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| U.S. Bureau of Reclamation map; for a larger version, click on it. |
"Less snow means less heat is reflected from the sun, creating a feedback loop known as the albedo effect, they say," reports Juliet Eilperin of The Washington Post. "The new findings are significant because about 40 million Americans living across the West depend on water from the Colorado River, which supports $1 trillion in economic activity each year. The water is shipped as far away as California’s Imperial Valley and central Arizona, where farmers use it to irrigate crops, as well as across the Rockies to supply drinking water for Colorado’s biggest cities."
Eliperin writes, "The region is poised to warm even more in the years ahead, Milly said, and it isn’t 'likely' that precipitation can compensate for these hotter and drier conditions," Comparing the Colorado River’s historic flow between 1913 and 2017 to future conditions, he added: 'That flow, we estimate, due to the warming alone would be reduced anywhere from 14 to 31 percent by 2050.' Colorado State University senior scientist Brad Udall, who has written two papers attributing half of the Colorado River’s lower flows to warming temperatures, said in a phone interview that researchers now 'have multiple lines of evidence pointing to a very similar number.' . . . Udall said of the new study, 'I would say eye-popping.'"
Water in desert areas is a critical resource. Arizona faces a cutback in vital Colorado River Water in 2011. New food production technologies are required.
ReplyDeleteMarch 4, 2020. Arizona faces an existential water supply crisis in less than 2 years. Water from the Colorado River is scheduled for major reduction in 2022. And southern Arizona underground aquifer levels are dropping rapidly. The impact on Arizona food supplies will be traumatic. This is the time to look to technology breakthroughs to make the most of the reduced water supplies.
The answer may have emerged in the Middle East desert, 8,000 miles away. A joint venture between a US company and a company headquartered in Dubai, UAE is operating a revolutionary food production facility, which features water productivity – pounds of food yield per unit of water used – more than 20 times typical soil based agriculture. They are even delivering high food yield per acre of land as well as high yield for the water used. This may well be the coming look for Arizona food production as CAP water disappears and the drop of levels in underground aquifers accelerates.
US based KII, Inc/Suns River and Merlin Green homes of Dubai have joined to build and operate a 5-level hydroponic food growth facility in the Sharjah Research and Technology Innovation Park just east of Dubai, UAE. The Park is part of AUS Enterprises associated with the American University of Sharjah. The site is in raw desert – actually a calcic horizon – and has been in operation for the past 2 years. The operation is off grid, feeds solar powered desalinated saline water and is operated primarily with solar energy with some minor wind generation.
The demonstrated facility productivity rate is more than 50,000 pounds of food per acre EACH MONTH, year round. That astounding productivity is more than 150 times the productivity based on land used and more than 20 times the productivity based on water used.
The partners invite interested parties to visit the operating site to see for themselves. The site is only a 10-minute drive from Sharjah International Airport or a 30-minute drive from the larger Dubai International Airport.
The look of agriculture of the future is available for inspection now. Please contact Hill Kemp, KII/Suns River at 318-315-1534 in the US. An information release with photographs is available at:
https://www.issuewire.com/a-revolution-in-food-production-in-raw-desert-1659507149556946