Beyond the Mirage - the Future of Water in the West is a documentary film by Cody Sheehy.
The "mirage" is the idea that the water we need will always be there.
Here are a few quotes from the film that help set the tone for the documentary:
Let's be honest about this. We Americans are spoiled. We wake up in the morning, we turn on that tap, and out comes as much water as we want.
People in the United States use more water per capita than any country on earth. Why? Because we could. We can't any more.
There's been a long running dispute since the 1920's between the states over who gets how much of the Colorado River.
California in general looks at their supplies as secure and a higher priority than, for example, Arizona.
There wont' be any winners and losers - there will only be losers.
The documentary has aired at least twice on PBS and may be show again - check your local PBS listings.
Watch selected clips from the documentary here.
The film consists of three parts - The System, Groundwater, and Silver Bullets. Here's a summary of each part:
The System
- The Colorado River Basin is in it's 16th year of an extended drought.
- The two main factors affecting the amount and availability of Colorado River water are climate change and population growth.
- The Colorado River Basin and the Sacramento Bay Delta region are the two main "players" in water for California.
- Since the start of the drought in 2000, Lake Mead has dropped 100 feet.
- The current drought is a direct result of less snowpack in the mountains, which is a result of more "la niña" winters, which is a result of climate change.
- In Nevada, a project is underway to construct a third water intake at the bottom of Lake Mead so that if the level of water in the lake drops below the two existing intakes, the third intake can be used (note: the third intake project was completed in September of 2015).
- Of all the states and government entities that have rights to Colorado River water, the Central Arizona Project (CAP) in Arizona has the least authority. Within Arizona, municipalities and Native American tribes have priority. An Arizona alfalfa farmer explains how a disruption in CAP water would have a direct impact on the consumer. A lack of water would mean less alfalfa feed for his cows, resulting in less dairy products making it to market.
- There are indications that the current 16-year drought may become a "mega-drought" of many, many years.
- Because of climate change, the storm track is expected to move north which will mean less precipitation for the southwestern United States.
Stakeholders meet for Cochise water planning area | Arizona Range News
Parched: Arizona's shrinking aquifers | The Arizona Republic
Preparing for shortage: Arizona farmers used to doing more with less | Cronkite News
Arizona's Looming Ag Water Shortage: A Farmer's Perspective | Arizona Farm Bureau
Groundwater
- Groundwater takes hundreds of years to accumulate.
- Arizona manages its groundwater use by dividing the state into Active Management Areas. Central Arizona Project (CAP) manages and delivers water from the Colorado River via 336-miles of canals which run from Lake Havasu City in western Arizona along the Colorado River to just south of Tucson.
- The need to drill deeper wells to access receding groundwater has significantly increased the cost for farmers and rural residents alike near the town of Wilcox, Arizona.
- In California's Central Valley, some farmers are pumping groundwater to irrigate their crops, depleting the groundwater supply.
- In April of 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order restricting water usage (California Governor Jerry Brown Orders Mandatory Water Restrictions).
Silver Bullets
- The southwestern U.S. is not the only place in the world suffering from drought and limited water supplies. Over the past 30-40 years, the country of Israel has had its challenges in providing sufficient water for agriculture and for its people. One of the ways Israel has dealt with the problem is by importing certain crops instead of growing them locally. Another way is by the construction of water desalinization plants.
- The Carlsbad Desalinization Plant in Carslbad, California began operations in December of 2015 and delivers about 50 million gallons of desalinated water a day to about 400,000 people in Sand Diego county, but desalinization is not the "silver bullet" solution to California's water challenge.
- Another possible partial solution to the California water crisis is the use of new, more efficient irrigation technology.
- Other ideas include more efficient ways of reclaiming waste water and how to capture rain runoff.
Israel Proves the Desalination Era Is Here | Scientific American
Israel Bringing Its Years Of Desalination Experience To California | NPR
Water supply and sanitation in Israel | Wikipedia
How Israel beat the drought | The Times of Israel
WATER IN ISRAEL: The Dry Facts | Israel Institute for Strategic Studies
Charles E. Meyer Desalination Plant | santabarbaraca.gov
Here's a list of the key speakers in the film:
- Robert Glennon, Regents' Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Arizona, one of the nation's thought leaders and commentators on water policy and law.
- Patricia Mulroy, senior fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program, senior fellow for climate adaptation and environmental policy at UNLV's Brookings Mountain West, former general manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority
- Mike Crimmins, Associate Professor & Extension Specialist - Climate Science, Department of Soil, Water, & Environmental Science, University of Arizona
- Thomas McCann, Deputy General Manager, Central Arizona Project (CAP)
- Lester Snow, executive director of the California Water Foundation
- Mitch Basefsky, former Public Information Officer at Tucson Water, Communications Representative (for Pima and Pinal counties), Central Arizona Project (CAP)
- Connie Woodhouse, Professor in the School of Geography and Development, University of Arizona
- Patrick Graham, State Director of The Nature Conservancy in Arizona
- Kathleen Ferris, Senior Research Fellow a the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University, and Legal Counsel for the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association
- Kathryn Sorensen, Director of Phoenix Water Services
- Frank Corkhill, Chief Hydrologist for the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR)
- Uri Shamir, Professor Emeritus at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
- Gregg Garfin, Deputy Director for Science Translation and Outreach, Institute of the Environment, and Associate Professor and Associate Extension Specialist, School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona
- James Leenhouts, Supervisory Hydrologist and Center Director at the USGS Arizona Water Science Center
- Dan Thelander, Arizona alfalfa farmer
- Joel Cuello, Professor in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department at the University of Arizona
- Sharon Megdal, Director for the Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) at the University of Arizona
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