Dust cuts water flow into upper Colorado River

Dust from livestock grazing in the southwest reduces water runoff in the Colorado River Basin by 5%

An interesting study has been released by the Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies which explains that spring runoff from the Colorado Rockies has been compressed into a shorter period of time due to high levels of dust found on the mountain’s snowbanks.

“Runoff comes from the mountains in a more compressed period, which makes water management more difficult than if the water came more slowly out of the mountains.”

Evaporation and sublimation of the warmer snow itself–then transpiration from the earlier-exposed vegetation–results in water losses to the atmosphere, losses that then don’t go into runoff.

According to the study, the dust loading is five times greater than normal due to human activities such as livestock grazing, activities associated to livestock grazing such as vegetation treatments like these pictured in Nevada, and other disturbances.

After the Mower/Chopper Cave Valley, Nevada © Ken Cole

Cow Country: The Rise of the CAFO in Idaho

As mega-dairies and feedlots make up more of Idaho’s dairy industry, the conflicts between people and cattle are increasing

Guess what.  There’s shit in the air and water around these facilities and people are getting sick.

“High nitrate levels in water can cause brain damage in infants and has been associated with reproductive problems and cancer, according to researchers”

But you don’t get to know the details because:

“The Idaho Legislature labeled stats on cow shit “proprietary information,” exempt from public disclosure.”

If you want to know more and be active in stopping the shit, check out Idaho Concerned Area Residents for the Environment (I.C.A.R.E.)

Cow Country: The Rise of the CAFO in Idaho | As mega-dairies and feedlots make up more of Idaho’s dairy industry, the conflicts between people and cattle are increasing.
by Scott Weaver Boise Weekly

EPA concerned about Monsanto pollution control dam

EPA wants the dam to release clean, treated water.

The dam built to keep selenium and heavy metals also blocks water flows to the Blackfoot River.

EPA concerned about Monsanto pollution control dam.
By JOHN MILLER – Associated Press

Livestock waste found to foul Sierra waters

Unsafe levels of livestock associated pathogens infest alpine waters

Alpine lakes and streams of the Sierra Mountains are fouled with Giardia, E. coli, and other pathogens from livestock grazing on Forest Service Lands. Dr. Michael J. Connor, the California Director of Western Watersheds Project is one of the authors of the paper.

You can read the paper here:
Derlet, R. W., Goldman, C. and Connor, M. J.: Reducing the Impact of Summer Cattle Grazing on Water Quality in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California: A Proposal. Journal of Water and Health. 8(2): 326-333. 2010.

Livestock waste found to foul Sierra waters.
Sacramento Bee

It looks like a very bad water year in Idaho.

Could it also turn out to be another bad fire year? A really bad fire year?

Burned signs on the South Fork Salmon River 2007 © Ken Cole

With precipitation and snowpack somewhere around 75% of normal, it looks bad for fish and fires this year.

Rocky Barker asks whether it could be as bad as the 1910 fires.

Is Idaho ready for a repeat of the massive fires of 1910?
BY ROCKY BARKER – Idaho Statesman

See where the state stands water wise this year: Idaho SNOTEL Snow/Precipitation Update Report

Red Snow Warning: The End of Welfare Water and the Drying of the West

The long term effects of global warming, and desertification of the West examined. Exporting the water to the urban areas means exporting the rural areas’ soil to the East.

Livestock grazing, water mining, dams, all serving to desertify the West which ends up blowing, in the form of dust, to the East causing snow to melt faster and making less water available in the long run.

“After decades in which Easterners ritualistically visited the American West, the West may be traveling east.”

Red Snow Warning: The End of Welfare Water and the Drying of the West
by Chip Ward in the Huffington Post.

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Related article added on 9/15. New study shows river runoff decreases in driest years in Oregon, Northwest. By Joe Rojas-Burke, Oregonian.

Want safe backcountry water? Avoid areas with cattle

This is from Wilderness and Environmental Medicine: Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 245–249.

Also avoid areas with high human use.

Abstract.