Gov. Katie Hobbs’ administration on Monday announced two steps to stop a controversial Saudi Arabian company from using groundwater beneath state land in western Arizona to grow and export alfalfa.
Hobbs said in a statement that the Arizona State Land Department had canceled one of its leases to Fondomonte Arizona, and would not renew three others that are set to expire in February.
I’m a true believer in technology so I’m hopeful that there will be considerable innovation in desalinization so we can continue to farm in arid areas.
Desalinization would only work in getting Los Angeles and San Diego off of Colorado River water.
The big money right now is in sewage treatment. There are several treatment plants in inland cities which treat their sewage water so that it can either be used for agricultural purposes or even get recycled as potable water.
That’s interesting I’ll have to do some research on that.
One of the more documented cases is the Intel chip plant in Chandler. Intel’s plant treats its effluent to potable standards and pumps the water into the local aquifer to store it. Intel has a lot of water there.
Or we could just not live in the desert, living in biomes suitable to us and wasting fewer resources is more viable
I just don’t see how that could be accomplished legally or politically.
Subsidies, taxes, tax credits, zoning, etc.
Maybe. (1) I don’t think there’s the political will to enact anything like that & (2) I don’t think that would entice as many people as you think. People get really attached to their home. These areas are growing. The population in the southwest has grown over 11% in the last decade and it’s projected to continue to grow.
Doesn’t address the entire cities already there. We ain’t forcing entire cities to just abandon ship.
It’s far more useful if we talk about actually making what’s already there sustainable rather than some authoritarian march out of the deserts.