased demands in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors continues to increase. Although considerable...
In The Future of the Southern Plains, scholars bring the region to the forefront by asking important questions about its past and suggesting prospects for its future. The contributors, some of them natives of the region, bring to their work a blend of scholarship and personal experience. They match intellectual sophistication with deep affection for a place defined primarily as western Texas, Oklahoma, and eastern New Mexico. Within this volume is a story about America, a story about limits, and a story about challenging those limits. Seven historians, one geographer, and a paleoclimatologist contribute a wealth of observation, analysis, and commentary on the environmental characteristics an...
This book contains 11 papers that review the extant information about the Colorado River from an ecosystem perspective and serve as the basis for discussion of the use of ecosystem/earth science information for river management and dam operations. It also contains a synopsis of the committee's findings and recommendations to the Bureau of Reclamation as the agency seeks to change its direction to the management of natural resources.
Where will the water come from to sustain the great desert cities of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix? In a provocative exploration of the past, present, and future of water in the West, James Lawrence Powell begins at Lake Powell, the vast reservoir that has become an emblem of this story. At present, Lake Powell is less than half full. Bathtub rings ten stories tall encircle its blue water; boat ramps and marinas lie stranded and useless. To refill it would require surplus water—but there is no surplus: burgeoning populations and thirsty crops consume every drop of the Colorado River. Add to this picture the looming effects of global warming and drought, and the scenario becomes bleaker still. Dead Pool, featuring rarely seen historical photographs, explains why America built the dam that made Lake Powell and others like it and then allowed its citizens to become dependent on their benefits, which were always temporary. Writing for a wide audience, Powell shows us exactly why an urgent threat during the first half of the twenty-first century will come not from the rising of the seas but from the falling of the reservoirs.
Agricultural Development Policy: Concepts and Experiencesm, prepared under the aegis of the Policy Assistance Division of FAO, presents a fresh and comprehensive look at agricultural development policy. It provides a clear, systematic review of important classes of policy issues in developing countries and discusses the emerging international consensus on viable approaches to the issues. Topics covered include agriculture's role in economic development, objectives and instruments of agricultural policy, linkages between macroeconomic and agricultural policies, sectoral policies related to agricultural prices, the role of government in the sector, gender issues in agriculture, policies for th...
Southwest Under Stress examines the development-environment conflict in the four contiguous states of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. It emphasizes three issues with implications that extend far beyond the Southwest: water---its quantity, quality, and allocation; environment---how and to what extent it should be preserved; and the future of Native American and other poverty-stricken peoples. Energy comes in for special attention because the Southwest is a principal repository of fossil and nuclear fuels. This book serves as a guide for public policy in the region, and many of the policy alternatives set out are aimed at state and local governments. Alleviating poverty, improving the lot of Native Americans, and formulating workable water, environmental, and natural resources development policies are all of special concern to the region, but the federal government has asserted a dominant role in may of these areas. The book discusses ways in which the federal role may change to improve both federal policy itself and cooperation with other levels of government.
Since the beginning of the reservation era, the bitter conflict between Indians and non-Indians over water rights was largely confined to the courtroom. But in the 1980s the federal government began to emphasize negotiated settlements over lawsuits, and the settlements are changing water rights in fundamental waysÑnot only for tribes but also for non-Indian communities that share scarce water resources with Indians. In Native Waters, Daniel McCool describes the dramatic impact these settlements are having both on Indian country and on the American West as a whole. Viewing the settlements as a second treaty era, he considers whether they will guarantee the water future of reservationsÑor, l...