The Stream, April 7: Polluted Reservoir Is Alternative to Sao Paulo Rationing

The Global Rundown

Sao Paulo’s last hope to avoid severe water restrictions is a goopy mess. A new development in the Arizona desert raises water supply questions. Canada’s glaciers are shrinking but scientists have better maps of their decline. And what to do about golf courses…in California and China.

“History shows a loss of popularity relevant to any government that takes up rationing. What Alckmin and Dilma are doing is to avoid taking authority for this problem.” — Rafael Cortez, a political scientist with Sao Paulo-based Tendencias Consultant Group, referring to the reluctance of São Paulo Gov. Geraldo Alckmin and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to restrict water use and their preference for new supplies. (Wall Street Journal)

By The Numbers

28,000: Number of new homes planned near Benson, Arizona, a desert town southeast of Tucson. Skeptics are concerned that pumping that much groundwater will harm river flows and that no water supply studies have been completed. Arizona Republic

Science, Studies, And Reports

A new set of computer models for analyzing glaciers is providing scientists with individual portraits of decline. The glaciers of western Canada are expected to shrink by 70 percent by 2100, but the new study shows how each ice field might respond to rising temperatures. Climate Central

On The Radar

Will California address golf courses in its new water conservation regulations? Many courses in the Palm Springs region, which is one of the nation’s densest golfing clusters, draw water from private wells rather than from a city utility. The Desert Sun

China, meanwhile, began a “war on golf courses” and shut down 66 illegally built facilities. Water shortages as well as control over real estate development are among the many factors driving the crackdown. Bloomberg View

The largest urban water supplier in California will likely vote next week to cut water deliveries by at least 10 percent. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies wholesale water to half of California’s population, last ordered rationing in 2010. Los Angeles Times

Brett Walton

Brett writes about agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and the politics and economics of water in the United States. He also writes the Federal Water Tap, Circle of Blue’s weekly digest of U.S. government water news. He is the winner of two Society of Environmental Journalists reporting awards, one of the top honors in American environmental journalism: first place for explanatory reporting for a series on septic system pollution in the United States(2016) and third place for beat reporting in a small market (2014). He received the Sierra Club’s Distinguished Service Award in 2018. Brett lives in Seattle, where he hikes the mountains and bakes pies. Contact Brett Walton