GLG110 Geologic Disasters

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GLG110 Geologic Disasters the Environment
Chapter 10 Water Resources
Instructor Professor Stan Williams Email
stan.williams_at_asu.edu
TA Carol Butler Email clbutler_at_asu.edu
Course Website http//glg110.asu.edu
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Term Project

• Reflect on what you are learning about Geologic
  Disasters and the Environment
• Worth
• 100 points (20 of your total grade)
• Due
• Tuesday Nov 25 (before Thanksgiving break)

3
Term Project

• Choose one of the following two topic areas and
  prepare a written report
• Hometown Hazard
• Examination of single large geologic disaster
• Final paper must be
• your original words
• typed
• double-spaced
• 3-6 pages in length
• fully referenced
• include one figure

Refer to handout or class website (Announcements)
for details
4
Overview

• Final Comments Floodplains
• Water Use (and Misuse)
• Colorado River
• Drought
• Water Management Future Prospects
• Water Ecosystems

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Humans and Floodplains

• At least 9.6 million households and 390 billion
  in property lie in flood prone areas in the US.
• The rate of urban growth in floodplains is
  approximately 2x that of the rest of the country.

6
Water Facts

• 99 of Earths water is unavailable or unsuitable
  for human use
• Put all the world's water into a
• gallon jug, the fresh water equals
• about one tablespoon
• Global freshwater usage
• 69 used for agriculture,
• 23 industry
• 8 municipal use by us

Portland, Oregon
Image US Fish Wildlife Service
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U.S. Freshwater Use Misuse

• The U.S. consumes water 2x the rate of other
  industrialized nations
• Flush 6.8 billion gallons down toilets every day
• The average home uses
• 80 gallons per person each winter day
• 120 gallons in summer
• 2/3 of the average family's water- shower, bath
  and the toilet
• 39,090 gallons to make a car

8
Water Use in Agriculture

• 6 gallons to grow 1 serving of lettuce
• gt 2,600 gallons to produce 1 serving of steak
• 49 gallons to produce 1 - 8 oz. glass of milk
• Average American consumes 1,500 pounds of food
  each year
• 1,000 gallons to grow and process each pound
• 1.5 million gallons invested in food of 1 person

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Urban vs. Agriculture

• only 1 of the water used around the house
  accounts for of the all water used in U.S. each
  year
• 80 of water used in the U.S. is for irrigating
  crops and generating electric-power

Image Fairview Farms, Corwith, Iowa
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Water Resources

• What do you observe about these two environments?
• Where in the US are they likely to be found?
• Should the populations observe different plans
• for water usage and conservation?
• Why or why not?

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Water in the West
Image Larry Ridenhour / BLM

• Water use in the West is much higher than in any
  other region
• 2/3 Californias surface runoff occurs north of
• San Francisco
• 2/3 of Californias water use occurs south
• Water diversion has altered ecosystems and
  habitats

Idaho 22,200 gallons/day
152 gallons/day in Rhode Island
Image Rhode Island Tourism Division
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Colorado River Watershed

• All (and then some) of the water in Colorado
  River allocated to users, unlike that of any
  other river in the world
• Annual flow 3 of the Mississippi, 1/10 of the
  Columbia
• Vast areas are unpopulated,
• water exported

• One of the most regulated, controversial, and
  disputed bodies of water in the world

13
Colorado River Watershed

• Watershed 246,000 square miles
• Water for 7 states
• Mexico
• Starts as snow melt
• in Wyoming
• Flows to
• Sea of Cortez
• Average rainfall
• in basin 4 inches or less

Image CRWUA
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Dams on the Colorado River

• Pre-Glen Canyon Dam
• Max flow May or June
• High flow scoured channel, cleared rapids, built
  and scoured beaches
• Low flow deposited sediments in canyon
• Numerous archaeological sites

Image Glen Canyon Institute
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Dams on theColorado

• Post-Dam
• Average flood reduced 66
• Discharge increased 66
• Flow unstable due to power needs
• Sediment flow halted, beaches and sandbars in
  canyon and associated habitats eroding
• Rapids more dangerous
• Changes in flow caused vegetation shifts
• Loss of archaeological sites

Image Outdoors Unlimited
Image Outdoors Unlimited
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Dams on the Colorado

• Lake Powell loses gt 6 of the Colorado's annual
  flow
• more than 3x Nevada's annual allotment
• worth 225 million

Water Line showing original lake level

• Since 1963,
• water lost from Lake Powell
• worth 8.8 billion

What a nasty bathtub ring!
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1996 Controlled Flood
Images Northern Arizona State University

• Experiment to attempt partial recovery of canyon
• Sand in canyon non-renewable due to dam
• Controlled floods will not return river to
  natural state

Sandbar downstream from Glen Canyon Dam before
controlled flood
Same location after flood
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Environmental Impacts of Dams

• Salton Sea created by breakout flood, now a water
  fowl habitat, evaporation increasing salinity
• Rarely reaches Sea of Cortez only salt flat at
  river's mouth

US-Mexico Border
Note the healthier vegetation (red color) north
of the border, due in large part to more water
Salt Flat
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Colorado River Water Cities

• 10 major dams and 80 major diversions
• 25 million people depend on rivers water
• 30 million depend on electricity
• from hydropower
• Cities using Colorado River
• water include Phoenix, Tucson,
• Salt Lake City, Denver,
• Albuquerque, San Diego,
• Las Vegas, L.A., etc.

Image CRWUA
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Colorado River Agriculture

• gt 1.75 million acres of irrigated land produces
• 15 of the nation's crops
• 13 of its livestock, and
• agricultural benefits of more than 1.5 billion a
  year
• In Arizona, 25 of the state's water is provided
  by the Colorado
• 80 of that is used for agriculture

Images CRWUA
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Law of the WestPrior Appropriation

• Artifact of the California Gold Rush
• first in time, first in right
• Result emotional legal battles

• does not consider which users have more valuable
  or less environmentally damaging use
• does not consider how much water is (or is NOT)
  available!

Image Rhett Butler
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Legal History

• 1922 Colorado River Compact split western states
  into upper and lower basin, dividing Colorado
  River water equally between them
• Compact requires upper basin states to produce
  7.5 million acre-feet of water each year
• Problem - when the deal was worked out, it was a
  high-water year, amount of water in the river was
  hugely overestimated

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Over-Promised, Over-Committed Overdrawn

• In 1869, John Wesley Powell scouted and surveyed
  the river
• there is not sufficient water to irrigate all
  the lands which could be irrigated
• He developed thoroughly researched plan to
  regulate water use in west
• Congress thought plan too restrictive, launched
  massive dam projects

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Water Wars

• Colorado produces 70 of the water in the whole
  river, but has entitlement smaller than
  Californias, which contributes no water to river
• Ongoing drought in Colorado reducing water
  supplies
• California's allotment of Colorado River water is
  4.4 million acre feet, but it currently takes an
  extra 800,000 acre feet

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Imperial Valley Renegotiation

• July 2002, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation declared
  that Imperial Valley farmers were wasting water
  on their desert fields withheld hundreds of
  thousands of gallons from their allotment until
  new deal made

• 400 farmers in California's Imperial Valley use
  70 the state's share of the river
• Why do they use so much?

Image Darrell Byrd
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Imperial Valley Renegotiation

• (Left) This is what the Imperial Valley looked
  like in 1856
• With the All American canal (below left)
  funneling water from the Colorado River, the
  Valley is now filled with farms

United States Pacific Railroad Exploration and
Survey, 1856
Mountains look familiar? Think Arizona desert!
Image James E. Kuhn
Image James E. Kuhn
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Disaster of the Day Californias New Deal

• Cornerstone - Imperial District will transfer up
  to 200,000 acre-feet a year to urban San Diego
  and possibly another 1.6 million acre-feet to
  Metropolitan District
• Broader agreement aimed at easing California's
  overdependence on the river so other western
  states can claim their full share
• Some provisions to help protect Salton Sea
• Oct 7 vote by Imperial Valley board uncertain
  outcome, much opposition (watch the news tonight!)

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Drought

• Drought periods in which precipitation is much
  lower and evaporation much higher than normal
  (often because of higher than normal
  temperatures)
• Effects intensified by
• Deforestation
• Overgrazing
• Desertification
• Replacing diverse natural grasslands with single
  crop fields

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Drought

• Causes more damage and suffering worldwide than
  any other natural hazard
• Since from 1970s through 1995 drought killed
  gt24,000 per year
• 40 of worlds population live in regions that
  experience year long droughts
• Effects will intensify with global warming

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Dust Bowl

• 1926-1934
• Natural soil lost due to
• poor cultivation practices
• overgrazing
• drought (began 1926)
• Wind storms darkened the sky at midday
• Animals choked to death on dust
• Topsoil over cropland equal in area to
  Connecticut and Maryland was stripped

Image U.S. National Archives
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Dust Bowl

• Many forced to relocate but depression added to
  problems
• Lawmakers in Washington took action when dust
  from Great Plains began infiltrating the hearing
  room

• 1935 established Soil Conservation Service

Image U.S. National Archives
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Dust Bowl

• Today Groundwater under area is being depleted
  faster than being replenished
• Global warming could increase the desertification
  in progress

• Area is better suited to grazing than farming

Image U.S. National Archives
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Future Freshwater Resources

• By 2025, 2/3 of the world's population will have
  water shortages
• Today- 40 of worlds population clashes over
  water resources
• Today- most of the world's people must walk at
  least 3 hours to fetch water
• Freshwater animals are disappearing five times
  faster than land animals

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Future Water Management

• Locate alternate supplies (for example
  desalination)
• Conserve and manage existing supplies
• Control population growth and land-use

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Alternate Sources Desalination

• Seawater contains 3.5 salt
• Drinkable water must be lt0.05
• To remove salt requires large amounts of energy
  which causes its own depletion of natural
  resources
• Water from desalination plants costs 10x current
  supplies
• not a viable option until other resources
  expended
• By that time, the world supply of petroleum will
  be severely depleted

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Water Conservation - Urban

• Home
• More efficient bathroom/sink fixtures
• Water lawns and gardens at night
• Use drip irrigation systems on lawns and gardens
• Industry
• Use cooling towers, reduce water use 25-30
• Increase in plant water treatment recycling
• Develop equipment that uses less water

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Water Conservation - Agricultural

• Improved agricultural irrigation (reduce
  withdrawals 20-30)
• Use lined and covered canals (reduce seepage and
  evaporation)
• Computers to monitor water release in canals
• Night irrigation (reduce evap)
• Drip irrigation

Drip Pipes
Hidden Drip Pipes
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Water Management

• Must consider
• geological
• geographical
• climatic factors
• PLUS political
• and economical matters
• Plan ahead, have different use strategies based
  on climate cycles

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Positive Trends in Water Use

• Water withdrawals declining since 1980
• Public use of water in urban and rural sectors
  has increased
• Use of water in agriculture leveled off since
  1980
• Industry and power water use slightly less since
  1980
• More use of reclaimed wastewater

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Water Ecosystems
Image US Fish Wildlife Service

• Wetlands regions that are frequently inundated
  by water

Everglades National Park, Florida
Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Illinois

• specially adapted vegetation and unique soils

Image QT Luong/terrgalleria.com
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Environmental Features of Wetlands

• Coastal wetlands (salt marshes) buffer inland
  areas from wave and storm erosion
• Trap sediments, nutrients, and pollution
• Store water, reduce downstream flooding

Image Chincoteague National History Association
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Environmental Features of Wetlands
Everglades National Park, FL

• Highly productive lands
• cycle many nutrients and chemicals
• Habitat for wide variety of plants and animals
• Areas of groundwater recharge or discharge

Everglades National Park, FL
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U.S. Wetlands at Risk

• Most coastal wetlands are protected
• Freshwater wetlands still threatened
• 1 of wetlands lost every 2 years
• In last 200 years, 90 of freshwater wetlands
  disappeared as result of agricultural draining or
  urban development
• Areas cleared of riparian vegetation in the
  Midwest have erosion rates of 15 to 60 tons/ year

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Wetlands Restoration
Images EPA

• Not easy due to complex ecosystems and conditions

Before
After
Gila River Watershed Arizona / New Mexico
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Wetlands Restoration
before
after
Bear Creek Watershed Iowa
Images EPA
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Mangroves, Everglades National Park, FL
Whiskey is for drinking and water is for
fighting over. Mark Twain