The Future of Storm Water Stewardship Practices | For a Sustainable Future.

By analyzing 56-million-year-old sediments, a UNIGE team has measured the increase in soil erosion caused by global warming, synonymous with major flooding.

How erosional systems respond to changes in the intensity and distribution of rainfall due to climate change remains a significant question in geomorphology. Many desert landforms are sensitive to rare rainfall events, and as the intensity of these events increases, they will also have greater impacts on non-desert landforms.

The impact of extreme rainstorms on escarpment morphology in arid areas: insights from the central Negev Desert:

Citation: Shmilovitz, Y., Marra, F., Enzel, Y., Morin, E., Armon, M., Matmon, A., et al. (2023). Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface.

The erosion of desert escarpments occurs in drier areas with frequent intense storms.

Shmilovitz et al. [2023] seek to understand how different metrics of rainfall, such as the intensity, frequency, and average annual rainfall, affect the erosion of an escarpment in Israel where drier regions show greater evidence of erosion.

The Future of Water Stewardship Strategies | For a Sustainable Future.

Water quantity-related targets often fail to consider local watershed conditions.

The future of water in the U.S. West is indeed uncertain, especially given the challenges posed by climate change. Water authorities in the Western U.S. are actively working to prepare for various scenarios. Here are some key points:

• Climate Change Impact: The Western U.S. faces extreme weather events, wildfires, and prolonged droughts. The Colorado River, which serves 40 million people, is particularly vulnerable [1].
• Adaptation Strategies: Water agencies are accelerating their plans to address climate change. They recognize that planning for a single future isn’t sufficient. Instead, they consider diverse climate projections, including rising temperatures, precipitation changes, snowpack shifts, and more severe droughts. These projections inform local and regional adaptation strategies [2].
• Collaboration and Rigor: Agencies integrate scientific research into their planning processes. By diversifying technology and collaborating, they aim for rigorous analysis of uncertainty. Adaptation shouldn’t be haphazard; it can be more scientific [3].

Globally, 2.1 billion people lack access to safe, readily available water at home, and 4.5 billion people lack safely managed sanitation. Despite progress, significant challenges still remain for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 6 and in addressing huge inequalities between and within countries in accessing basic water and sanitation services.

Evolution of a Desert Escarpment

• By Material Type :
  • Polymers
  • Minerals & Stabilizing agents
    • Portland Cements
    • Lime
    • Fly-Ash
    • Others
    • Others
    • Agriculture Waste
    • Sludge & Slag
    • Salts

Cartoon showing the evolution of a desert escarpment where the area that is drier, but with more frequent storms, shows more evidence of erosion by water. Despite receiving a greater annual volume of rain, wetter escarpments do not receive the intense storms required to move the coarse sediment that fall from the escarpment. Credit: Shmilovitz et al. [2023], Figure 9.



Posted inEditors' Highlights Desert Landscape Evolution Controlled by Storm Intensity.

Recent Developments: In 2021, the Colorado River faced its first-ever water shortage, affecting 40 million people. States have been negotiating to use less water from the overdrawn river, but challenges remain [1].

Recently, a breakthrough deal was struck to conserve an unprecedented amount of water along the Colorado River [2].

In summary, while technology plays a crucial role, collaborative efforts and scientific rigor are essential for managing water resources effectively in the Western U.S. 🌊🌎[3].