Adam Nagourney, Jack Healy and Nelson D. Schwartz: California Drought Tests History of Endless Growth→

New York Times:

“For more than a century, California has been the state where people flocked for a better life — 164,000 square miles of mountains, farmland and coastline, shimmering with ambition and dreams, money and beauty. It was the cutting-edge symbol of possibility: Hollywood, Silicon Valley, aerospace, agriculture and vineyards.

But now a punishing drought — and the unprecedented measures the state announced last week to compel people to reduce water consumption — is forcing a reconsideration of whether the aspiration of untrammeled growth that has for so long been this state’s driving engine has run against the limits of nature.”

Great pictures and a story that asks difficult questions challenging our paradigm of technical solutions to limits of nature. 

Fish forced into the ‘foraging arena’ when lakes lose their trees→

Adam Hinterthuer, writing for University of Wisconsin-Madison:

As water levels drop and submerged trees rise above the waterline, some fish are forced into the "foraging arena" to face predators

“In attempts to predict what climate change will mean for life in lakes, scientists have mainly focused on two things: the temperature of the water and the amount of oxygen dissolved in it.

But a new study from University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers is speaking for the trees — specifically, the dead ones that have toppled into a lake’s near shore waters.

For fish in northern Wisconsin lakes, at least, these trees can be the difference between pastures of plenty and the Hunger Games.”

Interesting study from the Center of Limnology.

With Lakes Drying Up, Businesses Are Parched→

Jeff Beckham, reporting for the New York Times: 

“Central Texas lakes are at their lowest levels in more than 60 years, despite heavy rains in the recent days, and Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan, the reservoirs northwest of Austin that supply water to the region, now stand at just 33 percent full. These lower levels have significantly reduced customer traffic and forced many lakeside business owners to make difficult decisions.”

The old proverb holds true today, 'You never know the value of water till the lake level falls [or the well runs dry].'