Climate Drought
All Stories
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![Construction of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company "megafab" plant in Phoenix. The Taiwanese company is investing $165 billion in multiple plants in the region.]()
![Construction of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company "megafab" plant in Phoenix. The Taiwanese company is investing $165 billion in multiple plants in the region.]()
Arizona’s water is drying up. That’s not stopping the data center rush.
Though tech companies are secretive about their water usage, Arizona’s 150-plus data centers and chip factories use a tiny fraction of the state’s supply.
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![Image of the colorado river with a cutout of the Colorado River upside down and superimposed over it]()
![Image of the colorado river with a cutout of the Colorado River upside down and superimposed over it]()
The Colorado River is nearing collapse. It’s Trump’s problem now.
The Interior Department must force seven bickering states to agree on drastic water cuts — after the driest winter in decades.
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![Snow guns blow snow over skiers at Sugarloaf Mountain.]()
![Snow guns blow snow over skiers at Sugarloaf Mountain.]()
Ski resorts are increasingly reliant on snowmaking. But at what cost?
As the climate changes, mountains and nordic facilities have begun relying more on energy and water-intensive machine-made snow.
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![Low angle of an irrigation canal with farm equipment on either side, and drought-ridden land]()
![Low angle of an irrigation canal with farm equipment on either side, and drought-ridden land]()
Did the USDA just forget about $400M in drought aid for farmers?
More than a year later, not a dollar has been spent — and no one knows what happened to the money.
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![17 June 2024, Berlin: The water flushes in a toilet. Berliner Wasserbetriebe held its annual press conference on June 17.]()
![17 June 2024, Berlin: The water flushes in a toilet. Berliner Wasserbetriebe held its annual press conference on June 17.]()
Would you pay $49 a month to drink recycled wastewater?
A recent survey found that rural Americans would pay for the privilege of water reuse. Here's the huge potential benefit of the technique.
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![Three Iranian women sit in a group talking on a stone sidewalk along the dried-up riverbed]()
![Three Iranian women sit in a group talking on a stone sidewalk along the dried-up riverbed]()
Iran’s regime has survived war, sanctions, and uprising. Environmental crises may bring it down.
Decades of water depletion, dam building, and repression of scientists and environmentalists have driven Iran toward ecological crises that are fueling the protests rocking the country.
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![A man stands in front of two posterboards, one showing a map Texas with its aquifers displayed in color]()
![A man stands in front of two posterboards, one showing a map Texas with its aquifers displayed in color]()
How a billionaire’s plan to export East Texas groundwater sparked a rural uprising
As fast-growing cities and suburbs scramble for new water sources, farmers in East Texas are turning to government regulation to keep their wells from running dry.
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![The main recharge Dyke for the Coachella Valley on August 10, 2009, in Coachella Valley, California. This dyke serves to maintain the Aquifer upon which Coachella depends, adding water to it protects the water source and protects the surrounding infrastructure from possible subsidence.]()
![The main recharge Dyke for the Coachella Valley on August 10, 2009, in Coachella Valley, California. This dyke serves to maintain the Aquifer upon which Coachella depends, adding water to it protects the water source and protects the surrounding infrastructure from possible subsidence.]()
Groundwater is drying out, heating up, and causing sea level rise
Overuse has created zones of “mega-drying” around the world — and caused more sea level rise than Greenland’s ice sheet.
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![A woman holds crop that was lost due to the lack of water in a Chinampa or floating garden, in San Gregorio Atlapulco, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico on May 23, 2024.]()
![A woman holds crop that was lost due to the lack of water in a Chinampa or floating garden, in San Gregorio Atlapulco, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico on May 23, 2024.]()
Drought is draining water supplies and driving up food costs where you’d least expect
From Mexico City to the Mekong Delta, increasingly severe droughts caused by climate change are laying waste to ecosystems and economies everywhere.
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![The upper building of a dam sits amid red rocks and a low water level]()
![The upper building of a dam sits amid red rocks and a low water level]()
A deadline looms for a new Colorado River plan. What happens if there isn’t one?
It would likely be complicated, messy and involve big lawsuits, according to experts and former officials.
