Across the country, homeowners struggle with the conflicting desires for a beautiful lawn and water conservation, but as water availability becomes less guaranteed, communities are using creative incentives to encourage a different mindset.  In Gainesville, Florida (Alachua County), a program was launched to decrease the amount of outdoor water use by removing irrigation systems and replacing the grass with landscaping that is indigenous to the area and more sustainable. The Alachua County Turf SWAP Rebate Program is made possible by a grant from the St. John’s River Water Management District which, according to its website, is “an environmental regulatory agency […]

There are no words to adequately express the breadth of Hurricane Florence’s impact to North Carolina and the accumulating costs. The human cost of the storm is a total of 43 lives in the Carolinas and Virginia.[1]  The financial cost of the storm is estimated to be “between $38 billion and $50 billion in damage and economic losses.”[2]  The environmental costs include beach erosion, downed trees, chemical spills, storm surge and flooding as well as the “added waste from thousands of dead hogs, millions of dead chickens, millions of gallons of wastewater, and coal ash from Duke’s now-flooded Sutton facility.”[3] […]

How is it possible to have one of the wettest summers on record and still be considered “abnormally dry”?  That is the situation currently facing Concord, New Hampshire with record levels of rainfall occurring in August making it “the wettest August since records began being kept 150 years ago.”[1]  This would make one assume that the drought is over.  However, the reality of drought is not just felt above ground.  With extended rainfall after months of dry weather, “the grass starts growing pretty quickly but it takes longer to fill up the aquifers that our wells depend on. A drought […]

The Rio Grande spans 1,900 miles through largely arid and desert lands.[1] Colorado, New Mexico and Texas all depend on the river for their agriculture and nourish their cities. While the river does become more shallow in the summer this year it is extremely low. The Rio Grande is already dry along a 20-mile stretch south of Albuquerque. [2] Next month Albuquerque may see the Rio Grande go completely dry for the first time in more than 30 years. [3] Currently, about 87% of New Mexico in severe or worse drought, despite recent rainfall. On June 21st the northern New […]

Statewide, 83 percent of Texas is suffering from drought and it is causing problems. [1] More than half of Texas Counties are under a burn ban due to the imminent threat of wildfires.[2] Crops are so dry the farmers are struggling to see any profit. The beef industry is taking a hit because of high feeding costs, closing plants and eliminating jobs.[3] In addition, the population is continuing to climb while water remains scarce. By 2060 the population of Texas is expected to grow by 80 percent, that is more than 57 million people in need of water. If Texas does […]