The Stream, March 7: Chinese Farmers Fear Drought

Since 2009, regular droughts hit Southwest China in winter, spring and early summer. That pattern has reshaped lifestyles of people in Yunnan province and beyond, China Daily reported, and shifted the kinds of crops that can be planted.

Water and Hydraulic Fracturing
A manager from Ceres, a sustainability advocacy and consulting group, wrote her latest blog for National Geographic about water use in hydraulic fracturing in Texas. The process requires vast water infrastructure construction, she wrote, and large volumes of water, with efficiency and reuse practices differing between wells. A comprehensive report on water use in Texas fracking operations is forthcoming.

Utah’s Supply Challenges
Mountain snowpack across Utah is 20 percent below average, as the past two months have seen dangerously low snowfall accumulations. System managers are already making operational changes, Deseret News reported, expecting that the agricultural community will have to absorb the consequences of water shortages in the months ahead.

Water in Space
Scientists found new evidence that Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, may be hiding oceans much like those on earth. Salt appeared on Europa’s surface, TechHive reported, that may have come from salt water underneath.

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