Latest news with #ArizonaStateUniversity
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The Colorado River Basin has lost as much groundwater as the entire volume of Lake Mead
Deep below the surface of the ground in one of the driest parts of the country, there is a looming problem: The water is running out — but not the kind that fills lakes, streams and reservoirs. The amount of groundwater that has been pumped out of the Colorado River Basin since 2003 is enough to fill Lake Mead, researchers report in a study published earlier this week. Most of that water was used to irrigate fields of alfalfa and vegetables grown in the desert Southwest. No one knows exactly how much is left, but the study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, shows an alarming rate of withdrawal of a vital water source for a region that could also see its supply of Colorado River water shrink. 'We're using it faster and faster,' said Jay Famiglietti, an Arizona State University professor and the study's senior author. In the past two decades, groundwater basins – or large, underground aquifers – lost more than twice the amount of water that was taken out of major surface reservoirs, Famiglietti's team found, like Mead and Lake Powell, which themselves have seen water levels crash. The Arizona State University research team measured more than two decades of NASA satellite observations and used land modeling to trace how groundwater tables in the Colorado River basin were dwindling. The team focused mostly on Arizona, a state that is particularly vulnerable to future cutbacks on the Colorado River. Groundwater makes up about 35% of the total water supply for Arizona, said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, who was not directly involved in the study. The study found groundwater tables in the Lower Colorado River basin, and Arizona in particular, have declined significantly in the last decade. The problem is especially pronounced in Arizona's rural areas, many of which don't have groundwater regulations, and little backup supply from rivers. With wells in rural Arizona increasingly running dry, farmers and homeowners now drill thousands of feet into the ground to access water. Scientists don't know exactly how much groundwater is left in Arizona, Famiglietti added, but the signs are troubling. 'We have seen dry stream beds for decades,' he said. 'That's an indication that the connection between groundwater and rivers has been lost.' Some land has also begun to cave in, with deep fissures forming in parts of the state as ground water has been pumped out. This is not unique to Arizona, Famiglietti said, with similar signs of disappearing groundwater happening in the agriculture-heavy Central Valley in California. Porter said the results illuminate the magnitude of the groundwater crisis in the Southwest, which is particularly helpful for state officials and lawmakers. 'There are a lot of people who aren't sure if we have a serious situation with respect to groundwater, because groundwater is hidden,' Porter said. 'The value of the study is that it really adds a lot of information to the picture.' Groundwater may be hidden, but scientists know with relative certainty that once it is pumped out, it won't be able to recharge within our lifetimes. Much of it was deposited tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago. 'It takes geologic time' to refill these deep aquifers — meaning thousands of years — 'and we as humans have more or less been burning through it in the last over the last century,' Famiglietti said. Famiglietti warned the groundwater situation could worsen if the state's allocation of Colorado River water is further decreased, a decision that could be made in the next two years. If Arizona's Colorado River water allocation was cut to zero, 'we could burn through the available groundwater in 50 years,' Famiglietti said. 'We're talking about decades. That's scary. No one wants that to happen.' But Porter pushed back on that characterization, pointing out that Arizona cities have another stable water supply—the Salt River. Porter added cities like Phoenix and Tucson are storing groundwater and have regulations designed to keep it from running out. Arizona has had a groundwater management law in place since 1980. 'We're not expecting that the whole state would turn to groundwater,' Porter said. Famiglietti said he hopes the study will prompt discussions over how to more effectively manage groundwater use in the region, especially from agriculture, which uses the lion's share of water. Much of Arizona's crops are exported, either to other states or, as is the case with alfalfa, internationally. Famiglietti called it the 'absolutely biggest' choice that policymakers will have to decide. 'Agriculture just uses so much water,' Famiglietti said. 'Are we going to plan to continue to grow as much food? Are we losing food that's important for the state, that's important for the country, or is it alfalfa that's being shipped to Saudi Arabia?'
CNN
17 hours ago
- Business
- CNN
The Colorado River Basin has lost as much groundwater as the entire volume of Lake Mead
Deep below the surface of the ground in one of the driest parts of the country, there is a looming problem: The water is running out — but not the kind that fills lakes, streams and reservoirs. The amount of groundwater that has been pumped out of the Colorado River Basin since 2003 is enough to fill Lake Mead, researchers report in a study published earlier this week. Most of that water was used to irrigate fields of alfalfa and vegetables grown in the desert Southwest. No one knows exactly how much is left, but the study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, shows an alarming rate of withdrawal of a vital water source for a region that could also see its supply of Colorado River water shrink. 'We're using it faster and faster,' said Jay Famiglietti, an Arizona State University professor and the study's senior author. In the past two decades, groundwater basins – or large, underground aquifers – lost more than twice the amount of water that was taken out of major surface reservoirs, Famiglietti's team found, like Mead and Lake Powell, which themselves have seen water levels crash. The Arizona State University research team measured more than two decades of NASA satellite observations and used land modeling to trace how groundwater tables in the Colorado River basin were dwindling. The team focused mostly on Arizona, a state that is particularly vulnerable to future cutbacks on the Colorado River. Groundwater makes up about 35% of the total water supply for Arizona, said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, who was not directly involved in the study. The study found groundwater tables in the Lower Colorado River basin, and Arizona in particular, have declined significantly in the last decade. The problem is especially pronounced in Arizona's rural areas, many of which don't have groundwater regulations, and little backup supply from rivers. With wells in rural Arizona increasingly running dry, farmers and homeowners now drill thousands of feet into the ground to access water. Scientists don't know exactly how much groundwater is left in Arizona, Famiglietti added, but the signs are troubling. 'We have seen dry stream beds for decades,' he said. 'That's an indication that the connection between groundwater and rivers has been lost.' Some land has also begun to cave in, with deep fissures forming in parts of the state as ground water has been pumped out. This is not unique to Arizona, Famiglietti said, with similar signs of disappearing groundwater happening in the agriculture-heavy Central Valley in California. Porter said the results illuminate the magnitude of the groundwater crisis in the Southwest, which is particularly helpful for state officials and lawmakers. 'There are a lot of people who aren't sure if we have a serious situation with respect to groundwater, because groundwater is hidden,' Porter said. 'The value of the study is that it really adds a lot of information to the picture.' Groundwater may be hidden, but scientists know with relative certainty that once it is pumped out, it won't be able to recharge within our lifetimes. Much of it was deposited tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago. 'It takes geologic time' to refill these deep aquifers — meaning thousands of years — 'and we as humans have more or less been burning through it in the last over the last century,' Famiglietti said. Famiglietti warned the groundwater situation could worsen if the state's allocation of Colorado River water is further decreased, a decision that could be made in the next two years. If Arizona's Colorado River water allocation was cut to zero, 'we could burn through the available groundwater in 50 years,' Famiglietti said. 'We're talking about decades. That's scary. No one wants that to happen.' But Porter pushed back on that characterization, pointing out that Arizona cities have another stable water supply—the Salt River. Porter added cities like Phoenix and Tucson are storing groundwater and have regulations designed to keep it from running out. Arizona has had a groundwater management law in place since 1980. 'We're not expecting that the whole state would turn to groundwater,' Porter said. Famiglietti said he hopes the study will prompt discussions over how to more effectively manage groundwater use in the region, especially from agriculture, which uses the lion's share of water. Much of Arizona's crops are exported, either to other states or, as is the case with alfalfa, internationally. Famiglietti called it the 'absolutely biggest' choice that policymakers will have to decide. 'Agriculture just uses so much water,' Famiglietti said. 'Are we going to plan to continue to grow as much food? Are we losing food that's important for the state, that's important for the country, or is it alfalfa that's being shipped to Saudi Arabia?'
Hindustan Times
17 hours ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
‘I think people severely underestimate India': US founder praises India's booming startup scene
A US businesswoman and author Codie Sanchez has shared a post praising India, saying that it is "severely underestimated " as a business powerhouse. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Codie added that she is planning a trip to India. Codie tweeted, "I'm planning an Indian tour... I think people severely underestimate India as a business powerhouse. 1) Past = It's only call centres. Now = millions speak fluent English. 2) Past: IT back office for the world. Now = tons of engineers with complex skills. 3. Past: Copycat Indian startups. Now = Billion-dollar native creative startups." Codie concluded her note, "Functioning democracy. Rule of law. Intellectual property rights. Entrepreneurial attitude. All ingredients for the next startup innovation hub." The Entrepreneur on a journey page asked, "This tour, will it be in India, or in the north Dallas suburbs?" She replied, "lol real ones know." A woman wrote, "I'd love to join & my family would be happy to host you with factory tours in Morbi, Gujarat, massive export town. India is amazing. Despite its reputation, it is truly the future in terms of business." Codie responded, "Thank you I have never been to those parts of India!" A tweet read, "Definitely visit factories in India. The startup world will be easily accessible, but get into as many factories as possible." A person wrote, "Totally agree! India's transformation is incredible. From innovation hubs to startup unicorns, the potential is massive. Excited for your tour—bet you'll find it eye-opening!" "As someone from India, I feel this shift every day. It's not just talent, but it's hunger, creativity, and a new wave of builders who aren't just following trends, but setting them. The world's watching now," wrote another person. An X user said, "It's crazy how fast things have changed, India's emerging as a major global business force." A comment read, "Good luck with the tour. You will experience many different versions of India. So let's see what you come back with." A person said, "India is going to become the new China for the USA. We move a lot over to them. They copy and replicate. Their economy will grow. Millions will come out of poverty. Hopefully, this time, we do it smartly so we don't build up our next strategic competitor. Maybe that's inevitable." Currently based in Texas, Codie studied at Arizona State University and then did her MBA from Georgetown University. She has worked for several companies such as Vanguard, Goldman Sachs, State Street and First Trust, among others. She is the founder of Contrarian Thinking. Codie also has her own podcast channel, Big Deal.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The Devil's Bargain: How the slave trade built New Orleans
This photo shows the old slave auction block where enslaved people were sold in the St. Louis Hotel at 621 St. Louis St. in the French Quarter. The block rested under recessed arches and between columns in the hotel's rotunda. (Credit: From the Historic New Orleans Collection; gift of Samuel Wilson Jr.) NEW ORLEANS – Stretching 3 miles from the Mississippi River to City Park, Esplanade Avenue is today a leafy thoroughfare lined with 19th-century mansions, restaurants, bars, and other businesses. In the evenings, tourists make their way across the avenue from the French Quarter, drinks in hand, ready to take in some jazz at the clubs on Frenchman Street. These visitors — or the current residents, for that matter — have little reason to give any thought to what once happened here in centuries past. The streetscape then could have included a cortege of enslaved Black people being forced-marched in chains from far away or from ships at the nearby docks or unloaded from wagons, all to be delivered to what amounted to urban prison camps. Before the Civil War, the blocks on and surrounding Esplanade Avenue were home to dozens of slave pens, stockyard-like enclosures of dirt lots surrounded by high brick walls to deter escape and shield public view. Inside were men, women, and children warehoused until they could be sold, either directly from the pens or on the auction blocks somewhere in the prosperous city of New Orleans. The pens were 'foul places, attractive to flies and lice and vermin, hazy with acrid smoke from cheap pork cooked over open flames, and reeking of sweat and urine and feces and garbage,' historian Joshua D. Rothman said in his book 'The Ledger and the Chain: How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America.' It was the stench and health concerns — not the inhumanity of the slave trade itself — that had prompted Quarter residents to push for the pens to be moved away from their fine homes into the neighborhoods along Esplanade. The prisoners, many torn from family and friends and forced to walk or endure ship passage for hundreds of miles from the Upper South to serve new masters, were crowded inside by overseers concerned only with keeping them healthy and fit enough to bring top dollar on the market. Passersby 'might hear the cries of small children' or 'the muted anguish of adults who are there, who are suffering what we call today PTSD or some sort of traumatic injury, who are trying to wrap their heads around what's happening,' Calvin Schermerhorn, history professor at Arizona State University said in an interview. An alert visitor can find a historical marker on the neutral ground near Esplanade Avenue and Chartres Street, marking the city's connection to the brutal slave trade. Another marker across the intersection toward the river marks the location of the infamous slave pens where Solomon Northup, known for 'Twelve Years a Slave,' was sold into slavery. 'There's a sin, a fearful sin, resting on this nation, that will not go unpunished forever,' Northup said in his 1853 memoir of his life as a free man sold into slavery. 'There will be reckoning yet … It may be sooner or it may be later, but it's a coming as sure as the Lord is just.' That accounting has yet to fully come to a city more associated with letting the good times roll than dealing with past sins. Outside of historians, academics and the generational memories of Black New Orleanians, relatively few people understand the enormity of New Orleans' involvement in the slave trade, which helped build generational wealth for white residents and made the city the most financially powerful and influential in the South. Gregg Kimball, Senior Consulting Historian for the Shockoe Institute in Richmond, Va., maintains that the slave trade was part of the 19th century U.S. economic boom 'that really made the United States a world power. It basically created American capitalism. That's a big deal. Right?'' For New Orleans, sugar and slaves were the driving forces for an economy that also thrived from the global cotton trade and its position at the mouth of the Mississippi River. 'It's those three intertwined. It's New Orleans's status as not only a port city, but as a place where banking is based and where trading happens in sugar and cotton and slaves,' New Orleans historian Erin Greenwald said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Slavery is in the very bones of New Orleans, where the essential protective levees, streets and core buildings were constructed by enslaved workers. Captive Black laborers helped grow and harvest the lucrative sugar and cotton crops, loaded the yield onto the ships for export and even served as collateral for plantation owners' bank loans to expand their land holdings and buy more enslaved workers. From the early 1800s until Union Troops occupied the city about a year after the beginning of the Civil War, New Orleans was known as the 'slave market of the South.' An estimated 135,000 people were bought and sold in the city and its immediate environs at more than 50 documented places. These are the same places where residents and tourists today celebrate Mardi Gras, sleep in luxury hotels, drink in dive bars, and eat at fine restaurants. In 2025, there is little public acknowledgement of the atrocities of slavery beyond a few mostly low-key historical markers and some local tours designed to go beyond the usual sightseeing fare. The history of how slavery made New Orleans the city it is today rarely intrudes on the daily awareness of most people. Greenwald said she values what she gets from reading academic histories. 'It's great. But that's not what's going to penetrate the consciousness,' she said. 'It's just not. It's expensive, it's jargony. … Historians are speaking generally to each other. You have to have a lot of prior knowledge to access a lot of the narrative in academic history.' There is also the city's reluctance to confront its painful past, focusing instead on tourism-friendly narratives and laissez les bons temps rouler marketing. 'There's a powerful impulse to keep slavery in the rearview mirror, to present a story about the United States that is one of progress and improvement,' Rothman, chair of the history department at the University of Alabama, said in an interview. 'People like to think slavery was terrible, but we fixed it. In fact, we've forgotten about it.' To those who know, the city's slave history is everywhere: former slave quarters operating as apartments and short-term rentals, historic structures built with slave labor and a culture of music and art that wouldn't exist without the influence and contributions of enslaved residents. But it isn't easy to track down the markers, read the academic research and all the other things that provide a thorough understanding of what happened. In an upcoming series of articles, Verite News hopes to make the city's connection to slavery better known and understood by residents who are not familiar with stories and connections held dear by descendants of the enslaved and to the millions who come to visit 'the city that care forgot.' The historical marker for the St. Louis Hotel, the most famous slave auction site in New Orleans, is placed at the back of the luxurious Omni Royal Orleans hotel, next to a loading dock. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people walk past it each day without pausing to read about what took place there. The marker itself seems to downplay the connection to the slave market and its inhumanity. 'The luxurious St. Louis Hotel included a bank, ballroom, shopping arcade, and trading exchange,' the marker boasts. 'Six days a week, under the hotel's domed rotunda, auctioneers sold land and goods,' before what almost seems like an aside of 'as well as thousands of enslaved people.' Slavery-related markers on The Moonwalk by the Mississippi River, The Merieult House on Royal Street, The Cabildo in Jackson Square, slave pen locations at Esplanade and Chartres, the New Orleans Slave Depot at Common and Baronne streets, and Congo Square are also easy to overlook. And even for those who do stop and read, the official city guidance and literature provides little context for what it means and what the reader should think or do about it. While other cities around the world have benefited from building museums, permanent exhibits, and other educational structures on painful events, including the Holocaust, race massacres, and the atrocities and injustices of the Jim Crow era, New Orleans has mostly remained on the sidelines. The removal of Confederate monuments from prominent positions in the city sparked a great outcry in 2017 from those who said they saw it as 'erasing history,' but the recognition of enslaved people's contributions to building and molding New Orleans has not received similar support. 'There had been this resistance, I think, in New Orleans generally to recognizing darker sides of history that complicate the fun-time celebration, exotic nature tourism of the city,' said Greenwald, who put together 'Purchased Lives,' an extensive exhibit on slavery that was on display at The Historic New Orleans Collection in 2015. 'New Orleans is not alone in that, but they might be one of the worst examples of covering up things that aren't part of their tourism narrative, and that has changed.' Many of the slave markers were placed by a city commission appointed to mark the New Orleans Tricentennial in 2018. Freddi Evans, a New Orleans author and educator who was on the commission, said in an interview that the markers have had a positive effect. 'Well, I don't know if it has an impact on the people who are coming here as tourists, but it has an impact on the people who are here, the citizens,' she said, including the descendants of enslaved people who have taken it upon themselves to keep their history from being erased. The New Orleans Tricentennial Commission does offer a slave marker tour app that provides 'an immersive and dramatic self-guided tour of sites that played an important role in the domestic slave trade of New Orleans.' Each year, over the July 4th weekend, the New Orleans MAAFA Commemoration takes place. Sponsored by the Ashé Cultural Arts Center, participants wearing white begin at Congo Square with stops at the Esplanade site, the Tomb of the Unknown Slave (next to Catholic Church on Governor Nicholls Street), and other locations. Maafa is a Kiswahili word that means 'great disaster' or 'great tragedy.' 'Hundreds of people come,' Evans said. It's one way the city can memorialize those who suffered under slavery. Harvard historian Walter Johnson has written that the whole city should be considered a memorial to slavery. 'The levee is a slave-built levee. The entire economic development of the city was premised upon slavery. All the buildings were built by enslaved people or free people of color,' Johnson told The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2017. 'You could memorialize the city of New Orleans with a million markers of which enslaved people lived there, which enslaved people worked there, which enslaved people built this.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Canadian swim star Summer McIntosh confirms she will train with Michael Phelps's former coach
Canadian swimming phenom Summer McIntosh is making it official that following July's world swimming championships she'll be moving to Texas to be coached by Bob Bowman, who famously guided American Michael Phelps to a record 23 Olympic gold medals. In an exclusive interview with CBC Sports on the pool deck at Toronto's Pan Am Sports Centre on Tuesday, McIntosh said she's committed to Bowman's pro team in Austin, Texas and will be moving there starting late August. "I think there's a lot of excitement and I think it was something that most people could have guessed even when I started off just because I do similar events to what Bob coaches," McIntosh said. "Some might say it was basically inevitable, but I think now that it's actually happening, hopefully people will be excited." Bowman served as a coach on the U.S. Olympic team from 2004-2016, and was head coach at Arizona State University from 2015 to 2024. The 59-year-old moved to the U of Texas last year and leads what is widely regarded as the top training group in the world, including Frenchman Leon Marchand, who won four gold medals in Paris last summer, and American stars Regan Smith and Simone Manuel. In a February interview with CBC Sports, McIntosh said she was leaving Sarasota and hinted at this being her next move, but that she wanted to visit the University of Texas, where Bowman leads the swim program and also runs a professional program, to get a better sense of if she would fit in. WATCH | McIntosh joins CBC Sports to discuss training with Bob Bowman: McIntosh is now ready to make the leap, where she will be swimming with Bowman's professional program rather than the NCAA. "Bob has been absolutely incredible throughout the whole process, and I knew that at some point I was going to make the move, so him making it so easy and being so welcoming, I'm really excited for next season," she said. McIntosh, 18, has a goal of five individual gold medals at the L.A. 2028 Olympics and feels moving to Bowman, a coach who knows how to navigate intense individual programs, gives her the best chance of doing that. In Paris last summer, McIntosh became the first Canadian athlete ever to win three Olympic gold medals at one Games. "Michael Phelps is the greatest of all time and he was absolutely incredible, and Bob not only created Michael but so many other amazing swimmers as well, so it just shows the consistency of his coaching and his craft, and it gives me a lot of confidence," McIntosh said. "I know I can trust him wholeheartedly with my training. "I have really big goals and I know that he can match that with the work that he gives me and all of his things that he knows. I can go into a program having full confidence in the training I do day to day and be alongside so many amazing and like-minded athletes and swimmers." But before she moves to Austin at the end of August, McIntosh will be busy. She's currently in Toronto getting in some final training before heading to Victoria next week for the start of the Canadian swimming trials, which will determine the swimmers who will represent Canada at the world championships in Singapore in late July. McIntosh has spent the majority of this year training in France under the guidance of French Olympic coach Fred Vergnoux. He is a highly accomplished coach who has led swimmers to Olympic gold medals, hundreds of individual records and podium finishes. McIntosh said she's been thriving in the highly competitive environment created by Vergnoux at the swimming club in Antibes. "Fred's absolutely amazing. He's so funny and he's such a smart guy as well," she said. "I can really trust him with my training and the culture he's created at Antibes and the whole group is so like-minded. Everyone knows when they get in the water that he's going to expect your best and we bring that every single day and I think we kind of feed off each other's energy." She likes that there's a personal care Vergnoux brings to his coaching. WATCH | McIntosh reflects on short course worlds as 'one of the best meets of my life': "I think what's so amazing is he's getting to know us as swimmers, he wants to connect on a more personal level and have that individual relationship with each swimmer," McIntosh said. "Which I think is also really important to connect on that level emotionally because I think swimming is such a big part of our lives, but you've got to know the whole person to know how to kind of handle and build a relationship with them outside of the pool." McIntosh said Vergnoux will be in Victoria coaching her at trials and through to the world championships. What events she intends to compete in at worlds this upcoming July is still not fully clear at this point. She has confirmed four of the five events; the 400m freestyle, 200m and 400m individual medleys and 200m butterfly events are locked in, but the fifth and final event of her program still remains a mystery. McIntosh will be listed in all of the aforementioned events at trials in Victoria. She's also entered in the 800m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 200m backstroke, though it's unlikely she will swim in all of those events. "I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do yet, but those are kind of in my top three right now," she said. McIntosh said she has been adding more distance training to her program in the leadup to trials, perhaps suggesting the 800m freestyle is likely her fifth event. WATCH | 'She's being so dramatic': Summer McIntosh races high diver Molly Carlson: "You need to have a very strong aerobic base to get you through day eight, day nine, and things like that. I'm definitely implementing more distance into my training and the French program's also like that, so definitely do more mileage and stuff like that." Canadian swimming trials run June 7-12 and McIntosh will be competing every day of the event, beginning with the 400m freestyle and 200m IM on opening day. More than anything, she's looking forward to seeing familiar faces on a Canadian swimming team continuing to make waves on the international scene. "Team Canada and Swimming Canada is such a family. All the swimmers are super close on the team, and I think that's what makes us thrive so well," McIntosh said. "We have such good team camaraderie that it really helps us in hard moments and really amazing moments because we always bond in those kinds of situations."
