The Worst Drought in 1200 Years: What Does it Mean for Your Food?

물은 매우 중요한 요소입니다
인생을 위한 빌딩 블록,

농사를 위해, 음식을 위해, 그리고 샤워를 위해.

물은 멀리서 오는 경우가 많다

예를 들어,
남부 캘리포니아 물의 절반 이상

콜로라도 강에서 펌핑됩니다.

그런 다음 위로 운반됩니다.
그리고 산맥 너머로

도시와 농장에서 사용

하지만 비가 내리면서
그리고 온도가 변해요

과학자들이 보고 있다
대가뭄

미국 서부에서 등장.

그리고 장기적인 가뭄의 대부분은

콜로라도 강 바로 중앙에 있습니다.

LA와 같은 대도시를 의미합니다.
시골 농장도 그렇고

물 공급에 압박이 가해지는 것을 볼 수 있었습니다

이번 에피소드에서 알아볼 내용은
가뭄이 왜 이렇게 심해?

그리고 어떤 교훈이 있는지 알아보세요
우리는 배울 수 있어요

가진 사람들로부터
남서부에 살았다

수천년 동안

배수유역은 지역이다.

강수량이 모이는 곳
그리고 특정 수역에 부딪히게 됩니다.

콜로라도 강의 유역

7개 주와 2개 국가에 걸쳐

4천만 명의 사람들이 물을 믿고 있습니다.

하지만 강이 마르면 어떻게 될까요?

그리고 당신이 믿고 있는 물
오지 않는다

To understand, I first asked

water and drought scientist,
Brad Udall, what's going on.

In 2000, a drought began
that now 20 years later

is the most severe drought

since gauges were installed on the river
in 1906 in some places.

The flow is down about 20%.

Drought is usually defined

as a period of abnormally low rainfall

leading to a shortage of water.

But Brad told me
that this drought is a bit different.

That's because while rain is down,

that doesn't fully account
for the low water levels.

We now actually have a new term for this:

It's a hot drought.

So higher temperatures dry out the earth.

And what we're finding is
that higher temperatures

lead to greater evaporation
in all its forms.

And that evaporation
is the cause of this decline in flow.

In other words, as temperatures
increase over time,

the process of evaporation
takes more water away

from rivers, lakes,
and snow-capped mountains.

This helps explain why river flow
in the Colorado basin is down 20%

despite precipitation
only being down by 5%.

And droughts do end,

but according to many scientists

waiting for rain in this case
is probably not a good idea.

The term "drought" implies

some kind of return
to normal at some point.

Drought implies temporary,

and most scientists nowadays
have started talking

about the aridification of the West,

meaning a more permanent move
to a dry state.

(car engine roaring)

Few people understand
the threat of drought

better than Nancy Caywood.

She's a fifth generation
farmer in Pinal County

where water either comes
from the Colorado River

through the Central Arizona Project canals

or from other rivers and canals
in the Colorado basin.

This represents liquid gold.

This is our water supply right here.

We take it out,
there's a gate right there,

and it goes down a little lateral canal

that takes it right to our farm.

I'm gonna open up this gate,

we have the gate open,

we'll open four of them,
allow the water to flow in.

We have about 135 acres of alfalfa.

This is an example of flood irrigation,

one of the oldest and most
common irrigation methods

which distributes water over the soil

by allowing it to flow
downhill with gravity.

There's a beautiful simplicity to it,

but it's actually the least
efficient way to irrigate

as much of the water
either evaporates away

or seeps into the soil
out of reach of the plants' roots.

And on top of that,
alfalfa is a very thirsty crop,

which means the beef
that comes from the cattle it feeds

is the highest water use food
commonly available.

Drip and sprinkler irrigation
can be much more efficient,

but Nancy told us she's not been able

to get the permits needed

to change the irrigation style
on the farm.

And the Caywood alfalfa
fields are in good company.

60% of farmland in the Colorado basin

is used to grow feed crops.

Combine all that demand,
and here in Pinal County

is where the drought hits home.

The last time the reservoir
was full was in 1992.

One year, we had nothing
planted on this farm at all.

In 2019 water in Lake Mead,

the nation's largest
reservoir, dropped so low

it triggered the first cutbacks

in water allocations ever in the basin.

Pinal County farmers were the first

to have their water reduced.

Fields lay fallow, prepped
and ready, but unplanted.

This is a fallow field,

and we just didn't have
enough water to plant it.

We have 120 acres of fallow land.

Good news here is, since about 1980

American water use has actually gone down.

Even in growing American
cities in the South West,

total consumption has gone down

despite pretty big increases
in population.

But worldwide irrigated agriculture

uses upwards of 70% of water in rivers

and municipalities use
much, much less, 20% or less.

That's partially due

to household water conservation efforts,

but it's mainly due to the way
cities and homes use water.

When you shower, wash dishes
or even flush the toilet,

that water is treated and returned
to surface or groundwater

rather than evaporating.

The same goes for some industrial uses.

But the largest opportunity and challenge

to reduce water use
is in the agricultural sector.

That's because water used for farming

either becomes part of the growing plants

or it's lost to evaporation,

meaning it doesn't return
to the hydrologic cycle

for a very long time.

Scientists say this is
the worst drought in 1200 years,

but the Hopi you have lived in this area

for over 2000 years
and have grown food through it all.

We met up with Max Taylor,
a Hopi Water Resources technician

to find out if lessons
from one of the oldest communities

in the United States
can be applied to modern life

in the drying Colorado basin.

The Hopi's been known
to use the least amount of water

than people throughout
the whole United States.

It's just because we live in the desert,

here we are more aware
of how much you use.

And so the use is very little.

So we're down at my field.

This is my blue corn,
they're planted here.

All of these are dry farmed.

I don't do any irrigation.

And the technique we use is
you clear off an area.

You'll dig a hole down
about maybe eight to 10 inches deep,

get maybe eight or ten kernels of corn

and toss in there.

The wet moisture that you've taken up,

you push them back in,

then you cover it with the dry soil.

And that's dry farming.

His garden is planted in a low lying area

to collect the little moisture
that falls each year.

And his crops are
extremely adapted to the region.

They're planted far apart
to avoid competition for water,

and they grow very deep roots
that tap into groundwater.

Right now we're in September.

You can still feel a little bit
of moisture in the ground,

see that?

Not much, but just enough
that it's still keeping them going.

Amazingly Max uses seeds
for his own farming consumption

that produces crops
in what seems like dust

with no irrigation.

He's never watered this field.

We have seeds that are being passed on
from generation to generation.

So they're adapted to this dry climate.

The corn's been with the Hopi
at least several thousand years.

I think the lesson to learn

is that you have to live
within your environment.

And I think that's how the natives
have survived in these areas

because they were sustainable.

And we know this country.

Shifting towards crops appropriate for

and adapted to their environment

provides a vast opportunity
for water conservation.

That shift can happen
on farms or in cities

when we choose to eat foods
that need less water to grow.

On paper, a shift from feed
crops and cattle makes sense.

But if we want to adapt

to our warming climate
in an equitable way,

we can't write off farmers
like Nancy and the families

that have fed us for generations.

We would like to continue farming.

We don't plan on giving up this farm.

We are looking into alternatives,

we're looking into alternative crops,

we're looking at water conservation
irrigation techniques.

Alfalfa takes seven to nine acre feet
of water a year to grow it.

Olives would take about
one and a half acre feet of water.

But if we were to get into, say, olives,

there'd be a lot of soil preparation.

So it costs us a lot money to get started.

But the question is,
can we come together as a country

and implement techniques
to reduce the strain

on our water supply
before there are even more shortages?

We need to be ready

for some really big changes coming at us

that are frankly
outside of our comprehension.

This is how we make the best
out of a bad situation

and stand by those

who end up facing
the biggest changes and challenges.

And while we focus

on the American Southwest in this episode,

drought does affect
almost every part of the country.

So practicing water conservation

as a part of your daily life
can help you prepare

for when water supplies
run low in your region.

Some of the most effective
things you can do today

are not that hard.

For example, never leave a faucet running
when it's not being used,

like when brushing your teeth
or washing dishes.

Make sure to fix leaky faucets

and choose energy-
and water-efficient appliances.

If you want to get more involved,

you can place a brick
in the tank of your toilet

so it uses less water for each flush,

or convert your lawn
to a beautiful landscape

that doesn't need irrigation.

Or even install
a rainwater catchment system.

Of course, there's another
thing we can all do,

and that's to fight the underlying cause
of this drought, climate change.

The future of this drought is unwritten,

and the less warming we create,

the brighter our water future will be.

So check out the excellent show, Hot Mess,

for more ideas about what can be done.

And of course, subscribe

to keep up with all of our
episodes of Weathered.

(soft music)