Download or read book Water Follies written by Robert Jerome Glennon and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-09-26 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Santa Cruz River that once flowed through Tucson, Arizona is today a sad mirage of a river. Except for brief periods following heavy rainfall, it is bone dry. The cottonwood and willow trees that once lined its banks have died, and the profusion of birds and wildlife recorded by early settlers are nowhere to be seen. The river is dead. What happened? Where did the water go. As Robert Glennon explains in Water Follies, what killed the Santa Cruz River -- and could devastate other surface waters across the United States -- was groundwater pumping. From 1940 to 2000, the volume of water drawn annually from underground aquifers in Tucson jumped more than six-fold, from 50,000 to 330,000 acre-feet per year. And Tucson is hardly an exception -- similar increases in groundwater pumping have occurred across the country and around the world. In a striking collection of stories that bring to life the human and natural consequences of our growing national thirst, Robert Glennon provides an occasionally wry and always fascinating account of groundwater pumping and the environmental problems it causes. Robert Glennon sketches the culture of water use in the United States, explaining how and why we are growing increasingly reliant on groundwater. He uses the examples of the Santa Cruz and San Pedro rivers in Arizona to illustrate the science of hydrology and the legal aspects of water use and conflicts. Following that, he offers a dozen stories -- ranging from Down East Maine to San Antonio's River Walk to Atlanta's burgeoning suburbs -- that clearly illustrate the array of problems caused by groundwater pumping. Each episode poses a conflict of values that reveals the complexity of how and why we use water. These poignant and sometimes perverse tales tell of human foibles including greed, stubbornness, and, especially, the unlimited human capacity to ignore reality. As Robert Glennon explores the folly of our actions and the laws governing them, he suggests common-sense legal and policy reforms that could help avert potentially catastrophic future effects. Water Follies, the first book to focus on the impact of groundwater pumping on the environment, brings this widespread but underappreciated problem to the attention of citizens and communities across America.

Download or read book Ecology and Conservation of the San Pedro River written by Juliet C. Stromberg and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: contributors - biologists, ecologists, geomorphologists, historians, hydrologists, lawyers, and political scientists - weave together threads from their diverse perspectives to reveal the processes that shape the past, present, and future of the San Pedro's riparian and aquatic ecosystems. They review the biological communities of the San Pedro and the stream hydrology and geomorphology that affects its riparian biota. They then look at conservation and management challenges along three sections of the San Pedro, from its headwaters in Mexico in its confluence with the Gila River, describing legal and policy issues and their interface with science; activities related to mitigation, conservation, and restoration; and a prognosis of the potential for sustaining the basin's riparian system." "Complemented by a foreword written by James Shuttleworth, these chapters demonstrate the complexity of the San Pedro's ecological and hydrological conditions, showing that there are no easy --

Download or read book The Ribbon of Green written by Robert H. Webb and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Woody wetlands constitute a relatively small but extremely important part of the landscape in the southwestern United States. These riparian habitats support more than one-third of the regionÕs vascular plant species, are home to a variety of wildlife, and provide essential havens for dozens of migratory animals. Because of their limited size and disproportionately high biological value, the goal of protecting wetland environments frequently takes priority over nearly all other habitat types. In The Ribbon of Green, hydrologists Robert H. Webb, and Stanley A. Leake and botanist Raymond M. Turner examine the factors that affect the stability of woody riparian vegetation, one of the largest components of riparian areas. Such factors include the diversion of surface water, flood control, and the excessive use of groundwater. Combining repeat photography with historical context and information on species composition, they document more than 140 years of change. Contrary to the common assumption of widespread losses of this type of ecosystem, the authors show that vegetation has increased on many river reaches as a result of flood control, favorable climatic conditions, and large winter floods that encourage ecosystem disturbance, germination, and the establishment of species in newly generated openings. Bringing well-documented and accessible insights to the ecological study of wetlands, this book will influence our perception of change in riparian ecosystems and how riparian restoration is practiced in the Southwest, and it will serve as an important reference in courses on plant ecology, riparian ecology, and ecosystem management.

Download or read book National Water Information System NWIS written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 2 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The San Pedro River written by Roseann Beggy Hanson and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2015-11-01 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona not only features some of the richest wildlife habitat in the Southwest, it also is home to more kinds of animals than anywhere else in the contiguous United States. Here you'll find 82 species of mammals, dozens of different reptiles and amphibians, and nearly 400 species of birds—more than half of those recorded in the entire country. In addition, the river supports one of the largest cottonwood-willow forest canopies remaining in Arizona. It's little wonder that the San Pedro was named by the Nature Conservancy as one of the Last Great Places in the Northern Hemisphere, and by the American Bird Conservancy as its first Important Bird Area in the United States. Roseann Hanson has spent much of her life exploring the San Pedro and its environs and has written a book that is both a personal celebration of and a definitive guide to this, the last undammed and unchanneled river in the Southwest. Taking you from the San Pedro's entry into the U.S. at the Mexican border to its confluence with the Gila River about a hundred miles north, she devotes a separate chapter to each of seven sections of river. Each chapter contains an eloquent essay on natural and cultural history, laced with Hanson's own experiences, plus an exploration guide brimming with useful information: how to get to the river, finding hiking trails, camping and other accommodations, birdwatching tips, access to biking and horseback riding, and nearby historic sites. Maps are included for each stretch of river, and the text is illustrated throughout with drawings from Roseann's copious field notebooks. Along the 40 miles of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, a sanctuary protected by the Bureau of Land Management since 1988, Hanson shows how the elimination of cattle and off-road vehicles has restored the river corridor to a more natural condition. She tells of the impact of humans on the San Pedro, from Clovis hunters to American settlers to Washington bureaucrats, and shows how, as the river winds its way north, it is increasingly threatened by groundwater pumping and urbanization. In addition to the "discovery" sections of each chapter, Hanson has included species checklists for habitats and plants, birds, mammals, and reptiles and amphibians to make this a perfect companion for anyone exploring the area, whether as occasional tourist or frequent visitor. The book's blending of graceful prose and practical information shows that a river is the sum of many parts. Roseann Hanson will give you a special understanding—and perhaps a sense of stewardship—of this wild place.

Download or read book U S Geological Survey Professional Paper written by and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Selected Water Resources Abstracts written by and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 806 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Climate Change and Water Resources Management written by Levi D. Brekke and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2009-11 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many challenges, including climate change, face the Nation¿s water managers. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has provided estimates of how climate may change, but more understanding of the processes driving the changes, the sequences of the changes, and the manifestation of these global changes at different scales could be beneficial. Since the changes will likely affect fundamental drivers of the hydrological cycle, climate change may have a large impact on water resources and water resources managers. The purpose of this interagency report is to explore strategies to improve water management by tracking, anticipating, and responding to climate change. Charts and tables.

Download or read book Water resources Investigations Report written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Water Bankruptcy in the Land of Plenty written by Franck Poupeau and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2017-12-21 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the American Southwest faces its deepest drought in history, this book explores the provocative notion of “water bankruptcy” with a view towards emphasizing the diversity and complexity of water issues in this region. It bridges between the narratives of growth and the strategies or policies adopted to pursue competing agendas and circumvent the inevitable. A window of opportunity provided by this current long-term drought may be used to induce change by dealing with threats that derive from imbalances between growth patterns and available resources, the primary cause of scarcity. A first of its kind, this book was developed through close collaboration of a broad range of natural scientists, social scientists, and resource managers from Europe and United States. It constitutes a collective elaboration of a transdisciplinary approach to unveiling the inner workings of how water was fought for, allocated and used in the American Southwest, with a focus on Arizona. Specifically, it offers an innovative scientific perspective that produces a critical diagnostic evaluation of water management, with a particular view to identifying risks for the Tucson region that is facing continuous urban sprawl and economic growth.

Download or read book Alternative Futures for Changing Landscapes written by Carl Steinitz and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading landscape architect and planner Carl Steinitz has developed an innovative GIS-based simulation modeling strategy that considers the demographic, economic, physical, and environmental processes of an area and projects the consequences to that area of various land-use planning and management decisions. The results of such projections, and the approach itself, are known as "alternative futures." Alternative Futures for Changing Landscapes presents for the first time in book form a detailed case study of one alternative futures project—an analysis of development and conservation options for the Upper San Pedro River Basin in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. The area is internationally recognized for its high levels of biodiversity, and like many regions, it is facing increased pressures from nearby population centers, agriculture, and mining interests. Local officials and others planning for the future of the region are seeking to balance the needs of the natural environment with those of local human communities. The book describes how the research team, working with local stakeholders, developed a set of scenarios which encompassed public opinion on the major issues facing the area. They then simulated an array of possible patterns of land uses and assessed the resultant impacts on biodiversity and related environmental factors including vegetation, hydrology, and visual preference. The book gives a comprehensive overview of how the study was conducted, along with descriptions and analysis of the alternative futures that resulted. It includes more than 30 charts and graphs and more than 150 color figures. Scenario-based studies of alternative futures offer communities a powerful tool for making better-informed decisions today, which can help lead to an improved future. Alternative Futures for Changing Landscapes presents an important look at this promising approach and how it works for planners, landscape architects, local officials, and anyone involved with making land use decisions on local and regional scales.

Download or read book Risk Assessment as a Tool for Water Resources Decision Making in Central Asia written by Christopher M. Teaf and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Water resources, both in terms of water quality and water quantity, are of critical importance in planning for sustainable development in Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as in other parts of the world. This NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW), entitled "Risk Assessment as a Tool for Water Resources Decision-Making in Central Asia", was conducted on September 23-25, 2002 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The ARW addressed methods and approaches by which risk assessment methodology that has been developed in the United States, Europe and elsewhere can be applied to environmental and water resource problems in Central Asia. The stated goals of the ARWwere: • to assess the existing state of knowledge in the context of potential applications of risk assessment tools to water resources and other environmental issues in Central Asia; • to identify research gaps and directions for future research in the area of water resources which may be addressed through the application of risk assessment tools; • to promote closer working relationships between the scientists and technical experts from Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as the scientists and technical experts from the United States and Europe. Based on historical experiences of Central Asian scientists and their colleagues in other parts of the world, there is a demonstrated need in the region to provide education, training and technical assistance on environmental decision-making tools, including risk assessment.

Download or read book Fort Huachuca Real Property Master Planning Approval of Land Use and Real Estate Investment Strategies written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Near surface Geophysics written by Dwain K. Butler and published by SEG Books. This book was released on 2005 with total page 734 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part 1, "fundamentals", includes magnetic and electrical methods, subsurface geophysics, near-surface seismology, electromagnetic induction, and ground-penetrating radar. Part 2, "applications", includes determination of physical properties, multimethod surveys and integrated interpretations, and model-based survey planning, execution, and interpretation.

Download or read book Irrigation in the Rio Grande Valley New Mexico written by Frank E. Wozniak and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication reviews both published and unpublished sources on Puebloan, Hispanic, and AngloAmerican irrigation systems in the Rio Grande Valley. Settlement patterns and Spanish and Mexican land grants in the valley are also discussed. The volume includes an annotated bibliography.

Download or read book Efficient Decision Support Systems written by Chiang Jao and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2011-09-09 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This series is directed to diverse managerial professionals who are leading the transformation of individual domains by using expert information and domain knowledge to drive decision support systems (DSSs). The series offers a broad range of subjects addressed in specific areas such as health care, business management, banking, agriculture, environmental improvement, natural resource and spatial management, aviation administration, and hybrid applications of information technology aimed to interdisciplinary issues. This book series is composed of three volumes: Volume 1 consists of general concepts and methodology of DSSs; Volume 2 consists of applications of DSSs in the biomedical domain; Volume 3 consists of hybrid applications of DSSs in multidisciplinary domains. The book is shaped upon decision support strategies in the new infrastructure that assists the readers in full use of the creative technology to manipulate input data and to transform information into useful decisions for decision makers.

Download or read book The Future of Arid Grasslands written by Barbara Tellman and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1999-04 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Proceedings of a conf. on the major problems facing grasslands in arid & semi-arid regions of the U.S. & Mexico & to seek solutions to those problems. Grasslands in many parts of the Southwest & northern Mexico are facing serious threats -- from urbanization & subdivision development to spread of invasive plant species to conflicts over grazing policy. Target groups for participation included private landowners, non-profit groups, government agencies, environmental advocates, economists, scientists, etc. Emphasized practical, hands-on mgmt. methods, including time in grasslands managed under a variety of techniques.