PRO
The Aral Sea is one of the worst examples of water management that led to an environmental crisis in Kazakhstan. The third largest lake in the world at one time, it began shrinking in the 1960’s due to upstream Soviet irrigation projects. Forty years later not only was the Soviet Union gone, but 90% of the lake as well. Concentrations of salt, pesticides, industrial waste, and toxic chemicals from weapon testing soon brought an ecological collapse. Windborne dust spread this toxic brew to neighboring population centers with horrific results.
I know, by now you’re asking why I put this in the “PRO” section. Wait, it will get better. Through wise water management by the Kazakhstan authorities, the lake is rebounding. Salinity has declined four-fold and water volume has increased dramatically. All this in a few years.
Just like when we saw Covid’s positive effect on the environment, when man takes positive action, nature can recover.
CONS
Now for an example of negative action, once again extreme politics defy common sense and good water management. Here’s an example.
The Columbia River is the largest River in the Northwest. The river is the lifeblood of Washington and Oregon supplying agriculture, a booming economy, Native American culture, and hydropower. With over 150 large scale hydropower projects, including Grand Coulee dam, the fifth largest hydroelectric plant in the world, it supplies clean energy to a wide swath of the western United States.
The river originates in Canada flowing into the State of Washington and then along the Oregon/Washington border to the Pacific. In 1964, Canada and the United States entered into a Treaty for its shared use. Set to expire in 2024, the Biden administration worked with Canada for a temporary extension and development of a new agreement that would result in continued guaranteed flows to the US, shared hydro revenues, and some direct payments. As a part of the Trump Administration’s economic war with Canada, the US paused negotiations this month, interjecting trade war dialogue into wise water management. A word of caution to the self-labeled master of the deal. There’s an age-old water saying every water lawyer knows to be true: I’d rather be upstream with a shovel than downstream with a water right.
Wise water management is best left to the professionals, not politicians.
In the next installment, I’ll continue this theme with another example of how politics (and football) threw an incomplete pass to wise management and economics on the border of Texas and Oklahoma.