[PLUG-TALK] Here’s why TSMC and Intel keep building foundries in the Arizona desert

Rich Shepard rshepard at appl-ecosys.com
Sun Jun 6 18:47:52 UTC 2021


On Sun, 6 Jun 2021, Aaron Burt wrote:

> With global warming increasing atmospheric moisture, do you think there's
> more water making it over the Cascades into the dry side these days?
> That's the impression we get whenever we head that way.

Aaron,

It's uneven and unpredictable. The Columbia River Plains, the Great Basin,
the Klamath River Basin, and now even eastern Washington have much lower
water tables. The Klamath River has for several decades tried to satisfy the
needs of Tribes for salmon and suckers, irrigators and farmers, and salmon
in California and the Sacremento River delta.

A week ago the BurRec shut off the headgates to the two largest Klamath
Basin irrigation districts. A small group of farmers and ranchers have set
up camp there and threaten to open the headgates so fields and livestock can
be watered.

The Colorado River is at its lowest recorded levels. Seven states depend on
water from that river and they've fought over it for decades. As Mark Twain
reported, "whiskey's for drinkin' and water's for fightin'." By the time the
river gets to the Texas-Mexico border in late summer it's only a trickle.

Last year the upper reaches of the Missouri River in eastern Montana were
dry for the first time in recorded history.

Eastern Oregon and western Idaho have adequate snowpacks (as long as
temperatures don't get too high too quickly); eastern Washington and eastern
Nevada don't.

We're all in for changes in water resources and this will be reflected in
food volumes and prices.

Regards,

Rich



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